by Pat Simmons
In Love at Work, how do two people go undercover to hide an office romance in a busy television newsroom? In plain sight, of course. Desiree King is an assignment editor at KDPX-TV in St. Louis, MO. She dispatches a team to wherever breaking news happens. Her focus is to stay ahead of the competition. Overall, she's easy-going, respectable, and compassionate. But when it comes to dating a fellow coworker, she refuses to cross that professional line. Award-winning investigative reporter Bryan Mitchell makes life challenging for Desiree with his thoughtful gestures, sweet notes, and support. He tries to convince Desiree that as Christians, they could show coworkers how to blend their personal and private lives without compromising their morals.
In Words of Love, call it old fashion, but Simone French was smitten with a love letter. Not a text, email, or Facebook post, but a love letter sent through snail mail. The prose wasn’t the corny roses-are-red-and-violets-are-blue stuff. The first letter contained short accolades for a job well done. Soon after, the missives were filled with passionate words from a man who confessed the hidden secrets of his soul. He revealed his unspoken weaknesses, listed his uncompromising desires, and unapologetically noted his subtle strengths. Yes, Rice Taylor was ready to surrender to love. Whew. Closing her eyes, Simone inhaled the faint lingering smell of roses on the beige plain stationery. She had a testimony. If anyone would listen, she would proclaim that love was truly blind.
IN Talk To Me, despite being deaf as a result of a fireworks explosion, CEO of a St. Louis non-profit company, Noel Richardson, expertly navigates the hearing world. What some view as a disability, Noel views as a challenge—his lack of hearing has never held him back. It also helps that he has great looks, numerous university degrees, and full bank accounts. But those assets don’t define him as a man who longs for the right woman in his life. Deciding to visit a church service, Noel is blind-sided by the most beautiful and graceful Deaf interpreter he’s ever seen. Mackenzie Norton challenges him on every level through words and signing, but as their love grows, their faith is tested. When their church holds a yearly revival, they witness the healing power of God in others. Mackenzie has faith to believe that Noel can also get in on the blessing. Since faith comes by hearing, whose voice does Noel hear in his heart, Mackenzie or God's?
TESTIMONY: If I Should Die Before I Wake.
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23, God’s mercies are sure; His promises are fulfilled; but a dawn of a new morning is God’ grace. If you need a testimony about God’s grace, then If I Should Die Before I Wake will encourage your soul. Nothing happens in our lives by chance. If you need a miracle, God’s got that too. Trust Him. Has it been a while since you’ve had a testimony? Increase your prayer life, build your faith and walk in victory because without a test, there is no testimony. (eBook only)
IN Her Dress, sometimes a woman just wants to splurge on something new, especially when she’s about to attend an event with movers and shakers. Find out what happens when Pepper Trudeau is all dressed up and goes to the ball, but another woman is modeling the same attire. At first, Pepper is embarrassed, then the night gets interesting when she meets Drake Logan. Her Dress is a romantic novella about the all too common occurrence—two women shopping at the same place. Maybe having the same taste isn’t all bad. Sometimes a good dress is all you need to meet the man of your dreams.
In Christmas Greetings, Saige Carter loves everything about Christmas: the shopping, the food, the lights, and of course, Christmas wouldn’t be complete without family and friends to share in the traditions they’ve created together. Plus, Saige is extra excited about her line of Christmas greeting cards hitting store shelves, but when she gets devastating news around the holidays, she wonders if she’ll ever look at Christmas the same again.
Daniel Washington is no Scrooge, but he’d rather skip the holidays altogether than spend them with his estranged family. After one too many arguments around the dinner table one year, Daniel had enough and walked away from the drama. As one year has turned into many, no one seems willing to take the first step toward reconciliation. When Daniel reads one of Saige’s greeting cards, he’s unsure if the words inside are enough to erase the pain and bring about forgiveness. Once God reveals to them His purpose for their lives, they will have a reason to rejoice.
In Couple by Christmas, holidays haven’t been the same for Derek Washington since his divorce. He and his ex-wife, Robyn, go out the way to avoid each other. This Christmas may be different when he decides to gives his son, Tyler, the family he once had before the split.
Derek’s going to need the Lord’s intervention to soften his ex-wife’s heart to agree. God’s help doesn’t come in the way he expected, but it’s all good, because everything falls in place for them to be a couple by Christmas.
IN Guilty of Love, when do you know the most important decision of your life is the right one?
Reaping the seeds from what she's sown; Cheney Reynolds moves into a historic neighborhood in Ferguson, Missouri, and becomes a reclusive. Her first neighbor, the incomparable Mrs. Beatrice Tilley Beacon aka Grandma BB, is an opinionated childless widow. Grandma BB is a self-proclaimed expert on topics Cheney isn’t seeking advice—everything from landscaping to hip-hop dancing to romance. Then there is Parke Kokumuo Jamison VI, a direct descendant of a royal African tribe. He learned his family ancestry, African history, and lineage preservation before he could count. Unwittingly, they are drawn to each other, but it takes Christ to weave their lives into a spiritual bliss while He exonerates their past indiscretions.
In Not Guilty, one man, one woman, one God and one big problem. Malcolm Jamieson wasn't the man who got away, but the man God instructed Hallison Dinkins to set free. Instead of their explosive love affair leading them to the wedding altar, God diverted Hallison to the prayer altar during her first visit back to church in years.
Malcolm was convinced that his woman had loss her mind to break off their engagement. Didn't Hallison know that Malcolm, a tenth generation descendant of a royal African tribe, couldn't be replaced? Once Malcolm concedes that their relationship can't be savaged, he issues Hallison his own edict, “If we're meant to be with each other, we'll find our way back. If not, that means that there's a love stronger than what we had.” His words begin to haunt Hallison until she begins to regret their break up, and that's where their story begins. Someone has to retreat, and God never loses a battle.
In Still Guilty, Cheney Reynolds Jamieson made a choice years ago that is now shaping her future and the future of the men she loves. A botched abortion left her unable to carry a baby to term, and her husband, Parke K. Jamison VI, is expected to produce heirs. With a wife who cannot give him a child, Parke vows to find and get custody of his illegitimate son by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Cheney’s twin brother, Rainey, struggles with his anger over his ex-girlfriend’s actions that haunt him, and their father, Dr. Roland Reynolds, fights to keep an old secret in the past.
In The Acquittal, two worlds apart, but their hearts dance to the same African drum beat. On a professional level, Dr. Rainey Reynolds is a competent, highly sought-after orthodontist. Inwardly, he needs to be set free from the chaos of revelations that make him question if happiness is obtainable. To get away from the drama, Rainey is willing to leave the country under the guise of a mission trip with Dentist Without Borders. Will changing his surroundings really change him? If one woman can heal his wounds, then he will believe that there is really peace after the storm.
Ghanaian beauty Josephine Abena Yaa Amoah returns to Africa after completing her studies as an exchange student in St. Louis, Missouri. Although her heart bleeds for his peace, she knows she must step back and pray for Rainey’s surrender to Christ in order for God to acquit him of his self-inflicted mental torture. In the Motherland of Ghana, Africa, Rainey not only visits the places of his ancestors, will he embrace the liberty that Christ’s
Blood really does set every man free.
In Guilty By Association, how important is a name? To the St. Louis Jamiesons who are tenth generation descendants of a royal African tribe—everything. To the Boston Jamiesons whose father never married their mother—there is no loyalty or legacy. Kidd Jamieson suffers from the “angry” male syndrome because his father was an absent in the home, but insisted his two sons carry his last name. It takes an old woman who mingles genealogy truths and Bible verses together for Kidd to realize his worth as a strong black man. He learns it’s not his association with the name that identifies him, but the man he becomes that defines him.
In The Guilt Trip, Aaron “Ace” Jamieson is living a carefree life. He’s good-looking, respectable when he’s in the mood, but his weakness is women. If a woman tries to ambush him with a pregnancy, he takes off in the other direction. It’s a lesson learned from his absentee father that responsibility is optional. Talise Rogers has a bright future ahead of her. She’s pretty and has no problem catching a man’s eye, which is exactly what she does with Ace. Trapping Ace Jamieson is the furthest thing from Taleigh’s mind when she learns she pregnant and Ace rejects her. “I want nothing from you Ace, not even your name.” And Talise meant it.
In Free From Guilt, it’s salvation round-up time and Cameron Jamieson’s name is on God’s hit list. Although his brothers and cousins embraced God—thanks to the women in their lives—the two-degreed MIT graduate isn’t going to let any woman take him down that path without a fight. He’s satisfied with his career, social calendar, and good genes. But God uses a beautiful messenger, Gabrielle Dupree, to show him that he’s in a spiritual deficit. Cameron learns the hard way that man’s wisdom is like foolishness to God. For every philosophical argument he throws her way, Gabrielle exposes him to scriptures that makes him question his worldly knowledge.
In The Confession, Sandra Nicholson had made good and bad choices throughout the years, but the best one was to give her life to Christ when her sons were small and to rear them up in the best Christian way she knew how. That was thirty something years ago and Sandra has evolved from a young single mother of two rambunctious boys, Kidd and Ace Jamieson, to a godly woman seasoned with wisdom. Despite the challenges and trials of rearing two strong-willed personalities, Sandra maintained her sanity through the grace of God, which kept gray strands at bay.
Now, Sandra Nicholson is on the threshold of happiness, but Kidd believes no man is good enough for his mother, especially if her love interest could be a man just like his absentee father.
IN No Easy Catch, Book 1, Shae Carmen hasn’t lost her faith in God, only the men she’s come across. Shae’s recent heartbreak was discovering that her boyfriend was not only married, but on the verge of reconciling with his estranged wife. Humiliated, Shae begins to second guess herself as why she didn’t see the signs that he was nothing more than a devil’s decoy masquerading as a devout Christian man. St. Louis Outfielder Rahn Maxwell finds himself a victim of an attempted carjacking. The Lord guides him out of harms’ way by opening the gunmen’s eyes to Rahn’s identity. The crook instead becomes infatuated fan and asks for Rahn’s autograph, and as a good will gesture, directs Rahn out of the ambush! When the news media gets wind of what happened with the baseball player, Shae’s television station lands an exclusive interview. Shae and Rahn’s chance meeting sets in motion a relationship where Rahn not only surrenders to Christ, but pursues Shae with a purpose to prove that good men are still out there. After letting her guard down, Shae is faced with another scandal that rocks her world. This time the stakes are higher. Not only is her heart on the line, so is her professional credibility. She and Rahn are at odds as how to handle it and friction erupts between them. Will she strike out at love again? The Lord shows Rahn that nothing happens by chance, and everything is done for Him to get the glory.
In Defense of Love, Book 2, lately, nothing in Garrett Nash’s life has made sense. When two people close to the U.S. Marshal wrong him deeply, Garrett expects God to remove them from his life. Instead, the Lord relocates Garrett to another city to start over, as if he were the offender instead of the victim.
Criminal attorney Shari Carmen is comfortable in her own skin—most of the time. Being a “dark and lovely” African-American sister has its challenges, especially when it comes to relationships. Although she’s a fireball in the courtroom, she knows how to fade into the background and keep the proverbial spotlight off her personal life. But literal spotlights are a different matter altogether.
While playing tenor saxophone at an anniversary party, she grabs the attention of Garrett Nash. And as God draws them closer together, He makes another request of Garrett, one to which it will prove far more difficult to say “Yes, Lord.”
In Redeeming Heart, Book 3, Landon Thomas (In Defense of Love) brings a new definition to the word “prodigal,” as in prodigal son, brother or anything else imaginable. It’s a good thing that God’s love covers a multitude of sins, but He isn’t letting Landon off easy. His journey from riches to rags proves to be humbling and a lesson well learned.
Real Estate Agent Octavia Winston is a woman on a mission, whether it’s God’s or hers professionally. One thing is for certain, she’s not about to compromise when it comes to a Christian mate, so why did God send a homeless man to steal her heart?
Minister Rossi Tolliver (Crowning Glory) knows how to minister to God’s lost sheep and through God’s redemption, the game changes for Landon and Octavia.
In Driven to Be Loved, Book 4, on the surface, Brecee Carmen has nothing in common with Adrian Cole. She is a pediatrician certified in trauma care; he is a transportation problem solver for a luxury car dealership (a.k.a., a car salesman). Despite their slow but steady attraction to each other, neither one of them are sure that they’re compatible. To complicate matters, Brecee is the sole unattached Carmen when it seems as though everyone else around her—family and friends—are finding love, except her.
Through a series of discoveries, Adrian and Brecee learn that things don't happen by coincidence. Generational forces are at work, keeping promises, protecting family members, and perhaps even drawing Adrian back to the church. For Brecee and Adrian, God has been hard at work, playing matchmaker all along the way for their paths cross at the right time and the right place.
IN Couple by Christmas, five year old Tyler Washington wants his daddy to marry this mother. The problem is both his parents were once married, then divorced two years ago. But it's Christmas time and the holidays are not the same. This year, Derek has custody, and he knows the loneliness his ex-wife will face on Christmas Day without their son. He experienced it the previous year. His past regrets and Tyler's request have Derek thinking. Maybe, just maybe, Robyn would be willing to do things as a family again for Tyler s sake. At best, act as a couple for Christmas.
In Prayers Answered by Christmas, Christmas is coming. While other children are compiling their lists for a fictional Santa, eight-year-old Mikaela Washington is on her knees, making her requests known to the Lord: One mommy for Christmas please. Portia Hunter refuses to let her ex-husband cheat her out of the family she wants. Her prayer is for God to send the right man into her life. Marlon Washington will do anything for his two little girls, but can he find a mommy for them and a love for himself? Since Christmas is the time of year to remember the many gifts God has given men, maybe these three souls will get their heart s desire.
**Check out my fellow Christian fiction authors writing about faith, family, and love. You won’t be disappointed! www.blackchristianreads.com
**Check out my friends at Sweet Romance Reads. www.sweetromancereads.com
**Don’t forget, 1+1=2. Posting a review, telling one reader, equals two sales.
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