|
|
Christian Fiction July 2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
Bookmarked for Love
by Sarah Monzon
Desperate to save the children's programs at her library, Martha Aldridge strikes a deal with her now wealthy childhood crush, Julien King, who needs her expertise to resurrect his family's children's imprint to prove himself to his father. As they're forced to work together, attraction ignites, and they realize their jobs are not the only thing on the line.
|
|
|
|
D Is for Daisy
by Shelley Shepard Gray
Newcomers are always welcome in the rural Amish community of Walden, Ohio, but in this heartwarming inspirational romance from beloved New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Shelley Shepard Gray, a 50-something couple planning for early retirement learn even the simple life can sometimes be complicated.
|
|
|
|
The Island Bookshop
by Roseanna M. White
When secrets from the past and present surface... Kennedy Marshall left her home on North Carolina's Outer Banks for a prestigious dream job-- and to put distance between herself and another dream that was never meant to be. Her sister now runs the island's beloved bookshop they inherited from their grandmother, who was always strangely reluctant to speak about her past. But when Lara is injured, Kennedy races back to care for her and to keep the shop afloat... and crashes headlong into the bittersweet memories she thought she'd left behind.
|
|
|
|
A Lady's Handbook to Gadgets and Guile
by Angela Bell
Wheelchair user Margaret Kingsley secretly crafts gadgets for a covert team of lady inspectors. When her expertise is needed to infiltrate the domain of London's most prolific inventor, she teams up with the inventor's secretary, Charles Noble. As strange occurrences surface, they must unravel a plot of sabotage while grappling with sparks of attraction.
|
|
|
Christine's Library Journal Reviews
|
|
|
|
With the Enduring Tides
by Jane Kirkpatrick
This review by librarian Christine Barth was first published in the March 2026 issue of Library Journal.
In this novel set in the early 1900s, a century of Lewis and Clark's expedition, many kinds of people now call Oregon's Cannon Beach home, including Mary Gerritse, the intrepid postmaster who traverses the coast on horseback to deliver mail and medicine. Following up on Across the Crying Sands, Kirkpatrick tracks characters such as Jewell, who is reconciling her Nehalem Clatsop upbringing with her Finnish ancestors living in community nearby, and Herbert, the British remittance man whose declining health may take away his chance at love.
Mary is now a seasoned wife and mother, although she still bucks some traditional feminine roles and now sees that trait in her own daughter.
VERDICT: Readers will have empathy for Kirkpatrick's (mostly women) characters surviving rugged conditions and a host of psychological struggles, in an era when mental illness was more feared than it is today. Those seeking other nuanced depictions of the Old West with semi-biographical characters should also pick up secular offerings from Sandra Dallas especially The Westering Women and Where Coyotes Howl.
|
|
|
|
Birds on a Wire
by Katie Powner
This review by librarian Christine Barth was first published in the March 2026 issue of Library Journal.
Laura Gambler has a great life but is still dreading her upcoming 40th birthday. Feeling called to foster care, her family opens their home to baby Providence, but the struggle of life with a newborn while navigating the foster system is more than they bargained for.
Bri Marshall and her boyfriend AJ both dropped out of high school and have struggled with drug addiction. She thought a baby might be their chance for redemption and a reason to get sober. But drugs are still in Bri's system when her son is born, so he's placed in foster care. Now Bri faces the difficult reality of changing her life with few resources and little support. Laura and Bri will both take a hard look in the mirror and in the Bible to find a way forward.
VERDICT: Powner (When the Road Comes Around) draws on her own experience as a foster mom to give this gift of a book to readers. Other titles that tug on heartstrings and inspire deeper connection with fellow humans include No One Every Asked by Kate Ganshert and All the Things That Come Between Us by Sarah Ruth Hickner.
|
|
|
|
The Heiress and the Woodsman
by Christine Hill Suntz
Charlotte Carruthers must find her brother. Joshua Robertson needs the funds to free his. On the road into the Canadian wilderness, they become reluctant allies in a race to save their siblings before brewing rebellion tears the colony apart.
|
|
|
|
In a Word, Yes
by Kit Tosello
Lucy Montgomery excels at making boundaries, but her dreams of writing a book and finding love require risk. Her celebrity mother Carly Montgomery lives an enviable life but is facing her own regrets, including holding her daughter at arm's length. To embrace a new way forward, they must take a step of faith and open their hearts to love.
|
|
|
|
In These Hills: A 1900s Southern Historical Romance about a Suffragette on the Run
by Tamera Alexander
Josephine Dunham is running for her life. After a women's suffrage rally in Atlanta turns deadly, she buys a one-way ticket on the first train out and lands in rural Tennessee. There, Dodge Coburn--a rough-edged stranger with undeniable appeal--begrudgingly offers her a ride to Lynchburg, a speck of a town where Josephine hopes to disappear. Battered and desperate, Josephine has little to say when Dodge delivers her to Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House. Hoping to work in exchange for room and board, she soon discovers the only job matching her skills is at Jack Daniel's Distillery, an irony not lost on a suffragist committed to prohibition.
|
|
|
|
Where Wilted Flowers Bloom
by Johanna Rojas Vann
When Sandra and her family move from New York City to East Nashville for her husband's job, she is hopeful for a fresh start. While she will deeply miss her tight-knit family and thriving career, she is desperate to leave behind the city that holds her greatest loss. But Sandra quickly learns that moving into a new home she designed and having the freedom to be a stay-at-home mom for the first time is not what she thought it would be. Sorrow still follows her, and no new place can fix it. When she meets her next-door neighbor, Mark, who is an elderly, widowed, retired pastor, an unlikely friendship quickly forms. His humor, spiritual wisdom, and affinity for gardening--a skill he was forced to learn when his wife passed away--brings a welcome distraction from Sandra's suffocating grief, giving her hope for the first time since her tragic loss.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|