Winner Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
Blessed with a high emotional IQ, Phinn Reed enters the world with the promise of finding his soul mate. With heaven’s memories erased, his romantic quest teaches him that the heart often sees clearer than the eyes—and that not everyone has ordered the same items from The Menu. This inspirational love story is heartfelt evidence that love stories come in many different forms.
At a boarding school in Pennsylvania, a deathbed request from the school’s dean brings three former students back to campus, where secrets and betrayals from the past are brought out into the open—secrets that could have a catastrophic effect on the dean’s eighteen-year-old son.
Told in alternating points of view and time frames, Attachments is the story of best friends Stewart (“Goody”) Goodman, Sandy (“Pick”) Piccolo, and Laura Appleby, the girl they both love. The friends meet in 1972 at a boarding school in coal-country Pennsylvania where they encounter Henry Griffin, the school dean, whose genuine fatherly interest and deep human bond with them is so strong that when he has a severe stroke almost twenty years later, he uses what could be his last words ever to call out their names.
Attachments is a puzzle—and the only one who knows how all the pieces fit is in a coma. In the process, longtime secrets are unearthed, revelations come out into the open, and Young Chip Griffin is about to learn something he may or may not be able to handle.
For years, Harris Hayes has taught his daughter, Aggie, the ways of the northern woods. So when her mother's depression worsens, Harris shows the girl how to find and sketch the nests of wild birds as an antidote to sadness. Aggie is in a tree far overhead when her unpredictable mother spots her and forbids her to climb. Angry, the ten-year-old accidentally lights a tragic fire, then flees downriver. She lands her boat near untamed forest, where she hides among the trees and creatures she considers her only friends—determined to remain undiscovered.
A search party gathers by Aggie’s empty boat hours after Celia, fresh off the plane from Houston, arrives at her grandmother’s nearby farm. Hurting from her parents’ breakup, she also plans to run. But when she joins the hunt for Aggie, she meets two irresistible young men who compel her to stay. One is autistic; the other, dangerous.
Andrew Daniel Flowers is a retired motion picture executive, who lost his wife Dorothy. He was in mourning when on a rainy night a small cat comes to his door, and lets it in for the night. Examining the kitty, Andy founds out the out the cat’s left eye is covered with a cataract. Since no one in their right mind would take in a one eyed cat, Andy decides to found a doctor who can fix the cat’s eye. In the process Andy shakes off the blues, catches up with reality and meets some interesting people. One of them is the beautiful Domino, who was a pole dancer and now she makes her living coming out of cakes, totally nude. This funny, intellectually stimulating and spiritually uplifting story also reveals the way Universal Studios was run, by its legendary; Lew Wasserman.
From the magical shores of present-day Kauai to the stately manors of 19th century Europe the gift of a family heirloom exposes a centuries-old mystery. In Secrets of Grace Manor, when Kate Grace receives the gift of a unique family heirloom, a gateway opens to solving a centuries-old mystery exposing a shocking web of intolerance and betrayal, ultimately forging the pathway to understanding and inspiring a new, authentic way to live.
Rendered unconscious from a motorcycle accident in Southwest Florida, Robin Stevens awakens to realize she's repressed her past and is living life recklessly and unhappily. Feeling lost and miserable, she begins a profound search full of juicy twists and turns. Forced to confront her traumatic past in New York City, she is led into a profound exploration of the mysterious disappearance of her mother 25 years earlier. She is guided to the South of France where she discovers startling psychic and spiritual revelations.
Awakening is a celebration of life, a passionate and surprising ride in which the reader gains a whirlwind of wisdom and insights. In the interweaving of characters' lives against a backdrop of loss and disappointment, the story subtly conveys the author's extensive trainings with renowned masters in eastern and western traditions. The descriptions and rich details reveal a great depth and appreciation for relationships, the environment, culinary experiences, and seeking to confront one's own fears to find one's true self.
Tess Lee is a novelist. Her inspirational books explore people’s innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Despite her extraordinary success, she’s been unable to find personal happiness. Jack Miller is a federal agent. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. He’s dedicated everything to his job, leaving nothing for himself. The night Tess and Jack meet, their connection is palpable. She examines the scars on his body and says, “I’ve never seen anyone whose outsides match my insides.” The two embark on an epic love story that asks the questions: What happens when people truly see each other? Can unconditional love change the way we see ourselves?
Finalist Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
Film follows three women who moved to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams. Tash Daniels aspires to be a filmmaker. Her short film was rejected from festivals, she has a stack of rejected grant proposals, and she lost her internship at a studio when her boss harassed her, forcing her to take a job as a personal shopper. Lu K is a hot deejay slowly working her way up the club scene, but no one is doing her any favors. Fiercely independent, she’s at a loss when she meets Paisley, a woman who captures her heart. Monroe Preston is the glamorous wife of a Hollywood studio head. As a teenager she moved to LA in search of a “big” life, but now she wonders if reality measures up to fantasy. When a man in their circle finds sudden fame, each of these women is catapulted on a journey of self-discovery. As the characters’ stories unfold, each is forced to confront how her past has shaped her fears and to choose how she wants to live in the present. Film is a novel about the underside of dreams, the struggle to find internal strength, the power of art, and what it truly means to live a “big” life. Frequently shown bathed in the glow of the silver screen, the characters in Film show us how the arts can reignite the light within. With a tribute to popular culture, set against the backdrop of Tinseltown, Film celebrates how the art we make and consume can shape our stories, scene by scene. Although fictional, Film is loosely grounded in interview research. It can be read entirely for pleasure or used as supplemental reading in a variety of courses in women’s studies/gender studies, sociology, psychology, communication, popular culture, media studies, or qualitative inquiry. Film can be read as a stand-alone novel or as a sequel to the bestselling novel, Blue.
Finalist Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
War. Heartbreak. How much can one family lose?
The McKay family's idyllic life in Iowa is about to implode. A mysterious rosary found by soldier John McKay in war-torn Iraq foreshadows an obscure prophecy. As the rosary’s mystique grows globally, his sister, Janey McKay, is threatened when a radical extremist group escalates the stakes by expanding their fight to the U.S. heartland. But can terror destroy a faith that launches miracles?
Finalist Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
In "The Paradise Table," a Kate Grace Mystery, an Amazon Best Seller, and Spencer's follow-up novel to her award-winning "Lady in the Window," a year after the tragic loss of her beloved mother, freelance lifestyle writer Kate Grace's life seems to be turning around when she marries her soul mate, Dr. Kai Stevens, in paradise: Hanalei Bay, Kauai. But when a violent act shatters the quiet serenity of her new life, a shocking series of events are set in motion that lead to the confrontation of a devastating, decades-held secret. Still grieving and rocked by recent events, Kate must tap into her intuition, dreams, and prayer to understand synchronicities sent from the beyond in the hopes of bringing peace and healing to her family, friends, community, and to herself.
Finalist Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
Angie Pantera thought she had the perfect life: a loving, devoted husband of twenty-five years, two wonderful, grown children, and an impending wedding anniversary celebration with friends and family. But the celebration is ruined by a cheating husband, and Angie's life devolves into a living nightmare--until serendipity brings her to Birdsong, Maine, as recreation director at the Home of the Little Flower.
A church-run nursing home that is slowly wasting away with its nonagenarian inhabitants, the Home could use a miracle . . . or maybe a facsimile of one. A bit of creative advertising prompts Angie to buy a bouquet of "magical" dandelions, and in a flash of inspiration, she knows exactly how to bring light to these dark days. After all, no one is ever too old for wishes.
Finalist Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
Newly married Bonny MacDonell finds the transition from American college professor to Scottish sheep farmer’s wife more difficult than she expected. When her miracle pregnancy ends in a devastating miscarriage, she fears her husband's reaction will hurt more than the loss of their child.
But Kieran never shows up at the hospital. When found, he is beaten and unconscious. The only memory of his attacker is the words, “Get off my land.” Reeling from the threat to her husband and the loss of their child, Bonny struggles to hold her marriage together. When faith in love is not enough, where do you turn?
Finalist Fiction: Inspirational The 2020 Best Book Awards
People consider Diego Herrera different. Not only is he the son of undocumented Mexican immigrants, but he was also born with deaf mutism. Diego has fought all his life to find his path in the world and to change the world's opinion about him, but he is not alone in his journey. Diego has the help of his supportive mom, his little brother, and his best friend, Fernando, who are always cheering him on.
Diego’s greatest passion in life is soccer, and he seeks to prove he is just as capable as anyone else of reaching his goals. However, he must struggle to do so, as he is beset by naysayers he must prove wrong. Diego is not going to give up on his goals, and it finally seems like he has a chance to reach them.
But will Diego be able to achieve his dream, or will the world’s negativity drag him down?
