Carrie Turansky and her husband, Scott have been married for thirty years and live in central New Jersey. They are blessed with five great kids, a lovely daughter-in-law, and two adorable grandsons. Carrie homeschooled her children for many years, but she recently “graduated” and now has more time for writing and being involved in ministry with her husband. She teaches women’s Bible studies, speaks for women’s events, and enjoys reading, gardening, and walking around the lake near her home. Carrie and her family spent one year in Kenya as missionaries, giving them a passion for what God is doing around the world. Carrie is also the co-author of Wedded Bliss and Kiss the Bride and the author of Along Came Love. You may contact her through her website: http://www.carrieturansky.com/





VASTHI REYES ACOSTA

Vasthi Reyes Acosta is a native New Yorker,who resides in the Washington Heights/Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan with her husband and two teenaged children. She is excited about writing stories that bring a message of hope through Latino characters. She wants readers to find themselves reflected in her work and to learn about her heritage and her hope, God.





GAIL SATTLER


Gail Sattler and her husband Tim have been married for 29 years and live with two of their three sons who still remain at home along with their two dogs, a toad, and a lazy lizard named Draco, who is quite cuddly for a reptile. As well keeping busy with her writing, Gail is an active musican who plays piano at home and bass guitar (loud) for her church's worship team. Outside of church, she plays bass with a local Jazz band, and that's loud, too. She also enjoys knitting, and curling up with a hot coffee and a good book that someone else wrote. You're invited to visit Gail and see her travels, pets, quirks, and other books at her website at www.gailsattler.com

LYNETTE SOWELL

Lynette Sowell is happily married to her husband, and they enjoy the three-ring circus of life with two teenagers and five cats. She has fond memories of the Big Apple from her college days as an art major, and thinks everyone should visit New York City at Christmas time at least once. She believes stories should take readers on an entertaining ride, and offer glimpses of God’s truth along the way. Lynette You can learn more about Lynette and her writing at www.lynettesowell.com.

A Big Apple Christmas


By Vasthi Reyes Acosts, Gail Sattler, Lynette Sowell, Carrie Turansky



This collection of four heartwarming inspirational romance novellas captures the sights and sounds of Christmas in New York City. In Moonlight and Mistletoe by Carrie Turansky, Christmas plans are set askew when a schedule-bound professional organizer meets a free-spirited children's poet. In Shopping For Love by Gail Sattler, holiday bustle is the means two tourists try to use to get lost in the crowds. In Where the Love Light Gleams by Lynette Sowell, Christmas at Rockefeller Center puts a widow's dreams on center stage. In the Gifts from the Magi by Vasthi Reyes Acosta, Latino childhood sweethearts are reunited. Romance is in the air from Fifth Avenue to Chinatown, but can faith bring the love home?

Stacy Hawkins Adams is a Christian fiction author, freelance writer and inspirational speaker with 14 years of professional journalism experience. Until recently, she served as a reporter and columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia. In addition to penning novels full time, she writes a freelance column about working mothers for the Times-Dispatch and co-hosts a podcast (The Talking Book Show) focused on the craft of writing. She lives in a suburb of Richmond, Va. with her husband and two children. For more information, visit http://www.stacyhawkinsadams.com/.

Watercolored Pearls

Serena is a career woman turned stay-at-home mom who often contemplates if she has made the right choice to now manage twin two-year-old boys and be a supportive wife to her husband who is the pastor of a newly created church in Richmond, Virginia. She struggles with the daily stresses of being a perfect mom and wife to the outside world while inside she feels torn that maybe she didn’t choose the right path.

Erika struggles to let go of her abusive past. While her estranged husband of two years sends her cards begging her to come back, she is torn between her so-called “reformed” husband and a new man who is everything she has ever wanted in a man. She wants to do what is best for her young son, which she feels is to go back to her husband and be a true family. But, her heart is torn.

Tawana, a new lawyer, is trying to pull her life together, but her ambitions keep getting in the way. In her final year at Harvard Law School, she is 23-years-old and a single mother to a very “wise beyond her years” daughter. She still longs to date, but wants to focus on her career; but she is also torn to spend time with her impressionable daughter.

Three women, each at different places in their lives, find themselves at the same crossroads—looking to God and to each other for answers on how to find beauty in themselves and in their life’s journey. Watercolored Pearls is a page-turning story of how God can use the tragic, the shameful, and the less-than-perfect circumstances of life to create something beautiful.

Author, playwright, speaker, mentor and former pastor Sheritha Bowman credits her beloved, late Grandma Margaret Ann Mitchell Cary with instilling a fear of God in her life by teaching her to pray as well as taking her to Sunday school when she was a young girl. Despite feeling like the only church girl on the block, Sheritha obediently followed Grandma’s lead which ultimately led to Sheritha’s grounded spirituality and the pursuit of God’s purpose for her life.

In Diary of a Woman Pastor

The secrets. The struggles. The victory. In Diary of a Woman Pastor, Bowman candidly shares her personal journey of searching, believing, doubting, slipping and falling, and ultimately rising up and rediscovering God’s true purpose for her life.

Bowman chronicles her life from puberty to the pastorate with raw honesty as she recounts awakening experiences and life lessons learned from family, prominent church leaders and her own personal, life-altering discoveries.

The Bible makes it clear that God has a calling and purpose for each and every one of us. With an even mixture of boldness and humor, Bowman’s journey shows us how to press through the doubt, detours and distractions in order to reach our God-intended place of destiny.

Lyn Cote's journey to becoming a published author was a long one - she started her first book when her daughter was 13 months old and her first novel was published when her daughter was about to enter high school. But Lyn was writing for a market that hadn't taken shape yet - the inspirational fiction market.

In 1996, Lyn Cote's first inspirational historical manuscript was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Contest. This became her first historical novel, Whispers Of Love, in her BLESSED ASSURANCE series.

Most recently, Chloe, the first novel in Lyn's "Women of Ivy Manor" historical series was a 2006 RWA Rita Award finalist for Best Inspirational, as well as a finalist for the Holt Medallion and the National REaders Choice Contest.

Lyn also writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She lives in the lovely northwoods of Wisconsin with her husband and three cats. Aside from writing, she also likes to knit, crochet, read, and do lunch with friends.

BLESSED ASSURANCE:


Now available for the first time in one edition--All three novels from Lyn Cote's beloved Blessed Assurance series

In Whispers of Love, Civil War widow Jessie Wagstaff must fend for herself and her son. When a stranger, Lee Smith, befriends Jessie's son, even though she recognizes nine-year-old Linc's need for a father figure, she's reluctant to let a new man into their life. When the Great Chicago Fire blazes, every heart is pushed to its limits.

In Lost In His Love, Jessie's son Linc, a social activist and reporter, charms his way through the upper class of San Francisco to build much-needed support for his fight against child labor. His main target is Cecilia Jackson, a beautiful heiress who doesn't recognize the crucial part she plays in this dangerous exploitation. As the secrets of her family's dark past are exposed, Cecilia must revive her own wounded spirit and find the strength to lean on the never-failing love of Christ. But when the 1906 earthquake hits, everyone's faith will be put to the test.

In Echoes of Mercy, Meg Wagstaff challenges the racial barriers of 1920s New Orleans in order to prove that her childhood friend did not commit murder. The stubborn lawyer prosecuting the case, Gabriel St. Clair, is an authentic Southern gentleman who makes the mistake of underestimating Meg, both her tenacity and her charm. Despite their many differences, sparks begin to fly. But when Meg discovers the truth, will Gabe be able to protect her from those who can't afford to have justice prevail?


"A beautiful tale of love, forgiveness, and acceptance."

~CBA Marketplace

Camy Tang is a loud Asian chick who writes loud Asian chick-lit. She grew up in Hawaii, but now lives in San Jose, California, with her engineer husband and rambunctious poi-dog. In a previous life she was a biologist researcher, but these days she is surgically attached to her computer, writing full-time. In her spare time, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service.

Sushi for One? (Sushi Series, Book One is her first novel. Her second, Only Uni (Sushi Series, Book Two) comes out in February 2008!

To celebrate the launch of her debut novel, she's got a huge contest going on. Camy is giving away baskets of Christian novels and an iPod Nano! Only her newsletter YahooGroup subscribers are eligible to enter, so join today.

For more information about the contest, visit her website.

Contest ends October 31, 2007!

SUSHI FOR ONE

Lex Sakai’s family, big, nosy, and marriage-minded, is ruled by a crafty grandmother. When her cousin Mariko gets married, Lex will become the OLDEST SINGLE COUSIN in the clan, a loathed position by all single female family members.Lex has not dated for years.Grandma homes in on this fact and demands, bribes, and threatens Lex to bring a boyfriend (not just a date) to her cousin’s wedding.Lex does not want to date ... not since that terrible incident a few years back ... but, Grandma doesn't give her that choice.Lex's options are slim because she has used her Bible study class on Ephesians to compile a huge list of traits for the PERFECT man (and the more she dates, the more she adds to the list).The one man she keeps running into (and is completely attracted to) doesn’t seem to have a single quality on her list. It’s only when the always-in-control Lex loses control and lets God take over that all the pieces of this hilarious romance finally fall into place.

Bonnie St. John is one of the nation’s leading inspirational speakers and has been featured on the Today Show, Montel Williams, CNN, Good Morning America, as well as People magazine, the New York Times, Essence, and many others.

Despite the amputation of her leg at age five, she became a silver and bronze medalist in downhill skiing in the 1984 Paralympics at Innsbruck, Austria, making her the first African-American to win Olympic medals in skiing. She went on to graduate with honors from Harvard University, win the Rhodes Scholarship, and was appointed to the White House National Economic Council.

As the President of her own company, Bonnie now focuses on bringing out the best in others through coaching, motivational speaking for corporations and associations as well as writing books and articles. Her books include: Succeeding Sane, Getting Ahead at Work without Leaving Your Family Behind, and Money: Fall Down? Get Up! Bonnie lives and prays in New York City with her daughter, Darcy.

Please visit her web site, www.bonniestjohn.com, where you can download a copy of a Starbucks Cup with her famous quote about falling down and getting up, join her “Circle of Friends,” download a copy of the prayer guide, and many other inspirational online materials.

For more information about this book go to www.howstrongwomenpray.com


How Strong Women Pray

In Bonnie’s new book, How Strong Women Pray, she mentions the day she realized that most people knew her as “a strong woman, an inspirational speaker, a one-legged Olympic ski champion, a Rhodes Scholar and former White House official,” but hardly any knew of the importance of prayer in her life or that she even prayed at all. That day she set out to interview other strong women that she admired who may also have been privately powered by prayer and she was shaken and inspired by the overwhelming outcome.

Women from their twenties to their nineties, ranging from athletes to politicians to poets and mothers, poured out their hearts to Bonnie about the importance of prayer in their worlds and despite their differences, their prayer lives were very similar. They prayed anywhere and everywhere: in cars, bathrooms, beds, gyms, planes, and offices. In How Strong Women Pray, incredible women like Maya Angelou, Barbara Bush and Edie Falco, open up and talk candidly about their prayers. Bonnie says the experience of interviewing more than 25 fascinating women about prayer has changed her entire life and she has learned that “prayer is simply the desire to be closer to God.”

Bestselling author Kim Vogel Sawyer resides in Kansas with her military husband Don, two teenage girls, and four family pets. A former teacher and life-long writer, she now spends her days penning the stories of her heart, writing historical stories for Bethany House and contemporary stories for Barbour Publishing. "All I Want for Christmas Is...You" is her first novella.


Montana Mistletoe

Kathy Morgan returns to her hometown of Mistletoe, Montana, for a stroll down Memory Lane before accepting the unexpected marriage proposal from long-time co-worker Chad. But her plan is thwarted with local postman Erik Hoffman delivers more than the mail...

http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com/