It’s been a fun, challenging, and inspiring month. I hope each Reach Story has motivated, encouraged, or challenged you in some way. There’s a big world out there. We can’t reach everyone, but each of us can reach someone. Sharing a smile, a hug, or kind word might not seem like a big deal … to us. But to the person we share it with, it just might mean the world.

I want to give a shout out to our Reach Out story gift-basket winner, Cara Putman. Her love-based action demonstrated to Joplin tornado victims touched many of hearts, mine included.

And our winning reader is Mary Preston!

Ladies, I’ll be contacting you shortly for an address. Congrats, and keep demonstrating the love of Christ through words and deeds. 🙂

Thanks again to all our donors:

Mary Ellis, author of An Amish Family Reunion:

During a rumschpringe visit to Niagara Falls, Phoebe Miller meets Eli Riehl, a young man who charms her—and everyone else—with his exceptional storytelling ability. When Phoebe sketches scenes to illustrate one of his tales, Eli encourages her incredible talent, and together they embark on a lofty and unlikely business venture for two young Amish people—writing and illustrating a children’s book.

Eli’s kindness and appeal extend beyond his knack for words to reach inside Phoebe’s heart. But he is an only son with five sisters, and when his father suffers a heart attack, Eli gives up his writing to assume responsibility on the farm. Though willing to abandon his dream of becoming an author, he won’t give up his beloved Phoebe.

Can their love for a good story develop into something that lasts forever, or will Phoebe’s deep-seated fear of desertion stand in their way?

But it here.

Deborah Raney, author of Almost Forever – Hanover Falls Novel Series:

Unearthing a lost memory may cause her to lose everything dear to her. But in losing everything could she gain something better?

Bryn Hennesey, a volunteer at the Grove Street Homeless Shelter, was there the night the shelter burned to the ground and five heroic firefighters died at the scene. Among them was her husband, Adam. Like the rest of the surviving spouses, Bryn must find a way to begin again. But Bryn must do so living with a horrible secret.

Garrett Edmonds’s wife, Molly, was the only female firefighter to perish in the blaze. As her husband, it was his job to protect the woman he loved.… How can he go on in the face of such unbearable loss and guilt?

And what started the fire that destroyed the dreams and futures of so many? Investigators are stumped. But someone knows the answer…

Buy it here.

Cara Putman’s A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island:

Join attorney Alanna Stone as she returns home despite her determination to never set foot on Mackinac Island again. Once again in close proximity to Jonathan Covington, her first love, she vows to protect her privacy and her heart from the man who still makes her pulse race. But when her worst fears are realized and history repeats itself—landing her in the midst of a murder investigation—Jonathan may be her only hope. Will they be able to lay aside the past and let God heal their hearts, or will reconciliation come too late?

But it here

Vannetta Chapman, author of Falling to Pieces:

In this first book of a three-book series, author Vannetta Chapman brings a fresh twist to the popular Amish fiction genre. She blends the familiar components consumers love in Amish books—faith, community, simplicity, family—with an innovative who-done-it plot that keeps readers guessing right up to the last stitch in the quilt.

When two women—one Amish, one English—each with different motives, join forces to organize a successful on-line quilt auction, neither expects nor wants a friendship. As different as night and day, Deborah and Callie are uneasy partners who simply want to make the best of a temporary situation. But a murder, a surprising prime suspect, a stubborn detective, and the town’s reaction throw the two women together, and they form an unlikely alliance to solve a mystery and catch a killer.

Set in the well-known Amish community of Shipshewana, Falling to Pieces will attract both devoted fans of the rapidly-growing Amish fiction genre, as well as those who are captivated by the Amish way of life.

But it here.

Becky Lyles, author of Winds of Wyoming:

Fresh out of a Pennsylvania penitentiary armed with a marketing degree, Kate Neilson heads to Wyoming anticipating an anonymous new beginning as a guest-ranch employee. A typical twenty-five-year-old woman might be looking to lasso a cowboy, but her only desire is to get on with life on the outside—despite her growing interest in the ranch owner. When she discovers a violent ex-lover followed her west, she fears the past she hoped to hide will imprison her once again.

Buy it here.

Donating for our reader give-away:

Gina Holmes, author of Dry as Rain:

He’d give anything to forget the one thing she can’t remember.

When Eric and Kyra Yoshida first met, they thought their love would last forever. But like many marriages, theirs has gradually crumbled, one thoughtless comment and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal pushes them beyond reconciliation. Though Eric longs to reunite with Kyra, the only woman he has truly loved, he has no idea how to repair the damage that’s been done.

Then a car accident erases part of Kyra’s memory—including her separation from Eric—and a glimmer of hope rises from the wreckage. Is this a precious opportunity for the fresh start Eric has longed for? Does he even deserve the chance to find forgiveness and win back Kyra’s heart . . . or will the truth blow up in his face, shattering their last hope for happiness? A richly engaging story of betrayal and redemption, Dry as Rain illuminates with striking emotional intensity the surprising truth of what it means to forgive.

***

BookList

”Holmes writes from Eric’s point of view, skillfully keeping readers in suspense as they wonder when and if Kyra will regain her memory. Adultery guilt, forgiveness, and, eventually, healing are exarnined in this well-written, compelling, faith-based novel.”

Buy it here.

Join the love-bandwagon and share your story with me and my readers. Send me a story, photo with caption, or video of you reaching out to someone else in some way (it can be a retelling of a past event), along with what made it hard for you, how God helped you move forward, and how the “reach out” event blessed you or changed your perspective.

Send your stories, videos, and photos to jenniferaslattery(at)gmail(dot)com with “Reach Out” in the subject heading.

Who knows, you might just win a gift basket!

Come back Monday as we continue to encourage one another to Reach Out to Live Out. (Click here to see May’s prizes and donors.)

Have a blessed Saturday, all!