Members of the Beyond the Borders zone of American Christian Fiction Writers have been busy writing and publishing over the last few months …
Contest Finalists and Winners
Sophie Neville’s World War II screenplay has just won Best True Story at the Page Turner Awards. Click here to read more from Sophie.
Dienece Darling is a finalist in the Historical Fiction category of the 2024 ACFW First Impressions Award.
April’s Promise by Terrie Todd was a finalist in the Historical category of the 2024 ACFW Carol Awards for and won the Historical category in the 2024 Word Awards.
Sara Davison was a finalist in the Short Form category of the 2024 Christy Awards with “The Poppy” (part of the Dancing in the Rain anthology).
Deadly Burden by Janet Sketchley won the Mystery category in the 2024 Word Awards. Janet has also received the Janette Oke award from InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship.
Congratulations, ladies!
Writing News
Megan Short has finished a manuscript!
Carolyn Miller has sold Not Exactly Mr. Darcy, a contemporary romance, to Barbour. It will release December 2025.
Terrie Todd has submitted Even if I Perish to Mountain Brook Ink, and it will release in November 2025.
Sara Davison has signed a two-book contract with Kregel for a new romantic suspense series, The McKinley Boys.
Congratulations! We look forward to reading your stories.
New Releases
The Back Door Christmas Tour Company by Sara Davison in A Weary World Rejoices anthology
Released 16 October 2024
With nothing going as planned, will Christmas be a complete disaster this year?
The people in these stories are tired, weighed down by the struggles and cares of life. In the midst of their challenging situations, each receives an unexpected letter.
❅ The Christmas Kiss – Stacy Monson
❅ Unremarkable Sue – Eleanor Bertin
❅ Love, Christmas – Johnnie Alexander
❅ Gifting Christmas – Angela D. Meyer
❅ The Back Door Christmas Tour Company – Sara Davison
Songs like “O Holy Night” are filling the airwaves and promising hope for a weary world, but what will it take for the men and women in these stories to experience true joy this Christmas?
A Weary World Rejoices is a collection of five stories about discovering joy in the midst of life’s challenges—at Christmas and every day of the year.
The I’ll Be Home Anthology, including:
Just a Gilbert Blythe Kind of Girl by Sara Davison
Mistletoe and Mayhem in the Rockies by Darlene L Turner
Released 29 October 2024
With chaos and confusion all around them, can they find their way home this Christmas?
The people in these four stories are all searching for something—an escaped convict, a job promotion from a love interest, connection to a lost parent, answers across time.
Christmas should be a time of wonder and celebration, but the obstacles each faces seem insurmountable. Even, at times, life-threatening.
Perhaps they will find what they are seeking during this season of miracles and hope. Or maybe, with God’s help, they will discover that the longing of their hearts takes them to places—and people—they didn’t even know they’d been searching for.
I’ll Be Home is a collection of four stories of faith, hope, love, (and trains) that will warm your heart, encourage your soul, and draw you home this Christmas.
Convincing the Country Preacher by Carolyn Miller (in Courting the Country Preacher anthology)
Released 1 November 2024
Every Preacher Needs a Wife, Right?
Being a preacher in the countryside is not for the faint of heart nor faith. Four inexperienced preachers face a myriad of challenges including those who figure a man of the cloth needs a wife. Can they meet the expectations of “helpful” congregants and be true to their hearts?
The Mountie’s Rival by Angela K Couch
Canada, 1907 — Tired of living in his twin’s shadow, Jonathan Burton is frustrated to find himself serving as a still wet-behind-the-ears preacher in the same community as his Mountie brother. How is he to find a wife when all the eligible women of the community seem enamored by his dashing brother in scarlet uniform?
Convincing the Circuit Preacher by Carolyn Miller
Australia, 1863 — As soon as Dorothea Maclean saw the country preacher, she knew Mr. Hammill was the man of her dreams. Now she just needs to convince her wealthy parents—and Mr. Hammill.
The Angel and the Sky Pilot by Naomi Musch
Minnesota, 1905 — A preacher with a checkered past sets off to win souls in the lumber camps like the “sky pilots” before him. But can he earn the respect of hard-living men—and still respect himself—after a local trader’s daughter joins the all-male congregation?
Mail Order Minister by Kari Trumbo
South Dakota, 1889 — Olive’s parents mail-ordered a preacher and prayed he’d be a husband for their daughter. The rest of the town—and Olive—have other ideas.
Hearts Unknown by Dienece Darling
Released 15 November 2024
When the heart longs for what it cannot have, toes aren’t safe in the ballroom.
Edith Howard has long mourned the loss of Clarence. He was more than the boy next door. He was her dearest friend until he left without word or warning. But when Clarence makes a surprise return the London season of 1763, the gentleman standing before her bears little resemblance to the boy she used to know. What happened to Clarence, and why is he back?
A chance encounter might be just the ticket Clarence needs to convince Edith he always has been and always will be hers. If only she wasn’t listening to those dangerous street preachers. Clarence doesn’t know how to save the lady he loves from believing the world will end on February 28th. Or, for that matter, how to show her all that’s in his heart.
What will it take for Edith to see the man Clarence is today? And dare she let him back into her life when she doesn’t know what drove him away the first time?
This clean, historical romance novelette is written in dual first person with faith content and has a happily-ever-after.
The Darkness Deepens by Sara Davison
Released 15 November 2024
Their secrets protect them… but secrets are hard to keep.
No one in the army can find out that Captain Jesse Christensen has become a believer. He and bookstore owner Meryn O’Reilly are forced to meet in secret, facing imprisonment—or worse—if they are found together.
As their relationship deepens, so does Lieutenant Gallagher’s hatred for the Christians in their city, putting all believers, especially Jesse, in extreme danger.
Meryn wants to give her heart to Jesse fully, but her past holds her back. Although circumstances conspire to keep her silent, she needs to tell him her secret so nothing will stand between them anymore.
But when he finds out what she has been keeping from him, nothing will ever be the same.
Faking the Shot (Northwest Ice #4) by Carolyn Miller
Released 22 November 2024
Lights, camera… action?
Ainsley Beckett might be television’s sweetheart, star of a dozen romantic movies and known the world over for her sweet-as-pie schoolmarm on hit historical TV show As The Heart Draws. But while she’s always found love on-screen, her private life is less of a happily-ever-after, with secrets aplenty. A string of one-date only and showmances has ruined her reputation and convinced her that finding true love is impossible, as no ordinary guy dares look at her, and the celebrity world is full of fakes.
Zac Parotti is used to fame and its flip side, like women (literally) throwing themselves at him, but he’s finding his feet as a new Christian, and wants to do things God’s way now.
When a chance encounter at a Vancouver party brings these two together they decide a fake relationship might prove the best way to stop the media speculation and fan–and family–pressure. Until fake feelings turn into something deeper. For one of them, at least…
Preorders
Always In My Heart (Trinity Lakes #14) by Iola Goulton
Releases 24 December 2024
Sparks fly when an aspiring attorney comes face to face with his past mistakes.
Broke solo mother Maya Allen is raising her daughter, Sarah, as well as her dead best friend’s daughter … who just happens to be her own daughter’s half sister (thanks, cheating college boyfriend). When her lowlife landlord doubles her rent, she realizes it’s time to make a new plan and return to New Zealand with her children. First she has to do the unthinkable: make contact with her ex and compel him to relinquish his parental rights so they can legally leave the country … and not let her still-strong feelings for Trent get in the way.
Trent Thomas is an intern competing for a role in a prestigious Seattle law firm known for their family values. He figures he’s got the job sewn up when Sterling, Noble, and Wright send him to his hometown of Trinity Lakes to research a dodgy property deal under the guise of offering the townsfolk pro bono legal services. After all, no one will know the ins and outs of small-town Trinity Lakes gossip better than a lifelong resident.
But he hadn’t bargained on Maya, Sarah, and Kacey stealing his chance to get his dream job, stealing his opportunity to leave Trinity Lakes behind forever, or stealing his heart.
A second-chance small town contemporary Christian romance.
Only You Can Love Me (Trinity Lakes #15) by Carolyn Miller
Releases 25 February 2025
Wanted: someone hardworking, honest, humble, with a sense of humor, who can appreciate the simple things in life. Who loves God, loves family, and loves animals. Genuine seekers only.
Dr. Jess Martin–Doc Martin to her local community–might be used to solving the veterinary problems of rural south east Washington, but she can’t solve the problems of her lonely heart. When a dating app specializing in rural connections comes her way she figures she’s got nothing left to lose. Especially when she’s already lost the only guy who had touched her heart, who has made it clear his future lies in Silicon Valley and not in Trinity Lakes. It’s time to let go of the past, once and for all.
Cooper Reilly never pictured himself as finding his future or contentment on a ranch. His heart has always hankered for the finer things of life. But when a corporate reshuffle sees him kicked to the kerb, he finds himself right back where he started. And right back to trying to convince a certain pretty vet to give him a second chance. But she’s not playing, convinced she’s found her Dream Match already. But there’s something she doesn’t know…
Can these two friends look past previous mistakes and find a future? And what does a hunky fireman have to say about a perfect Dream Match?
Muskoka Miracle (Muskoka Shores #7) by Carolyn Miller
Releases 24 April 2025
Sarah Walton might now be living out her dreams with her gorgeous husband and writing and recording music and touring with a globally famous Christian music group, but time spent in Muskoka is a slice of paradise, the perfect escape from that crazy busy world. She has so much to be thankful for… except there’s just one thing.
Dan Walton knows he is blessed, but can’t stop a niggling desire for something to change. Is it wrong to want more? Or should he just let go of his secret wish–one he can’t share with his wife?
When tragedy strikes, the lessons learned in Muskoka several years ago are put to the test again, as the struggle to trust God proves only too real, putting strain on a relationship already tested by busyness and health challenges. Then, when family circumstances lead to a separation on the opposite side of the world, the depth of their love for God and each other forces them to face the fire once more.
God can do miracles anywhere, but there’s always been something special about Muskoka…
