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Shadows on the River

by Linda Hall

SHADOWS ON THE RIVER is the story of Ally Roarke. When she was a young teenager she saw her best friend pushed to her death. Here are Ally’s own words:

“I was only fourteen when I witnessed a murder on the riverbank. A murder that went unpunished. Unless you count what happened to my family. We were forced out of town by the teenage killer’s prominent parents. And the murder was forgotten—by everyone but me. Now, the killer is a respected businessman. I can’t let him get away with it. But I’m a single mother with a child to protect, what can I do? The new man in my life, Mark Bishop, warns me to be careful. For there’s already been another murder. Close to home.”

Linda Hall

Award winning and twice Christy-nominated author Linda Hall has written fifteen novels plus many short stories. She has also worked as a freelance writer, news reporter and feature writer for daily newspaper.

She grew up in New Jersey where her love of the ocean was nurtured. Most of her novels have something to do with the sea. When she’s not writing, Linda and her husband enjoy sailing the St. John River system and the coast of Maine. In the summer we basically move aboard their 34′ sailboat aptly named – Mystery.

Shadows on the River can be ordered from most online bookstores. Including Amazon or can be ordered from her website: http://writerhall.com

What others are saying:
- With a voice well suited to mystery and suspense, Hall creates an almost gothic atmosphere and a wonderfully satisfying conclusion in this final installment of her Shadows series. Romantic Times gave it 4 stars.

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Deadly Competition

by Roxanne Rustand

The single mother hasn’t been found. And all her daughter, Sarah, has is her uncle. Clueless at parenting, Clint Herald seeks a loving, responsible nanny. What he finds instead is a stranger as mysterious as his sister’s disappearance. Mandy Erick is secretive and seems scared, yet she’s so good with Sarah that Clint can’t help but trust her. In fact, he even enters Mandy in the town’s Mother of the Year contest. But attention is the last thing Mandy wants. Her time in the public eye may prove just as dangerous as she fears.

Excerpt

All rights reserved

Mandy Erick flinched as the door of the Greyhound slid shut behind her.

The bus lumbered away, taking with it her chance to reach Texas or California or Oregon anytime soon. Leaving her standing on the edge of Loomis, Louisiana, a backwater town in the middle of nowhere.

Though maybe the middle of nowhere was the safest place for someone who’d had to leave her old identity behind.

To purchase from Steeple Hill, click here.

For more about Roxanne Rustand, visit www.roxannerustand.com and her new blog “All Creatures Great and Small.”

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A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job?

    Put up or shut up! Complaining about Bethlehem Springs’ dissolute mayoral candidate, Gwen Arlington is challenged to take on the role herself. For seven years, she’s carved out an independent life in the bustling mountain town of Bethlehem Springs, Idaho, teaching piano and writing for the local newspaper. But now she’s a single woman running for mayor — and in 1915 this decision is bound to stir up trouble.

    Morgan McKinley is fed up with the delays that hinder the construction of New Hope Health Spa, a place where both rich and poor can come for rest and healing. New to the area, he has determined that serving as mayor would help him push through his agenda for progress.

    Gwen and Morgan each want to prove they are the most qualified candidate, not only to voters but to each other, and so sparks fly as the two campaign. Although Morgan has learned to guard his heart as fiercely as Gwen guards her independence, could they learn to be allies instead of adversaries?

    This first book in the Sisters of Bethlehem Springs Series provides intriguing insights into how women challenged convention and shaped America in the early twentieth century.

You Tube for A Vote of Confidence

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To purchase through Amazon, click here.

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To purchase through CBD, click here.

Robin Lee Hatcher

Robin Lee Hatcher is the best-selling author of over sixty books. Her well-drawn characters and heartwarming stories of faith, courage, and love have earned her both critical acclaim and the devotion of readers. Her numerous awards including the 2000 Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, the 1999 and 2001 RITA Awards for Best Inspirational Romance, Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards for Americana Romance and for Inspirational Fiction, and the 2001 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. Catching Katie was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin began her writing career in the general market, writing mass market romances for Leisure Books, HarperPaperbacks, Avon Books, and Silhouette. In 1997, after several years of heart preparation, Robin accepted God’s call to write stories of faith and hasn’t looked back since. She has written both contemporary women’s fiction and historical romances for CBA publishers, and in 2009 her 60th book, A Vote of Confidence, was released, launching a new series (The Sisters of Bethlehem Springs) that looks at the question, “Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job?” The setting is Idaho during the WWI era.

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A NOTE FROM ROBIN:

Ideas come to writers in lots of different ways. The idea for The Sisters of Bethlehem Springs series came to me back in 2003-2004 and had its genesis in a couple of other books. From Catching Katie had come a fascination with the decade leading up to the passing of the 19th Amendment that gave American women the right to vote. From a secondary character in Speak to Me of Love came a fondness for a woman in an unusual occupation. While those two things were rolling around in my head, up popped the final ingredient. A question: Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job? And the next thing I knew, I’d met Gwen and Cleo Arlington, the heroines of the first two books in the series. I had to wait to meet my third heroine until the hero of A Vote of Confidence walked into my imagination. Guess what, Morgan McKinley had a younger sister, Daphne. Each of these women have jobs that weren’t considered a woman’s domain in their time (1915-1918). I hope readers will become as fond of Gwen, Cleo, and Daphne — and the men with whom they fall in love — as I am.

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Nothing But Trouble!

(PJ Sugar – Trouble Collection)

ISBN 1414313128

Tyndale

Romantic Comedy/Suspense

 PJ Sugar knows three things for sure:

 After traveling the country for ten years hoping to shake free from the trail of disaster that’s become her life, she needs a fresh start.

 The last person she wants to see when she heads home for her sister’s wedding is Boone—her former flame and the reason she left town.

 Her best friend’s husband absolutely did not commit the first murder Kellogg , Minnesota , has seen in more than a decade.

 What PJ doesn’t know is that when she starts digging for evidence, she’ll uncover much more than she bargained for—a deadly conspiracy, a knack for investigation, and maybe, just maybe, that fresh start she’s been longing for.

About Susan:

Susan May Warren is the award-winning author of seventeen novels and novellas with Tyndale, Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing. Her first book, Happily Ever After won the American Fiction Christian Writers Book of the Year in 2003, and was a 2003 Christy Award finalist. In Sheep’s Clothing, a thriller set in Russia , was a 2006 Christy Award finalist and won the 2006 Inspirational Reader’s Choice award. A former missionary to Russia , Susan May Warren now writes Suspense/Romance and Chick Lit full time from her home in northern Minnesota .

Also! It’s launch month for my new book, Nothing But Trouble, and I’m running a “sweet” contest when people go “Hunting for Trouble” in their local bookstore! Click HERE for the Contest details! 

Where did the idea for PJ Sugar come from? 

            Every author dreams of a moment where someone says something, or they see something on the news, or in a newspaper and it springs out at them, nearly shouting – STORY IDEA!  This happened to me a number of years ago while talking to friends about their daycare situation, and how one of the parents ended up being a murder suspect!  Scary!  But an interesting idea.   About that time, I was a mom who wore many hats – homeschooling mom, writing teacher, speaker, children’s church leader, — and it occurred to me that a mother really has to be a sort of PI.  Not only taking on different roles, but sleuthing out daily household mysteries like, who ate the last of the peanut butter (and put it back in the cupboard?) and whose socks are laying in the middle of the floor, and finally…(in our house), who let the dog (and her muddy feet!) in the house!  PJ is the alter-ego in every mom, that super-hero inside of us that allows us to have esp (I know you’re not really done with your homework!), or have “eyes in the back of our head,” (stop poking your sister!) or even figure out how to whip together an award-winning science project the night before the fair.  PJ just applies all those skills to bad guys and figuring out the truth. 

PJ Sugar is also a woman who wants to be all things to all people. She wants to be her nephew’s champion and her sister’s best friend, and her mother’s favorite daughter, and Boone’s special girl, and the  hero of her hometown.  That’s not too much to ask, is it?  Maybe…because God wants her to be His girl, and satisfied in who He made her to be.  And that is a journey for all of us PJ Sugars.

 A note from Susan May Warren

Sometimes, do you feel like you just don’t fit in?  You look around you and if anyone knew how difficult it was just to put yourself together, to smile when you feel completely overwhelmed, to even figure out what you were making for supper, they’d know what a mess you were.   Maybe you totally relate to those words in 1 Peter – God’s elect, strangers and aliens in the world.   Do you feel like when you look in the rear view mirror, all you see are your mistakes? 

            Maybe not.  But if so, then PJ is your gal.  I wanted to write a story about the person in so many of us who just wants to get it right…but can’t seem to stay out of trouble.  My friend and I have what we call the “stupid mouth” club…and we report our weekly foibles (usually on Monday, after Sunday church!).  PJ is our charter member.  She’s the girl that changes her mind, always hopes for the best, is always discovering that she is just a little different than everyone else.  PJ is us. 

            And that’s good news.  Because God loves PJ.  He loves her messiness, and her impulsiveness, her heart bent toward others, the hope that fuels her actions.  And He has a plan for PJ – one that includes her weaknesses as well as her strengths.

            Yep, I need to hear that – need to hear that I don’t have to be perfect for God to love me, use me, sing over me.  Need to hear that although I don’t fit in, well, I’m not supposed to…in fact, I’m supposed to be a little…alien.

            I wrote PJ for everyone who feels just a little messy, just a little like they can’t quite get it right.  And who needs to hear that God loves them.  Period.  Full stop.  Hallelujah.

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Enduring Justice:

ENDURING JUSTICE

To order online: Amazon  

Secrets Can’t Last Forever

 A PAINFUL PAST

Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her memories.

 A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED KILLER

As a Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. Difficult cases and broken relationships have plagued his entire year. But when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.

 A LIFE-ALTERING CHOICE

A racist’s well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. The dividing line between the two is the choice to heal. But when the attack turns personal, is justice enough?

Amy Wallace

 Q.  Where did the idea for the stories in the DEFENDERS OF HOPE series come from?

A. The Defenders of Hope series started with a literal dream about an FBI agent with a wounded heart and a mom on a dangerous quest for answers. That dream became the book Ransomed Dreams. During the research for Ransomed Dreams, I met with a federal agent and asked the question—what would happen if an FBI agent found out he had cancer? His answer became the second book, Healing Promises. And the third book in the series, Enduring Justice, grew out of a secret one of the characters, Hanna Kessler, struggles to keep hidden.

 Q. Your current release is Enduring Justice, book 3 in the Defenders of Hope series. Is it necessary to read all the books in order?

 A. I’ve been told by many readers and read reviews that have said the Defenders of Hope books can be read in any order as stand-alones. The cases and suspense story-lines are self-contained, no cliffhanger endings until the next book. But the characters’ friendships and relationships grow and are challenged in each book, so I’d say it’s best but not necessary for the stories to be read in order.

 Q. You’ve said that Enduring Justice contains the shards of your once-broken heart. What do you mean by that?

A. Fifteen years ago, God placed me in a safe place and used my future husband’s hands to hold me together while my heart shattered. David was the first person to hear about my being date raped when I was a teen. For five years I’d denied what happened or blamed myself. So when my walls of secrecy started to crumble, I felt alone and terrified.

But God met me there. He covered my shame with His grace and we started down the painful path of healing. Even though this isn’t the same circumstances as what Hanna Kessler faces in Enduring Justice, a lot of my personal story went into the writing. And while this subject may qualify this story as “gritty,” the focus is not on the past experiences, but on the healing an adult woman finds as she opens up to her family and the man she loves.

 Q. One of the key themes running through Enduring Justice is racism, as Hanna’s love interest, FBI Agent Michael Parker, is investigating a white supremacist. Why is this topic near to your heart?

A. I grew up in the military and had friends of all skin colors and nationalities. One of my best friends was African American. We never talked about our skin color, but I remember one time she made a comment about how people treated her differently because of her skin. She wouldn’t explain. It wasn’t until years later after hearing some ugly words from extended family members about people of other skin colors that I started to understand racism still exists. And it breaks my heart.

Through Hanna and Eve and Michael and Lee, I wanted to highlight some of the challenges I’ve learned about from friends of other nationalities and also to show that it’s not skin color that matters, it’s who we are on the inside. We truly can be color-blind.

Q.  Where can readers learn more about you, Enduring Justice, and your other books?

A. I enjoy and value email from readers! So please visit me on the web at the Dark Chocolate Suspense site: www.amywallace. com and leave a note in the guestbook, drop me an email, or join the Dark Chocolate Suspense newsletter community: Amy’s Newsletter

 Readers can also check out a very cool book format and read the first two chapters of Enduring Justice online: Amy Wallace

Ruby’s Slippers:

Wizard of Oz meets Cinderella

When Dottie Meyers loses her ‘no place like home’ during a Kansas tornado, she wakes up to find a pair of ruby slippers left by her father who abandoned his family thirty years ago. With her sister hot on her trail to find the treasured ruby slippers, Dottie travels a yellow brick road with three friends to find her father. No wizard can solve her problems. Only the love of a heavenly father can heal her wounds and give her the desires of her heart.

There’s no place like … the heart for God’s healing touch.

 
Winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award, Leanna Ellis writes quirky women’s fiction. When she’s not busy writing, taxiing her kids to and from dance and fencing, or taking the dogs in and out, then she’s contemplating some new weird plot. Visit her website at http://www.leannaellis.com.

TOUR DE FORCE: A Love Story by Elizabeth White

Ready-Made Family
April 2009-Steeple Hill Love Inspired–IN STORES NOW!
(Received 4.5 Stars from Romantic Times)
Wings of Refuge Series

Ready-Made Family

Ready-Made Family
Amelia North needs refuge, and finds it–in Refuge, Illinois. Stranded there after a car wreck, the single mother expects to be cold-shouldered. After all, she’s already been rejected by her parents, her church and her daughter’s father. Instead, she finds a town full of people with open hands and hearts…including pararescue jumper Ben Dillinger.
Ben wants to help Amelia and her daughter find safety and stability. Instead, he finds himself freefalling—right into love with the ready-made family.

Cheryl Wyatt

Cheryl Wyatt’s closest friends would never dream the mayhem she plots during announcements at church. An RN-turned-SAHM, joyful chaos rules her home, and she delights in the stealth moments God gives her to write. She’s convinced that having been born on a Naval base on Valentine’s Day destined her to write military romance. She stays active in her church and in her laundry room. Her debut novels (Books 1 and 2-Wings of Refuge Series-Steeple Hill) received Romantic Times Top Picks. In addition, her debut books received the honor of coming in at #1 and #4 on eHarlequins’s Top Ten Most-Blogged-About-Books, lists which included several NYT Bestselling authors. Cheryl is currently serving as Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers. www.acfw.com
To receive her quarterly newsletter for updates on new releases and contests with GREAT prizes (think: free books, CDs, iPods, and a Kindle!), visit her Web site at www.cherylwyatt.com and sign up in the space provided. Cheryl respects your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with a third party.
Her current contest:
KINDLE CONTEST—NO FOOLIN!
Starting April Fool’s day 2009 I’ll be running a Kindle contest. Only my newsletter subscribers will be eligible for entry. To receive those quarterly newsletters as well as more information on the Kindle contest, visit www.cherylwyatt.com and sign up in the newsletter space provided. This is a double-opt-in feature and you will receive an e-mail prompting you to confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter. I respect your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with a third party. Winner will be announced on Independence Day 2009 on my newsletter and blog.

AUTHOR CONTACT INFO:
Web site: www.CherylWyatt.com
Cheryl’s Blog: http://www.scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

Though Ready-Made Family is part of Cheryl’s Wings of Refuge Series, each story stands alone.
A Soldier’s Promise and A Soldier’s Family are still available at most online booksellers.
Look for Cheryl’s upcoming Wings of Refuge books:
A Soldiers Reunion-June 2009
Soldier Daddy-October 2009
A Soldier’s Devotion-January 2010
Home Sweet Hero (tentative title)-Spring 2010

If Tomorrow Never Comes
By: Marlo Schalesky

If Tomorrow Never Comes:

They say you should reach for your dreams. 
            This time, they’re wrong…

Childhood sweethearts Kinna and Jimmy Henley had simple dreams—marriage, children, a house by the sea…everything they needed for happily ever after. What they didn’t plan on was years of infertility, stealing those dreams, crushing their hopes.  Now, all that’s left is the memory of young love, and the desperate need for a child to erase the pain. Until…

Kinna rescues an elderly woman from the sea, and the threads of the past, present, and future weave together to reveal the wonder of one final hope. One final chance to follow not their dreams, but God’s.  Can they embrace the redemptive power of love before it’s too late? Or will their love be washed away like the castles they once built upon the sand? The past whispers to the present.  And the future shivers.  What if tomorrow never comes?

Marlo Schalesky
www.marloschalesky.com

A Bit About Marlo:

Marlo Schalesky is the award winning author of seven books, including her latest novel, If Tomorrow Never Comes, which combines a love story with a surprise ending twist to create a new type of novel that she hopes will impact readers at their deepest levels. Marlo’s other books include Beyond the Night (just nominated for a Christy Award – yay!), Veil of Fire (winner of the 2008 ACFW Book of the Year, historical category), and Empty Womb, Aching Heart- Hope and Help for Those Struggling with Infertility.

She’s had over 600 articles published in various Christian magazines, including Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman, Decision, Moody Magazine, and Discipleship Journal. She has contributed to Dr. Dobson’s Night Light Devotional for Couples, Tyndale’s Book of Devotions for Kids #3, and Discipleship Journal’s 101 Small Group Ideas. She is a speaker and a regular columnist for Power for Living.

Marlo is also a California native, a small business owner, and a graduate of Stanford University (with a B.S. in Chemistry!). In addition, she has earned her Masters in Theology, with an emphasis in Biblical Studies, from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Marlo lives with her husband and five young children in a log home in Central California.
When she’s not changing diapers, doing laundry, or writing books, Marlo loves sipping Starbucks white mochas, reading the New Testament in Greek, and talking about finding the deep places of God in the disappointments of life.If Tomorrow Never Comes is available for purchase at:

Available through:

Amazon

Christian Book Distributors

And fine bookstores everywhere!

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An Interview with Marlo:

How did you come up with the concept for If Tomorrow Never Comes?

If Tomorrow Never Comes began with a single image that popped powerfully into my mind – an old man, walking along a foggy beach at dawn, bending to pick up an old locket from the sand.  The rest of the story grew from there.  The funny thing is, when you read the book, you’ll find that Kinna finds the locket, not an old man.  But originally the image of the locket in the sand was so intriguing to me that I kept thinking about it until a story began to develop.

How closely is If Tomorrow Never Comes based on your personal experience? 

In If Tomorrow Never Comes, the main characters are struggling with the fall-out from infertility.  I’ve spent most of my adult life – 15 years – dealing with infertility and miscarriage.  I’ve had some successes along the way, and whole lot of failure, disappointment and pain.
So, as far as plot-line goes – what happens to the characters and how they’re changed and challenged through the book – that is uniquely Kinna & Jimmy’s story.  But the emotions, the fears, the questions they face are things I drew from my own experience.

The longing for a baby that seems like it will never be fulfilled.  I’ve been there.  Month after month of trying and failing.  Turning into year after year.  I’ve been there.  Frustration.  Doubt.  Wondering how God could possibly love me in the midst of this.  Been there.  Having to pry my white-knuckled fingers off my own hopes and dreams.  Been there.  Choosing to love anyway.  Choosing to believe anyway.  Choosing to trust God anyway.  Been there.

It seems that just about every deep and meaningful thing I’ve learned about God, I can point to my journey through infertility and say, “Yeah, infertility taught me that.”  It taught me that I’m not the god of my life.  God is.  It taught me there are things I cannot control, cannot achieve, no matter how hard I try.  And sometimes we must choose to live the life God has given us, with love and hope, even when it’s not the life we dreamed. 

Because infertility taught me that God calls us not to the pursuit of our dreams, but to love.  “Love one another,” Jesus says.   “Love your neighbor as yourself.”   God taught me that through the journey of my own infertility.  My hope is that If Tomorrow Never Comes will reveal the same truths to others as well.

What is the symbolism for the title If Tomorrow Never Comes?

The idea behind the title is that the choices and decisions we make today dramatically impact our future, our “tomorrows,” and not only ours but the tomorrows of others as well.  Choosing to love, choosing to do right despite pain, disappointment, and sorrow, allows tomorrow to come.  But choices made out of desperation, fear, and clinging to our own desires can cut off the future God wants for us.

We don’t know, we can’t see, what tomorrow holds.  So all we can do is do what’s right now, love now, trust now.  Because God sees the whole of our lives and weaves all things together, even those hard and painful things, in a way that will make a beautiful masterpiece in the Kingdom of God. 

So, really, the title means that if we choose love today, if we choose sacrificial love, God will hold our tomorrows in His hand.  That’s what’s at the heart of If Tomorrow Never Comes . . .the choice to love, the choice to believe, the choice to let go of our dreams in order to embrace His.  To do it today, for the sake of all our tomorrows.

Do you have a favorite character in If Tomorrow Never Comes? Why?

My favorite is Thea (her name is short for Alethia, the Greek word for Truth), who is the old woman whom Kinna rescues from drowning in chapter one.  Throughout the story, all the reader knows is that Thea is there for a reason – she has a purpose in Kinna & Jimmy’s lives.  With wry humor and odd confrontations, she steers Jimmy & Kinna toward reconciliation and one another.  She helps them to remember their past love story.

What I like best about her is her humor mixed with mystery.  She’s just fun.    She thinks she’s in a dream, and doesn’t want to become some crazy old lady with a houseful of cats.  But despite her doubts, she chooses to care about Jimmy and Kinna and help them, no matter what.  She chooses right, and as it turns out, that makes all the difference, for them, and for her too.

How did you choose the story line?

Well, the story line I chose isn’t the one you’ll read in the book.  The story line you’ll read is the one the characters insisted on.  Mostly it was Kinna’s fault – she simply wouldn’t do what I’d outlined for her to do!  In fact, I rewrote the first third of the book a dozen times trying to convince her to act the way I wanted.  But she wouldn’t  cooperate.  Just like in the story, she had her own plans!  So finally I gave up and allowed the story to change and flow as the characters dictated.  Needless to say, that worked out a lot better.  So, I invite the reader to experience the story of If Tomorrow Never Comes much as I experienced it – page by page, scene by scene, being surprised and delighted by each turn of events.

What message would you like your readers to take away from If Tomorrow Never Comes?

Our culture tells us that we can do anything we set our minds to, we can accomplish any dream . . . and we should.  “Reach for your dreams,” we say, as if that is the highest goal of humankind.  Success posters (and platitudes) abound.

But 15 years of infertility and miscarriage have taught me that we are not the gods of our lives.  There are things we cannot control, no matter how hard we try.

Perhaps that is why God calls us not to the pursuit of our dreams, but to love.  “Love one another,” Jesus exhorts in John 13:34-35, and also gives, as the second greatest commandment, the exhortation to “love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Lev. 19:18, and all 3 Synoptics)

So, in our Grasp-Your-Dreams culture, I hope this book will stand against the tide, calling people instead to the way of love – to the way of laying down their lives for others instead of clutching their own dreams and plans.

I hope readers will be inspired to fight for their marriages with sacrificial love, and will be challenged to look to the future for the rewards of loving sacrificially, and to the past to remember the seeds of real love. 

What is your goal or mission as a writer?

I hope to make God’s love in the midst of trials and tragedies evident and unmistakable.  I dream of opening readers’ eyes to the wonder and mystery of our incredible, vivid God.  And I hope the vision of Him will take their breath away.

Are there any other new projects on the horizon?

Yes!  My third “love story with a twist,” currently titled Shades of Morning, is due out in early 2010.  I’m in the midst of writing it now and am enjoying the characters and plot.  For those who read If Tomorrow Never Comes, watch for Marnie, the quirky owner of the coffeeshop and bookstore, who will be the main character in Shades of Morning.

Marnie has her life just where she wants it.  At least that’s what she tells herself – her past is hidden, her regrets locked tightly in a box on her shelf, and her bookstore and coffeeshop business is booming.  No one knows what she’s done, who she’s been.  That is, until the man she once loved finds her again and brings startling news – she’s now the guardian of her 15-year-old nephew, a boy she never knew existed.  And to make matters worse, when the boy arrives, she discovers he has Down Syndrome.  The past collides with the present, the box of regrets is exposed, and Marnie’s world shattered and rebuilt through the love of one special boy who makes all things new. 

And Marlo’s book Beyond the Night is a 2009 Christy Finalist. Congratulations, Marlo! Beyond the Night is currently on my nightstand, and I look forward to reading it!