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KATHY’S
BEST BOOK LIST
10-15-08:
235 titles
Parameters:
I have not included any book
that does not meet my “Criteria for Determining the Wholesomeness of
Literature.” Often I will finish a novel that almost meets my criteria. I have chosen not to include any of these
“borderline” books on my list. The book that contains the most graphically
violent scene is, in my opinion, Crime
and Punishment. As far as foul language goes, The Great Gatsby is probably as bad as any of these books get. The book containing the most sexually
descriptive scene is, I believe, White
Nights, Red Morning, which is no surprise since Grigori Rasputin is its
antagonist. This novel, however, was published by an Evangelical house, which
ought to give you an idea of how conservative I am in this department!
List
Categories:
I believe literature should
edify and delight and have no desire to recommend a book to someone who would
not like it. Since many readers cannot bear to read a novel that doesn’t have a
happy ending, I’ve put all of my books into one of three categories: happy,
bittersweet, and stark. I’ve explained each category under its respective
heading.
Genres:
I have
given each book a genre, more to help you find the book than anything else. The
books labeled “Evangelical” are those published by the Evangelical Christian
publishing houses such as Thomas Nelson, Bethany House, and Tyndale. Those
labeled “LDS” were published by houses distributing to members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as Deseret Book and Covenant. The only
LDS novels I’ve included on the main list are those marketed to a general
audience and available in the public library I use. Since the Evangelical books
are all available in my library, they are all on the main list. If a
contemporary book has a strong religious feel but was published by a mainstream
house, I’ve given it a more general description such as “Christian fiction” or
“Jewish fiction.” Many of the classics have powerful religious content, even
though I haven’t described them in this way. The only non-fiction books listed
are those that have the feel of a novel.
Juvenile and Young Adult Books:
Every
book on this list is one I enjoyed reading as an adult, even if it was
published for young people. While I consider every book on this list wholesome,
many do contain adult subject matter and are not ones I would give to my young
children. I suggest previewing every book you encourage your child to read.
Book Descriptions:
All
descriptions in quotation marks came from the book jackets. I’ll add more
descriptions as time permits.
In
these books, no matter what trials and tribulations the characters experience,
things basically work out in the end.
Rose in Bloom (American Classic)
Pebble in the Sky (science fiction)
Prelude to Foundation (science fiction)
Foundation (science fiction)
Foundation and Empire (science fiction)
Second Foundation (science fiction)
Foundation’s Edge (science fiction)
I, Robot (stories)
*Emma (British classic)
Mansfield Park (British classic)
Northanger Abby (British classic)
*Persuasion (British classic)
*Pride and Prejudice (British
classic)
*Sense and Sensibility (British
classic)
Note:
Jane Austen is my favorite author of all time. I love both her stories and her
intelligent, elegant, satirical style.
Barrett, Julia
Jane Austen’s Charlotte
Delightful finishing of Jane Austen’s
Sandition.
Blackmore, R.M.
Lorna Doone (British classic)
The Royal Pavilions series: (Evangelical
historical)
While working to prove himself innocent of a murder
he didn’t commit, knight Tancred Redwan becomes involved with Byzantine
noblewoman Helena Lysander and the Crusades.
1. Swords
and Scimitars
2. Golden
Palaces
3. Behind
the Veil
Clemmons, Samuel (Mark Twain)
Huckleberry Finn (American classic)
The Prince and the Pauper (American classic)
Tom Sawyer (American classic)
Collins, Wilkie
The Moonstone (British classic, mystery)
The Woman in White (British classic, mystery)
Costain, Thomas B.
The Black Rose (historical)
Walter of Gurnie, the illegitimate son of a Saxon
nobleman, leaves England to seek his fortune in Cathay and soon meets the young
Greek woman Maryam, also known as “The Black Rose.”
The
Silver Chalice (Christian
historical)
“Basil
of Antioch, a young and skilled artisan, [is] purchased from slavery to create
a decorative casing for the [Holy Grail]. Basil pursues his project, diverted only by
the charms of two beautiful women, one good and one evil.”
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol (story in book form, British
classic)
Dorr, Roberta Kells
The Queen of Sheba (Evangelical Biblical)
“[The queen of Sheba] journeys to Israel—hoping not
only to divert a needless and costly war but to meet the legendary Hebrew King.
. . . She finds a compelling faith and powerful love that she can match,
passion for passion, without losing her queenly freedom.”
Douglas, Lloyd C.
Magnificent
Obsession
(Inspirational classic)
Doyle, Arthur Conan
The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes)
The Hound of the Baskerilles (Sherlock Holmes)
Sherlock
Holmes stories (British classic mystery)
Forster, E.M.
Room with a View
(modern literature, British)
Hale, Shannon
Book
of a Thousand Days
(YA fantasy)
“When
Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven
years because of Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare
for a very long and dark imprisonment. . . .With the arrival outside the tower
of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, the other decidedly less so—the girls are
confronted with both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate
choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.”
Princess
Academy (juv/YA
fantasy)
Hardy, Thomas
Under
the Greenwood Tree
(British Classic)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
The House of the Seven Gables (American
classic)
Jones, Diana Wynne
*Howl’s Moving Castle (juv/YA
fantasy)
“Eldest of three sisters, in a land where it is
considered to be a misfortune, Sophie is resigned to her fate as a hat shop
apprentice until a witch turns her into an old woman and she finds herself in
the castle of the greatly feared Wizard Howl.”
*Castle in the Air (juv/YA
fantasy)
“Having long indulged
himself in daydreams more exciting than his mundane life as a carpet merchant,
Abdullah unexpectedly purchases a magic carpet and his life changes
dramatically as his daydreams come true and dangerous adventures become daily
fare.” (sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle)
The River’s Gift (story in book form, fantasy)
A Wrinkle in Time (juv fantasy)
Ella Enchanted (juv/YA fantasy)
“At her birth, Ella of Frell was the unfortunate
recipient of a foolish fairy’s gift—the ‘gift’ of obedience. Ella must obey any
order given to her, whether it’s hopping on one foot for a day and a half, or
chopping off her own head! . . . Ella goes on a quest to break the curse—once
and for all.”
Fairest
(juv fantasy)
“In the Kingdom of Ayortha, Aza is most definitely
not the fairest of them all. . . . But in a land of singers, Aza has her own
gift . . . a voice that can do almost anything, a voice that captivates all who
hear it.”
Lewis, C.S.
The Chronicles of Narnia (juv Christian fantasy)
1. The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2. Prince
Caspian
3. The
Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”
4. The
Silver Chair
5. The
Horse and His Boy
6. The
Magician’s Nephew
7. The
Last Battle
The Phantom of the Opera (French classic)
Mahmoody, Betty with William Hoffer
Not Without My Daughter
(autobiography)
McKillip, Patricia A.
The Book of Atrix Wolfe (fantasy)
Prince Talis, a young mage, finds a book of spells
written by a great mage and reawakens the shadowy, savage Hunter that, twenty
years previously, destroyed his father and the army of his country.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (juv/YA
fantasy)
Ombria in Shadow (fantasy)
The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy (juv/YA
fantasy)
1. The Riddle-Master of Hed
2. Heir of Sea and Fire
3. Harpist in the Wind
Winter Rose (fantasy)
“. . . Rois is consumed with Corbet Lynn, obsessed
with his secret past—until, across the frozen countryside and in flight from
her own imagination, truth and dreams become inseparable.”
McKinley, Robin
Beauty (juv/YA fantasy)
The Blue Sword (YA fantasy)
McCaffrey, Anne
An Exchange of Gifts (story in book form, fantasy)
“A runaway princess and a poor young boy try to make
a new life for themselves without revealing their pasts or the magical powers
they possess.”
Montgomery, L.M.
Anne of Green Gables series:
1.
Anne of Green Gables (juv historical)
2.
Anne of Avonlea (YA historical)
3.
Anne of the Island
4.
Anne of Windy Poplars
5.
Anne’s House of Dreams (My favorite of the series!)
6.
Anne of Ingleside
7.
Rainbow Valley
Mowat, Farley
Never Cry Wolf (autobiography)
Murray, Stuart
Judith’s Dime Novel (western)
“Crossing the Sierra Nevada by stagecoach in 1868,
Judith Adams brings along all her Eastern illusions about the Wild
West—illusions borrowed from the romantic dime-novel Westerns she loves to
read. . . . When the stagecoach is ambushed, Judith’s life suddenly seems to
come right out of the dog-eared pages of her favorite dime novel.”
Note: I’m normally not a fan of
westerns, but I liked White Fire so
well I decided to give this one a try. It was fun! Both Judith’s Dime Novel and White
Fire are so colorful and lively that they would, I believe, make good books
to read aloud as a family.
White Fire (historical adventure)
“Frontier adventurers in southern Africa battle a
secret occult brotherhood and native conspirators for possession of an ancient
amulet that has the power to reveal great treasures or to destroy its bearer.”
Norton, Andre and Lyn McConchie
The Key of the Keplian (fantasy)
*The Scarlet Pimpernel (British
classic)
Peters, Elizabeth (Barbara Mertz)
Crocodile on the
Sandbank (mystery)
Porter, Gene Stratton
Freckles (American classic, juv/YA)
“Abandoned as an infant and given only a nickname by
the orphanage, Freckles is hired by kind Mr. McLean to guard a stretch of
valuable timber in the wild Limberlost swamp of Indiana. . . . His happiness
would be complete if only he could solve the mystery of his birth.”
A Girl of the Limberlost (American classic, juv/YA)
“Gradually
Elnora uncovers the [Limberlost]’s many mysteries, including a dark secret
about her father and the key to the love her mother has hidden from her for so
long.”
Shusterman, Neal
Downsiders (YA science fiction)
“Talon
lives Downside, that is, underneath New York City . . . when Talon accidentally
meets a young woman named Lindsay, who is a Topsider . . . the two worlds
inevitably collide.”
Stewart, Mary
The Moon-Spinners (romantic suspense)
On a
vacation in the countryside of Crete, Nicola Ferris happens onto a wounded man
and is drawn into a dangerous adventure.
Tennant, Emma
Pemberley or Pride and Prejudice Continued (historical)
Preparing for a Christmas
celebration at Pemberley that will include her mother, Miss Bingley, and Lady
Catherine DeBourgh, Elizabeth Darcy worries she will be unable to bear her
husband an heir.
An Unequal Marriage or Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later (historical)
While hosting a lavish wedding at Pemberley for
their dear friend Colonel Fitzwilliam, the Darcys painfully confront the
possibility that their son may be an unsuitable heir to the estate.
Crystal Witness Bantam Spectra, 1989 (science
fiction)
Firebird series:
(Evangelical science fiction)
1. Firebird Bethany House, 1999
2. Fusion Fire Bethany House, 2000
3. Crown of Fire Bethany House, 2000
One Mind’s Eye Bantam Spectra, 1996 (science
fiction)
Shivering World Bethany House, 2004
(Evangelical science fiction)
Note:
As a science fiction fan, everything in me rejoiced when I discovered Kathy
Tyers. These books are as terrific as they are clean! Since several of her
books have been published twice, I’ve included the publishing companies and
dates of the editions I read.
Tolkien, J. R. R.
The Hobbit (fantasy)
**Lord of the Rings trilogy (fantasy)
1. The Fellowship of the Ring
2. The Two Towers
3. The Return of the King
Note:
Like so many other fantasy fans, The Lord
of the Rings is my favorite work of fiction. I’ve read this series well
over ten times! I seem to always get in the mood for it in September, which, as
those of you who have read it will know, is the same month Frodo sets out on
his journey. Naturally, I sit outside and read it while I watch my children
play. Life just doesn’t get much better than that!
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Little House in the Big
Woods (juv)
Little House on the Prairie (juv)
On the Banks of Plum Creek (juv)
By the Shores of Silver Lake (juv)
The Long Winter (juv)
Little Town on the Prairie (juv)
These Happy Golden Years (juv)
*The Crown of Eden
(Evangelical fantasy)
The Devil’s Mouth (Evangelical fantasy)
Wrede, Patricia C.
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (juv/YA
fantasy)
A
female dragon king, an improper princess, a casual king, a non-traditional
witch, and an intellectual magician fight the scheming Society of Wizards in
these wacky fairy tale adventures.
1.
Dealing with Dragons
2.
Searching for Dragons
3.
Calling on Dragons
4.
Talking to Dragons
Magician’s Ward (fantasy)
Eleret must return to her mountain home with her
mother’s mysterious Raven Ring, despite the evil forces that seek to steal the
Ring.
Shadows Over Lyra
(fantasy; Lyra; 3 novels in 1 book)
1. Shadow Magic
“Alethia of Alkyra was too practical a princess to
believe in Shee and Wyrds and Shadow-born—until they reached out and changed
her life.”
2. Daughter of
Witches
“Magic is death in Drinn. And the three strangers
who come to Ranira’s inn are definitely magic.
So why does she link her destiny to theirs?”
3. The Harp of
Imach Thyssel
“Music to make the Shee weep and power to bring a
dying man to life again—that’s the magic of the Harp. But the cost may be higher than Emereck the
minstrel is willing to pay.”
These books have a happy/sad
quality. They may make you cry in parts, but unless you are under a great deal
of emotional stress, these books will probably not depress you.
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man (stories, science fiction)
“The tattooed man moves, and in the arcane designs
scrawled upon his skin swirl tales beyond imagining—tales of love and laughter,
darkness and death, of mankind’s glowing, golden past and dim, haunted future.”
Bronte, Anne
Agnes Grey (British classic)
The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall (British classic)
A mysterious young woman moves into the gloomy old
Wildfell Hall with her son. Everyone in the neighborhood presumes she is a
widow, but as Gilbert Markham gets to know her better, he learns that her
situation is not what it appears to be.
Bronte, Charlotte
*Jane Erye (British classic)
Burns, Olive Ann
Cold Sassy Tree (historical)
Burns, Olive Ann and Katrina Kenison
Leaving Cold Sassy (unfinished novel, biography)
Card, Orson Scott
Stone Tables (LDS Biblical)
Creative retelling of the
story of Moses.
My Antonia (modern literature, American)
O Pioneers!
(modern literature, American)
“With an iron will, [Alexandra Bergson] resolves to
wrest a prosperous enterprise from the unforgiving Nebraska soil.”
Clemmons, Samuel (Mark Twain)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (American classic)
Cervantes, Miguel
**Don Quixote (Spanish classic)
Aging seventeenth-century Spaniard decides to become
a knight-errant and sallies forth to right the wrongs of the world, in the
process becoming the laughingstock of the countryside. “. . . a book that is
both an immortal satire on an outdated chivalric code and a biting portrayal of
an age in which nobility can be only a form of madness.”
Note: Don Quixote is the hero of
dreamers and idealists. Since I’m both a dreamer and an idealist and my husband
is an idealist and a person of Spanish descent, it should be no surprise that
Don Quixote is our favorite fictional character of all time. He has, in fact,
become one of our family’s icons.
Costain, Thomas B.
Below the Salt
(historical)
U.S. Senator O’Rawn mysteriously summons aspiring
novelist John Foraday and gives him an account of the violent events that led
to the Magna Charta, intertwined with the story of a lost princess.
The Moneyman
(historical)
When Jacques Coeur, moneyman to King Charles the
Seventh of France, selects Valerie Maret to be the king’s new mistress, he sets
in motion a chain of events that will end with his being accused of murder,
with Valerie as his accomplice.
David Copperfield (British classic)
A Tale of Two Cities (British
classic)
Douglas, Lloyd C.
The Robe (Christian historical)
“The
story of the soldier who tossed for Christ’s robe and won.”
Dumas, Alexandre
The Count of Monte Cristo (French
classic)
Note:
I’ve only read an abridged version.
Evans, Richard Paul
The Christmas Box (novella in book form,
Christian)
“. . . story of a widow and the young family who
moves in with her. Together they
discover the first gift of Christmas and learn what Christmas is really all
about.”
Timepiece (historical)
With the help of David
Parkin’s diary, Richard discovers the mystery of the exquisite timepiece
MaryAnne Parkin had given him eleven days before her death. (Prequel to The Christmas Box.)
Forster, E.M.
Howard’s End (modern literature, British)
“Howards End, a house in the Hertfordshire
countryside, becomes the symbol of the conflict within English society.”
Gaskell, Elizabeth
North and South (British classic)
Hardy, Thomas
Far From the
Madding Crowd (British
classic)
Hilton, James
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (historical)
Elderly English schoolmaster Mr. Chipping remembers
his life with pleasure before he says goodbye for the last time.
Lost Horizon (mainstream fantasy)
“High in the distant reaches of the Tibetan
mountains . . . a group of worldly men and women have stumbled upon a land of
mystery and matchless beauty, where life is lived in tranquil wonder, beyond
the grasp of a doomed world.”
*Random Harvest (historical
romance)
“Charles Rainier, heir to a distinguished British
family, has three years missing from his life.
This is the story of his attempt to rediscover those years and the woman
he loved, and may have lost forever.”
Hoff, B.J.
Song of the Silent Harp (Evangelical historical)
Marshall, Catherine
Christy (Christian historical)
Julie (Christian historical)
Julie Wallace moves with her family to a flood-prone
steel town during the Great Depression so that her father can become the new publisher
of the town’s newspaper. Julie and her family work to keep the newspaper alive
amid labor disputes and controversy over the stability of a nearby dam.
McLaughlin, Ann L.
Sunset at Rosalie (historical)
“. . . this richly detailed story of Mississippi in
the early 1900s is a saga of family life, changing times, and personal crises.”
Portrait of Jennie (historical romance)
“Was Jennie a dream a memory, a lovely ghost from
the past? Or had she stepped from another world into this? Eben Adams could
only guess at the answer. But he understood that Jennie, because she dared to
love him, had fused past and present into the delightful, delicate magic of
‘now.’”
Eva Moves the
Furniture
(historical fantasy)
“A haunting, poignant story of a motherless young
woman torn between the real world and the otherworldly companions only she can
see.”
Note: This beautiful novel reminded me
of Portrait of Jennie.
Phillips, Michael and Judith Pella
The Russians series (Evangelical historical)
This series explores the lives of peasants and
princes in the turbulent decades prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917.
1.
The Crown and the Crucible
2.
A House Divided
3.
Travail and Triumph
Beloved Stranger (Evangelical romance)
“Their love-at-first-sight relationship was more
than she had dared to dream. Why did she
now feel so lost?”
Note: This book is far more complex
than the average romance novel. One of
the best pieces of religious fiction I’ve ever read. Excellent!
The Russians series (Evangelical historical)
4.
Heirs of the Motherland
5.
Dawning of Deliverance
6.
White Nights, Red Morning
7.
Passage Into Light
The Chosen (Jewish fiction)
The Promise (Jewish fiction, sequel to The
Chosen)
Scott, Sir Walter
*Ivanhoe (British classic)
Tan, Amy
“. . . vignettes alternate back and forth between
the lives of four Chinese women in pre-1949 China and the lives of their
American-born daughters in California.”
Thoene, Bodie
The Shiloh Legacy series (Evangelical historical)
1.
In My Father’s House
2.
A Thousand Shall Fall
3.
Say to This Mountain
Zion Chronicles series (Evangelical historical)
1. The
Gates of Zion
2. A
Daughter of Zion
3. Return
to Zion
4. Light
in Zion
5. The Key
to Zion
Zion Covenant series (Evangelical
historical)
1. Vienna Prelude
2. Prague Counterpoint
3. Munich Signature
4. Jerusalem Interlude
5. Danzig Passage
6. Warsaw Requiem
Shiloh Autumn (Evangelical historical)
The Twilight of Courage (historical)
Tolstoy, Leo
War and Peace (Russian classic)
Turgenev, Ivan
Fathers and Sons (Russian classic)
Young, Margaret Blair and Darius Aidan Gray
One More River to Cross (LDS historical)
These books typically show
the real, horrible consequences of sin. Since we are constantly being bombarded
with media garbage that glorifies evil, I find the stark approach refreshing.
Many of you, however, will not see it that way and will simply find the books
depressing. If the “Bittersweet” books are too harrowing for you, stay away
from the “Stark” list altogether. To get on the “Stark” list at all and not be
rejected as dark, a book must contain hope or at least have an admirable
character or two.
Bronte, Charlotte
Villette (British classic)
Lucy Snowe flees England and a tragic past to become
an instructor in a Villette boarding school, where she must confront her
intense feelings of loneliness, love, and disappointment.
Bronte, Emily
*Wuthering Heights (British classic)
A Lost Lady (modern literature, American)
A young Nebraska man gradually becomes disillusioned
as the beautiful and elegant Mrs. Forrester proves to be less than perfect.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Crime and Punishment (Russian classic)
The Idiot (Russian classic)
Dumas, Alexandre
The Man in the Iron Mask (French
classic)
Elliot, George
Adam Bede (British classic)
*The Great Gatsby (modern
literature, American)
Fleischman, Lisa Huang
Dream of the Walled City (historical)
“. . . masterpiece about one clever and resourceful
woman, growing up amidst the turmoil of twentieth-century China.”
Hardy, Thomas
Return of the Native (British
classic)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (British classic)
The Scarlet Letter (American classic)
Hugo, Victor
*Les Miserables (French
classic)
Lewis, C.S.
The Screwtape Letters (Christian classic)
Palliser, Charles
The Quincunx (mystery)
Perry, Anne
The Cater Street Hangman (mystery, Pitt)
Callander Square (mystery, Pitt)
Rutland Place (mystery, Pitt)
Bethlehem Road (mystery, Pitt)
Ashworth Hall (mystery, Pitt)
Brunswick Gardens (mystery, Pitt)
Face of a Stranger (mystery, Monk)
The Sins of the
Wolf (mystery,
Monk)
A Breach of Promise (mystery, Monk)
Richter, Conrad
The Light in the
Forest (YA historical)
"A beautifully written, sensitively told story
of a white boy brought up by Indians."
Silone, Ignazio
Bread and Wine (modern literature, Italian)
Tolkien, J.R.R.
*The Silmarillion (fantasy)
Tolstoy, Leo
*Anna Karenina (Russian
classic)
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in
the Moon (British
classic, science fiction)
The Invisible Man (British classic, science fiction)
The Time Machine (British classic, science fiction)
The War of the Worlds (British classic, science fiction)
Wharton, Edith
Age of Innocence (modern literature, American)
Ethan Frome (modern literature, American)
Burdened with an unproductive farm and a
hypochondriac wife, Ethan Frome becomes obsessed with his wife’s pretty young
cousin.
Wilde, Oscar
The Picture of
Dorian Gray (British
classic)
Adams, Linda Paulson
Prodigal Journey (apocalyptic, stark)
“. . . the prejudice and hate of a culture ripened
in iniquity tear Peter and Alyssa apart, forcing Alyssa on a prodigal’s journey
that prepares her in powerful but unexpected ways for the establishment of
Zion, the New Jerusalem.”
Note: This novel, with its blend of apocalyptic
fiction, fantasy, and LDS perspective, is more like my own Fall to Eden than any other book I’ve ever encountered. It’s a
truly creative look into a fascinating, harrowing future.
Downing, Sharon Jarvis
The Healing Place (contemporary, happy)
The Kaleidoscope Season (historical, happy)
Twelve Sisters (contemporary, bittersweet)
Zoe’s Gift (contemporary/historical,
bittersweet)
“Struggling with profound personal grief, Connie
Leavitt stumbles across an overgrown pioneer cemetery on the prairie outside
her small town.”
Kidd, Kathryn H.
*Paradise Vue (contemporary,
bittersweet)
“Welcome to the Paradise Vue Ward, with stained
glass windows so blindingly bright that the congregation has to wear
shades. Meet the strangest Relief
Society presidency ever called—and watch as they discover why the ward needed
them, and why they needed these callings.”
Liebenthal, Jean Z.
*Feathers and Rings (romance, happy)
Lund, Gerald N.
The Freedom Factor (fantasy, happy)
The Work and the Glory series (historical, bittersweet)
1. Pillar of Light
2.
Like a Fire is Burning
3. Truth Will Prevail
4.
Thy Gold to Refine
5.
A Season of Joy
6.
Praise to the Man
Lund, Gerald N. with Roger Hendrix
Leverage Point (contemporary adventure, happy)
McCloud, Susan Evans
Abide the Dark Dawn (historical romance, happy)
Fireweed (historical, stark)
Newman, Marsha
1. The
Lightning and the Storm (historical, bittersweet)
2. A Love
Beyond Time (contemporary, bittersweet)
3. The
Fire and The Glory: The Millennial Story (apocalyptic, bittersweet)
Where I Belong
(romance, happy)
“Heather
. . . desperately wants to allow herself to love her best friend and become a
mother to their children, yet how can she forget her lifelong dream of
succeeding in the art world?”
Richardson, Boyd
Voices in the Wind (western, happy)