WINNER Fiction: Cross-Genre Fiction: General 2023 Best Book Awards
Kate is a neuroscientist who covets logic and order, unless she’s sleeping with her married lab director, and then logic goes out the window. So does her orderly life in Manhattan when she's fired over the affair and Kate’s mother presses her to accept responsibility for her fifteen-year-old nephew, Teague, an orchid child who hears voices and talks to trees but rarely people.
To salvage her career, Kate agrees to conduct a study in West Ireland where hostile townsfolk rebuff her study of their historically high rate of schizophrenia and a local chief Druid identifies Teague’s odd perceptions as the gift of second sight, thrusting a bewildered Kate on a trail of madness, magic, and armed rebellion that leads to her own grandparents, who were banished as traitors from the same town.
When a confrontation with the chief Druid endangers Teague’s life, Kate lands at the intersection of ancient Celtic mysticism and 21st century neurodiversity, where the act of witnessing old wounds can heal suffering in both past and present – even hers, if she can accept the limits of science and the power of ancestral ties.
A lame duck president's desperate power grab threatens democracy in the United States—can former intelligence operative and single mother Cora Walker prevent catastrophe?
September 2012. Cora Walker, a DIA defense operative, learns of a terrorist plot in Benghazi and rushes to a secret installation to stop it. When her superiors ignore her dire warnings, she's forced to mount an unsanctioned attempt to thwart the attack. Her team barely repels the large force of invaders determined to kill Americans.
Sixteen years after her heroic actions in Benghazi, Cora is the press secretary for the Speaker of the House. As a single mom, she's struggling to balance her demanding job and her home life. Soon, things get more complicated at work as the lame duck president suspends habeas corpus and begins arresting members of Congress in a desperate attempt to retain power.
Cora springs into action to save the Speaker and prevent catastrophe. She'll have to work strategically to keep everyone safe—alliances turn sour, and her trust in others begins to falter. It's an uphill battle for Cora until an explosive finale exposes what can really happen to democracy when political extremism reaches new heights.
Set against the exquisite, historical backdrop of Charleston's insular South of Broad neighborhood, A Southern Girl is a tale of international adoption and of families lost, then found anew through revelations, courage, and the perseverance of a love without bounds. With two biological sons and a promising career, Coleman Carter seems set to fulfill his promise as a resourceful trial lawyer, devoted husband, and dutiful father until his wife, Elizabeth, champions their adoption of a Korean orphan. This seemingly altruistic mission estranges Coleman's conservative parents and demands that he now embrace the unknown as fully as he has always entrenched himself in the familiar.
Elizabeth, a self-proclaimed liberal with a global sense of duty, is eager for the adoption, while Coleman, a scion of the Old South, is at best a reluctant participant. But the arrival of Soo Yun (later called Allie) into the Carter household and the challenging reactions of Coleman's peers and parents awakens in him a broadening sense of responsibility and dedication to his new family that opens his eyes to the subtle racism and exclusionary activities that had dominated his sheltered life. To garner Allie's entrance into Charleston society, Coleman must come to terms with his past and guide Allie toward finding her own origins as the Carters forge a new family identity and confront generations-old fears inherent in Southern traditions of purity and prestige.
WINNER Best Cover Design: Fiction 2023 Best Book Awards
WINNER Best Cover Design: Adult Fiction Best New Fiction 2023 American Fiction Awards
How far is someone willing to go to keep her at the top?
Nina Travers is a number one bestselling author of psychological thrillers. That is, she was, before a series of tragedies knocked her off her perch, and her once picture-perfect life now sits in the dark shadows of a fallen career and crumbling marriage.
Sadly, Nina’s former spot on the charts has been snatched up by her competitors. But her family and friends are desperate to get her back at the top, where she belongs.
Desperate enough to lie. Desperate enough to keep horrific secrets. Desperate enough to kill.
As the bodies stack up one by one, Nina is terrified she may be to blame for these untimely deaths. But she’s even more terrified she may be next.
WINNER Best New Fiction Fiction: General 2023 International Book Awards
A novel inspired by true events
The coming-of-age story of Philbet, a gay, physically-misshapen boy in rural Georgia, who battles bullying, ignorance, and disdain as he makes his way in life as an outsider—before finding acceptance in unlikely places.
Fueled by tomato sandwiches and green milkshakes, and obsessed with cars, Philbet struggles with life and love as a gay boy in rural Georgia. He’s happiest when helping Grandaddy dig potatoes from the vegetable garden that connects their houses. But Philbet’s world is shattered and his resilience shaken by events that crush his innocence and sense of security; expose his misshapen chest skillfully hidden behind shirts Mama makes at home; and convince him that he’s not fit to be loved by Knox, the older boy he idolizes to distraction. Over time, Philbet finds refuge in unexpected places and inner strength in unexpected ways, leading to a resolution in the form of a letter from beyond the grave.
WINNER Legacy: Fiction 2023 International Book Awards
From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes another spellbinding historical novel full of intrigue, occult mystery, and unexpected twists.
New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be―can it?
A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death. Unfortunately, Tillie’s addicted to more than just truth; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s taking more and more laudanum…and some in her immediate circle are happy to keep her well supplied.
Tillie can’t bring herself to believe vampires exist. But with the hysteria surrounding her sister’s death, the continued vampiric slayings, and the opium swirling through her body, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a girl who relies on facts and figures to know what’s real―or whether she can trust those closest to her.
WINNER Cross-Genre General Fiction Literary Fiction 2023 American Fiction Awards
Elijah Campbell is on the verge of losing his writing career, his faith, and his marriage when a recurring childhood nightmare drives him back to his hometown, Bradford's Ferry. There, his encounters with loved ones both past and present shed light on the reason his wife left him―and the meaning of his nightmare. However, beyond the light he begins to glimpse something even more terrifying―a decision he must make...to continue hiding the secrets of his past or unhide the only thing that can save his marriage: himself.
In psychologist Kelly Flanagan's non-fiction works (Loveable, True Companions), he drew from clinical insight to explore the spiritual depths of identity and relationships. Now, in this debut novel, he weaves a page-turning and plot-twisting tale that brings new life to those insights, along with fresh revelations about personal growth, spiritual transformation, and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.
This visit to Bradford's Ferry will linger long after the final page has been turned, and a guide for group discussion invites further conversation about the story's themes of healing, grace, faith, forgiveness, and freedom.
WINNER Fiction: Literary Fiction: Religious 2023 Best Book Awards
WINNER Coming of Age 2023 American Fiction Awards
Casey Cohen, a Middle Eastern Jew, is a sixteen-year-old in New Orleans in the 1970s when she starts hanging out with the wrong crowd. Then she gets in trouble and her parents turn her whole world upside down by deciding to return to their roots, the Orthodox Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn.
In this new and foreign world, families gather weekly for Shabbat dinner; parties are extravagant events at the Museum of Natural History; and the Marriage Box is a real place, a pool deck designated for teenage girls to put themselves on display for potential husbands. Casey is at first shocked by this unfamiliar culture, but after she meets Michael, she’s enticed by it. Looking for love and a place to belong, she marries him at eighteen, believing she can adjust to Syrian ways. But she begins to question her decision when she discovers that Michael doesn’t want her to go to college; he wants her to have a baby instead.
Can Casey integrate these two opposing worlds, or will she have to leave one behind in order to find her way?
WINNER Humor/Comedy/Satire 2023 American Fiction Awards
The first client for two newbie funeral planners is a murdered biker. What could go wrong?
When millennial Aislin Fitzgerald’s professional life implodes, she does the only thing she can think of—she bolts for home. But, for Aislin, home is complicated. Her relationship with her grandmother Letty—her sole relative—is awkward and confrontational, and her hometown is filled with memories and people she has been avoiding her entire adult life.
It’s not all bad, though. A chance meeting with Aislin’s former best friend, Sarah, leads to a niche business opportunity. Noticing how entertained Letty is by attending funerals, they form a funeral planning business, the Goodbye Girls. But things get off to a rocky start when their first gig is for a murdered member of the local biker club, and the prime suspect disappears. While bodies stack up, tensions rise and drinks flow; Aislin and Sarah find themselves leagues out of their comfort zones.
As Aislin learns to navigate living under the same roof as her irascible and, as it turns out, lustful grandmother, she also learns to unclench, trust, and accept love in all shapes and sizes. The Goodbye Girls takes you on an entertaining adventure through the trials of friendship and love—and will have you putting the fun in funeral.
A struggling minor league baseball pitcher is suddenly unhittable. But why?
Tommy Browning is hopelessly trapped in his baseball dream. Wallowing in Single A with the Macon Peaches, he doesn't know if he'll ever make The Show—the major leagues—or if his dream of a professional career is even worth pursuing. But fate steps in and the 21-year-old pitcher is launched on a roller-coaster ride that he can't control, much less understand. He has "The Gift," but can he keep it?
WINNER Best Cover Design: Fiction Fiction: Religious 2023 International Book Awards
Hers is the flawless face no man has seen—except her father. His is the foreign face everyone reveres—save his family. The royal decree that couples this unlikely pair will make or break the history of an ancient empire.
Considered a gift from the sun god due to her arresting eyes, Asenath was veiled in childhood and destined to marry Egyptian royalty. The 17-year-old is resigned to a loveless future in the royal harem, when Pharaoh’s shocking declaration forces her to marry the new vizier of Egypt—a mystical foreigner with powers of divination.
Known as Zaphnath-Paaneah, her husband turns out to be handsome, charming, and possibly insane since he worships an invisible god and expects her—the daughter of a high priest—to do the same. Facing a fate seemingly worse than that she grew up dreading, she desperately searches for a way out of the arranged marriage. The secrets she uncovers usher her into a world of intrigue and treachery that questions all her beliefs about men, gods, and love. Will theirs be the most monumental mismatch made in Egyptian history, or will her daring demand for a sign from his god make all her childhood fantasies come true?
Combining original poetry with well-researched history, A Divine Romance is an Own Voices retelling of a beloved Biblical tale that takes readers on a riveting journey through Ancient Egypt and introduces them to a fresh, poetic voice in Christian fiction.
WINNER Fiction: Inspirational 2023 International Book Awards
WINNER Adventure: General Urban Fiction 2023 American Fiction Awards
Kathryn Bek gets the chance of a lifetime: a job offer right out of college, and in New York City, where adventure lies around every corner. Believing she is recruited for her marketing prowess, she is excited by the prospect of her new job in the intelligence sector; but all is not what it seems. Before long, Kathryn and her new team are thrown into a world of mystery, murder, and magic. As the team rushes around the world, untangling the web of lies, she finds that her past may be the key to protecting her, and the world's, future.
Will she be able to confront her fuzzy past to unlock the secrets within herself? Can her team rise to the challenge and stop the Paolucci Crime Family before they unleash havoc upon the globe?
Who will endure, the Kathryn of the past, or that of the future?