Halloween isn’t for everyone. If that’s you, here are some inspirational novels that buck against the spookiness of the season.
Redemption by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley
Book 1 in the bestselling 5-book Christian fiction series that has sold nearly 2 million copies!
A story of redemption and love at all costs, from Karen Kingsbury, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “heart-tugging and emotional” (Romantic Times) life-changing fiction, co-authored with Gary Smalley.
Redemption is the first book in the original Baxter Family Series, which has gone on to captivate tens of millions of readers and is currently being made into an original television series, produced by Roma Downey and Will Packer.
A Shocking Betrayal
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.
A Difficult Decision
How can Kari forgive her husband? What could possibly ease the pain? And what about her own revived feelings for Ryan, a man she knows she should avoid?
A Reason to Hope
As Kari searches for answers, an unexpected discovery gives her hope for the future. But when she faces her darkest hour, can she find the faith and strength she needs to move on?
Winner of Christian Retailing’s Retailer’s Choice Award for Best Series!
Redemption is the first book in the five-book Redemption series about the Baxter family—their fears and desires, their strengths and weaknesses, their losses and victories. Each book explores key relationship themes as well as the larger theme of redemption, both in characters’ spiritual lives and in their relationships.
Fans will enjoy a personal note from Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley as well as discussion questions for book group use.
Provenance by Carla Laureano
From two-time RITA Award–winning author Carla Laureano comes a story of romance, transformation, and the beauty of belonging.
Los Angeles interior designer and former foster kid Kendall Green is in high demand, both for her impeccable eye and for her uncanny ability to uncover the provenance of any piece. But for all her success, skyrocketing costs have put her California home and her business in jeopardy. Then an unexpected inheritance provides a timely solution: a grandmother she never knew has left her a group of historic properties in a tiny Colorado town on the edge of ruin.
To young, untried mayor Gabriel Brandt, Jasper Lake is more than another small town—it’s the place that saved his life. Now, seeing the town slowly wither and die, he’s desperate to restore it to its former glory. Unfortunately, his vision is at odds with a local developer who wants to see the town razed and rebuilt as a summer resort.
He’s sure that he can enlist the granddaughter of one of its most prominent former citizens to his cause—until he meets Kendall and realizes that not only does she know nothing of her own history, she has no interest in reviving a place that once abandoned her.
In order to save his beloved town, Gabe must first help Kendall unravel the truth of her own provenance—and Kendall must learn that in order to embrace the future, sometimes you have to start with the past.
Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd
Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives.
After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of her legacy and in need of allies and ideas, Cassidy reaches out to Nick, her former love, despite the complicated emotions brought by having him back in her life.
Cassidy inherits not only the family home but a task, spoken with her grandmother’s final breaths: ask Grace Kim—Eunhee’s granddaughter—to help sort through the contents of the locked hope chest in the attic. As she and Grace dig into the past, they unearth their grandmothers’ long-held secret and more. Each startling revelation reshapes their understanding of their grandmothers and ultimately inspires the courage to take risks and make changes to own their lives.
Set in both modern-day and midcentury Whidbey Island, Washington, this dual-narrative story of four women—grandmothers and granddaughters—intertwines across generations to explore the secrets we keep, the love we pass down, and the heirlooms we inherit from a well-lived life.
A Piece of the Moon by Chris Fabry
2022 Carol Award Winner! An inspiring southern fiction story from the bestselling author of War Room
When eccentric millionaire Gideon Quidley receives a divine revelation to hide his earthly treasure somewhere in the hills, he sets out to find a fitting hiding spot, choosing only a few Bible verses as clues leading to untold riches of gold, silver, cash . . . and one very unexpected—and very costly—item.
Treasure hunters descend upon the hills of West Virginia, including those surrounding the small town of Emmaus, where TD Lovett and Waite Evers provide the latest updates and the beating heart of the community on radio station Country 16. Neither man is much interested in a wild-goose chase for Quidley’s treasure, though. Waite is busy keeping the station afloat and caring for the bruised souls who have landed there. Meanwhile, TD’s more intent on winning over local junkyard owner Pidge Bledsoe, who has taken in a shy, wounded boy to raise.
But after an estranged friend goes missing searching for the treasure, TD is unexpectedly drawn into the hunt. As TD joins the race to find Quidley’s wealth, he discovers where his own real treasure lies, and he begins to suspect there’s a hidden piece to Gideon Quidley’s treasure that no one could’ve expected.
A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers
The complete biblical historical fiction compilation by the New York Times bestselling author of Redeeming Love and A Voice in the Wind.
The Bible is filled with inspiring stories of unlikely candidates God chose to change eternity. This bestselling compilation in one volume contains five novellas about such people—women in the family tree of Jesus Christ.
Tamar. Rahab. Ruth. Bathsheba. Mary.
Each was faced with extraordinary—even scandalous—challenges. But they had courage. They lived daring lives. Sometimes they made mistakes—big mistakes. And yet God, in His infinite mercy, used them to bring forth the Christ, the Savior of the world. Their stories still hold great meaning and inspiration for us today.
Tamar risked her life and her reputation to be the woman she was called to be. See how God uses our circumstances and our steps toward Him, however faltering, to fulfill His plan.
Rahab was exploited by men who saw only her beauty, yet she held fast to her faith in God and was rewarded. Discover how God seeks and finds those whose hearts are tender toward Him, no matter how far away they are.
Ruth’s loyalty, especially toward her mother-in-law Naomi, helped her to persevere in the face of tragedy, and God gave her a second chance at love. Be encouraged that God will provide even when all hope seems lost.
Bathsheba’s scandalous affair with David did not end in one night. Learn that God is willing to restore those lost in the depths of despair who call out to Him.
Mary is one of the most revered women in history. But first, she was an ordinary woman striving to please God in the same way that women still do today. When God spoke, Mary responded in obedience which changed the world forever.
Each novella includes an in-depth Bible study perfect for personal reflection or group discussion.
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
From the #1 New York Times author of Before We Were Yours.
When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iola’s rambling Victorian house.
Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iola’s walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iola’s youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper—the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything for Tandi.
The Best We’ve Been by Beth K. Vogt
How can you choose what is right for you when your decision will break the heart of someone you love?
Having abandoned her childhood dream years ago, Johanna Thatcher knows what she wants from life. Discovering that her fiancé was cheating on her only convinces Johanna it’s best to maintain control and protect her heart.
Despite years of distance and friction, Johanna and her sisters, Jillian and Payton, have moved from a truce toward a fragile friendship. But then Johanna reveals she has the one thing Jillian wants most and may never have—and Johanna doesn’t want it. As Johanna wrestles with a choice that will change her life and her relationships with her sisters forever, the cracks in Jillian’s marriage and faith deepen. Through it all, the Thatcher sisters must decide once and for all what it means to be family.
Beach Haven by T.I. Lowe
From the bestselling author of Lulu’s Café
Free-spirited Opal Gilbert seems to have everything she needs to keep living a happy life in Sunset Cove as she refurbishes vintage furniture to sell at her funky ocean-side boutique, Bless This Mess. Until Lincoln Cole, a new-to-town ex-Marine nursing deep wounds and harboring hurts he can’t seem to shake, wanders into her shop. Opal knows a person in need when she sees one and offers Lincoln a job in her workshop. But the brooding former soldier has no interest in Opal’s offer. Thanks but no thanks.
But then a hurricane strikes, damaging Bless This Mess. Feeling guilty for how he treated Opal, Lincoln decides to help her repair the store. And soon it becomes clear Opal wants to restore not only her business, but also help Lincoln find restoration. As much as Lincoln tries to keep her at arm’s length, Opal’s well-meaning meddling begins to heal his wounds . . . and capture his heart almost before he realizes it.
