Graphic designer Maggie Anderson has lived under her boyfriend's tyranny for nearly two years...until she's carjacked in New York. Will this terrifying experience be the end for Maggie — or the beginning of a freedom greater than she dares imagine? To gain that freedom, she'll have to remember to forget everything about her old life....

After two years of serving as a missionary in a remote area of South America, Daria Camfield has returned to the States to mourn her husband, reportedly killed while providing medical aid to a neighboring Colombian village. At first, Daria finds comfort only in the daughter born to her after Nate’s death. As she begins to heal, she also finds a listening ear in her new boss, Colson Hunter. Determined to move forward, Daria ignores the still small voice calling her to wait and accepts Cole’s proposal.

Reserved contractor Wade Sullivan never expected to fall in love with Starr Parnell or to love her three small kids as if they were his own. But that's exactly what happened. As their wedding draws near, however, tragedy strikes - and Wade must put aside his own grief in order to help Starr's children cope. As Wade focuses his efforts on caring for the children, he discovers that their tender, young lives give tremendous meaning to his own broken one. Then Starr's abusive ex-husband shows up to claim the offspring who barely remember him.

In this charming collection of novellas, join three generations of residents from Mapleview, Michigan, who are longing for love—and finding it—during the most wonderful season of the year. Follow schoolteacher Emma Trowbridge and childhood rival Frederick Oberstein in "Hopes and Fears" by Amanda Wen, reporter Eleanor Sweers and family friend Gideon Braum in "While Mortals Sleep" by Janyre Tromp, and high school football coach Caleb Janssen and music teacher Rachel Hamblin in "The Wondrous Gift" by Deborah Raney.

A Christy Award finalist, bestselling author Deborah Raney has garnered the RITA Award, the HOLT Medallion, and a Silver Angel for her soulstirring fiction. In Almost Forever, five firefighters perish battling the flames of the homeless shelter in Hanover Falls. Shelter volunteer Bryn Hennesey’s grief at the loss of her husband is compounded by a secret, haunting question: Did she extinguish the candle before falling asleep on that fateful night?

Now that Audrey and Grant's five kids are grown, they are turning their beloved family home into a cozy bed and breakfast in the heartland. Opening weekend makes Audrey anxious, with family and friends coming from all over to help celebrate the occasion. But when Audrey's daughter, Landyn, arrives, the U-Haul she's pulling makes it clear she's not just here for a visit. Audrey immediately has questions. What happened in New York that sent Landyn running home? And where is her husband, Chase?

In The Face of the Earth, Mitchell Brannon is counting the minutes until his wife Jill gets home from a conference. But when she fails to return, he contacts the police, who conduct a search and come up empty-handed. Jill’s best friend Shelley stays by Mitch’s side, and as their relationship deepens, Mitch struggles to honor the vows he made to a woman who seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Expecting their first baby, Judd and Evette McGlin are thrilled at the prospect of becoming parents. But their marriage faces the ultimate test when Judd learns he already has a child: a six-year-old biracial daughter, born amid secrets and lies. Now, Evette must decide if she can accept the child - and forgive Judd. She thought she was open-minded - until hidden prejudices threaten the future of an innocent little girl, Evette's marriage, and the very notion of the woman she's believed herself to be.

“Dr. Botox” to the bored rich women of Chicago, plastic surgeon Max Jordan is shocked by his son Joshua’s decision to focus his medical degree and talent on Haitian orphans. Embittered by Joshua’s sudden death, Max searches for resolution in the place his son called home - an orphanage outside of Port au Prince.

Olivia Cline has followed her husband to a new town, hoping for a fresh start after Derek’s affair with a coworker. But even before they move into their new home, tragedy strikes, and Derek is gone. With no job and precious little money, how will she cope? Going back to Chicago isn’t an option. Especially not after Olivia’s shocking discovery only weeks after Derek’s death. Her answer comes in a job posting - and the handsome, brooding artist who posted it.

When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother’s Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who's become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart.

She was a child caught in a riptide in the Caribbean Sea. He was a teenager from the East Coast on vacation with his family. He dove in to save her, and that single terrifying moment changed both of their lives forever. Ten years later Jack Ryder is a daring undercover agent with the FBI and Eliza Lawrence still lives on that pristine island. She’s an untainted princess in a kingdom of darkness and evil, on the brink of a forced marriage with a dangerous neighboring drug lord, a marriage arranged by her father.

Radio-talk-show host Eve Reilly is used to backlash from her pot-stirring on-air commentary and interviews. But now it seems a disgruntled listener is resorting to more than angry words to express their displeasure. When a suspicious package arrives on her doorstep, Eve turns to law enforcement for help. Police Detective Brent Lange can't find any evidence to link the string of unsettling incidents that follows, but he's convinced they're connected. As the harassment grows more menacing, it becomes clear someone wants Eves voice silenced - permanently.

In Indiana, Ashley Baxter Blake and her husband are about to take an anniversary trip to Paris, but she is hesitant. More than two decades ago, she made her most grievous mistake in that same city. She has never forgiven herself for what happened there, and she still harbors secrets that she’s afraid will come to light. Just before the trip, Ashley gets a call from her niece. Jessie explains that her French boyfriend’s mother remembers working at a bakery with an American named Ashley. “Could that be you?”

On a stifling summer day, an old Chevy Impala ignored the warning signals and was annihilated by the oncoming train. What no one realized until much later was that the driver had paused just before entering the tracks and kicked a small boy out of the car. A small boy with broken glasses who is clutching a notebook with all his might...but who never speaks.

When Joy Came to Stay illustrates the miraculous power of faith to overcome even the most debilitating suffering. Maggie Stovall has a successful career and a happy marriage, but she also bears the crippling weight of a secret from her past. As she slips farther and farther into depression, her only hope lies in God's loving forgiveness.

Kari Baxter Jacobs is furious, hurt, and confused. Her husband, Tim, a respected professor of journalism, is having an affair with a student. Stunned, Kari returns home to the Baxter family to sort things out. But when an old flame comes back into her life, she is more confused than ever.

The strength of love and family and the struggles and joys of Christian living weave together in this touching contemporary romance.

Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn't have fallen in love, let alone gotten married. They're both plagued with faulty genes - he has bipolar disorder and she has a ravaging family history of breast cancer. But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy's 21st birthday, sparks fly, and there's no denying their chemistry. Cautious every step of the way, they are determined to make their relationship work-and they put it all in writing. Mickey promises to take his medication. Lucy promises not to blame him for what is beyond his control. He promises honesty.

In the idyllic small town of Tucker, Vermont, life flows at a rhythmic pace for pediatrician Paige Pfeiffer. But when Mara O'Neill, her best friend and medical partner, inexplicably kills herself, Paige's comfortable world is suddenly shattered. Temporarily caring for Mara's newly adopted baby daughter while she comes to grips with her grief, Paige clings to the hope that, in time, her orderly life will return.

Laura Brandon's promise to her dying father was simple: to visit an elderly woman she'd never heard of before. A woman who remembers nothing-except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make. But Laura's promise results in another death: her husband's. And after their five-year-old daughter, Emma, witnesses her father's suicide, Emma refuses to talk about it - to talk at all.Frantic and guilt ridden, Laura contacts the only person who may be able to help.

Best-selling author and PEN and Beyond Margins Award finalist Thrity Umrigar’s acclaimed novels “resonate with rich prose and vibrant depictions of India” ( Booklist). In The World We Found, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta - once friends at the University of Bombay - reconnect 30 years later when Armaiti is diagnosed with cancer. Coming together, all four women are forced to reexamine their lives.

From the moment Martha and her husband, John, conceived their second child, all hell broke loose. They were a couple obsessed with success. After years of matching IQs and test scores with less driven peers, they had two Harvard degrees apiece and were gunning for more. But the dream had begun to disintegrate. Then, when their unborn son, Adam, was diagnosed with Down syndrome, doctors, advisers, and friends in the Harvard community warned them not to keep the baby.

Victoria Christopher Murray writes Essence best-selling novels of relationships, life's trials, and the faith that saves. In The Ex Files, four very different women see their lives fall apart. They react differently, but each struggles with how to pick up the pieces devastation left behind. After their pastor asks the four women to meet for weekly prayer, their lives take another unexpected turn.

For 17 years, Sheridan and Quentin seemed to have the perfect marriage. Now he is leaving her for another man. Her life shattered, Sheridan wonders how she can help their two children live through this crisis, while keeping her own emotional turmoil under control.

An engaging tale full of warmth and wisdom, The Quilter’s Apprentice is the first novel in best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilts series. Sarah McClure takes a job helping elderly Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale. Sylvia, a master quilter, agrees to share the tricks of the trade with Sarah. As the two women grow close, Sylvia shares her family’s tragic past, compelling Sarah to look at her own life more closely.

Brett Bohlinger has forgotten all about the list of life goals she’d written as a naïve teenager. In fact, at 34, Brett seems to have it all—a plum job at her family’s multimillion-dollar company and a spacious loft with her irresistibly handsome boyfriend. But when her beloved mother, Elizabeth, passes away, Brett’s world is turned upside down. Rather than simply naming her daughter the new CEO of Bohlinger Cosmetics, Elizabeth’s will comes with one big stipulation: Brett must fulfill the list of childhood dreams she made so long ago.

What does a child's life-threatening illness cost the neighbors of Cedar Circle? What joys can be hidden in life's greatest tragedies? Behind brightly lit windows and on front porches, marriages are tested and mended, hearts broken, hopes resurrected, dreams released and reformed, values and futures shaped, and faith rekindled . . . or found for the first time.

During a terrible heat wave in 1991 - the worst in a decade - 10-year-old Anton has been locked in an apartment in the projects, alone, for seven days, without air conditioning or a fan. With no electricity, the refrigerator and lights do not work. Hot, hungry, and desperate, Anton shatters a window and climbs out. Cutting his leg on the broken glass, he is covered in blood when the police find him. Juanita, his mother, is discovered in a crack house less than three blocks away, nearly unconscious and half-naked.

At 41, Vivian Armstrong Gray's life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she's pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says "yes" to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito. Down South, it's her sister's ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life - and where unexpected friendships develop.