Life After

Katie Ganshert

In the aftermath of a bomb blast, confusion exists about the identity of the sole survivor. A young girl believes her mother is the one who survived. When she discovers the survivor is Autumn Manning—who is struggling to resume a normal life and veering between guilt and gratefulness—the girl pursues a relationship with her. As Autumn reluctantly befriends them, the girl and her father reveal whopping secrets of their own. Only when everyone admits to the lies and deceit does true healing begin. This heartwarming story explores the importance of honesty.

Bibles and Ball Bats

Chris Allen

Three high-school athletes and their coaches travel from rural Tennessee to Moldova to evangelize orphans and teach them to play baseball. On their last night there, one orphan girl is conspicuously absent. When the teenagers learn she’s been sold into sex slavery, they arm themselves with baseball bats and set out to rescue her. The ensuing confrontations with mob-type characters produce plenty of blood and gore and test the limits of believability. However, the gripping plot spotlights two worthy topics: the real evil of sex trafficking and the saving power of Jesus.

Sandpiper Cove

Irene Hannon

Ex-con Adam Stone became a Christian in prison and gets a second chance at life when he moves to Hope Harbor. He’s resigned to a solitary life with his dog until someone asks him to mentor a fatherless teenage vandal. Police chief Lexie Graham rejected God when she was widowed with a young child, but she gets a second chance at love and renewed faith when she and Stone form an unlikely friendship. The town lives up to its name in this sweet story of redemption.

Pursued

Lisa Harris

A plane crash-lands at Nashville airport with Nikki Boyd, an agent with the Tennessee Missing Persons Task Force, on board. During the pandemonium, her seatmate vanishes. The FBI enlists Nikki to find the missing woman, a key witness in an upcoming grand jury trial. Nikki follows the trail, and the body count rises as the mysterious woman’s nemesis desperately covers his tracks. This third book in the series is enjoyable as a stand-alone, but the other Nikki Boyd books fill in her personal background and offer the same fast-paced action.

Afterword

In The One True Love of Alice-Ann (Tyndale, 2017), Eva Marie Everson paints a vivid picture of farm life in rural 1941 Georgia. On Alice-Ann’s 16th birthday, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Before the men ship off to war, she declares her love to her older brother’s friend, Mack. Although he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings, they correspond until his plane is shot down and he’s presumed dead. Alice-Ann trudges on with life, reluctantly caring for her best friend’s war-wounded brother. The masterfully drawn characters in this beautiful story illustrate why this was called “The Greatest Generation.” —S.B.

With Love, Wherever You Are by Dandi Daley Mackall (Tyndale, 2017) is another WWII novel. Based on Mackall’s parents, the novel tells the wartime romance and service of an army doctor and nurse, both stationed in Europe. The story shows their maturing love for each other and God. —Susan Olasky