Alma Curtis is a bit of a busybody, but she is also a loyal member of King’s Chapel, an historic African-American church in Lovette, North Carolina.  Arriving early to make the final preparations for the church’s 100th anniversary service, she is shocked to hear her pastor, Jonathan Pierce, being threatened by Myron King, the great-grandson of the church’s founder. Winston Beckana is a relative newcomer to the church, but when the church secretary asks Winston, a retired computer expert, to look at the church’s financial records, he can see that something is wrong.  Pastor Pierce knows that something is wrong–his wife is addicted to cocaine and her addiction has put the pastor under King’s thumb. The Pierces know that the situation can’t go on, but when Winston Beckana is murdered, they realize that others in their community have been hurt by their weaknesses.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: October 26th, 2009 under 2000-, 2007, McFarland, Shirlita K., Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont.
Comments: none

It’s easy to loose faith in yourself and faith in God’s goodness when your marriage breaks up.  When Yvonne Fountain Copeland’s husband of fifteen years leaves her for no good reason, Yvonne is shattered.  Yvonne takes her two daughters from Richmond and moves back to her hometown of Durham.  There she finds a nurturing family, a mixed community of sinners and faith-filled people, and the handsome Curtis Parker.  Coach Parker is the successful basketball coach at a local university.  As Yvonne and Curtis fall in love they also come to realize that they need to give God a more central place in their lives.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: April 26th, 2009 under 2000-, 2009, Bowen, Michele Andrea, Durham, Piedmont, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

In the second of the Mitford novels, Father Tim must deal with a variety of women in his life. The recently widowed Edith Mallory is pursuing him in a not-so-subtle manner that includes delivering delicious casseroles to his home. The life-long bachelor doesn’t mind the food, but he is in love with someone else: his neighbor, the lovely children’s book author Cynthia Coppersmith. Unfortunately, he isn’t sure how to proceed on that front. He also has his bossy assistant Edith meddling in his life and a mysterious female cousin from Ireland comes to stay in his house. Barnabas the unruly dog also makes appearances, as does young Dooley, whose troubles at school distress Tim.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

Posted: April 21st, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1995, Karon, Jan, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

After hearing a missionary doctor speak about his work in the Great Smokies, nineteen year-old, Christy Huddleston volunteers to be a mission teacher. She leaves her home and well-to-do family in Asheville and travels to the remote Cutter’s Gap, a place that does not take easily to outsiders. She faces numerous challenges related to both the place and the people of rural Appalachia–including the lack of modern conveniences, the influence of folk beliefs and superstitions, moonshining, and the community’s abject poverty–but her faith sustains her. Miss Alice, the missionary who founded the school, helps her and she is romantically torn between two men: minister David and the locally-born Dr. MacNeill. Most of the book’s action takes place in Cutter’s Gap, which is actually based on the community of Morgan Branch, located just over the border in Tennessee in the Cherokee National Forest. Based on the life of the author’s mother, Christy has inspired a television series of the same name, as well as several TV movies.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: March 3rd, 2009 under 1960-1969, 1967, Buncombe, Historical, Marshall, Catherine, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

In this third novel in the Benrey’s Glory, NC series, handsome glass expert Andrew Ballantine comes to town to advise Glory Community Church on the replacement of their stained glass window.  When he is poisoned at a Christmas tea party at the Scottish Captain Inn, nurse Sharon Pickard comes under suspicion. Sharon had the opportunity to administer the poison and because of a medical mission trip to Sri Lanka years earlier, she knows all about the poisoned that was used.  As the police investigate the crime, Sharon nurses Andrew back to health.  They fall in love. To prevent another attempt on Andrew’s life, they must race to solve the crime.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: February 6th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Benrey, Janet and Ron, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

The very proper Julia Springer doesn’t believe in speaking ill of the dead, but her husband’s sudden demise leaves her in a difficult position. She finds out that her stingy husband of more than forty years was actually quite rich and, since there is no will, she inherits every penny of his money. However, her unexpected windfall brings out the worst in some of her small-town neighbors, including a pastor who tries to get the money by proving her legally incompetent. The widow also inherits something else unexpected: her husband’s illegitimate nine-year-old son. As if this weren’t enough to keep Julia busy, she also faces a strange televangelist, a robbery, and a kidnapping.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

Posted: January 23rd, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1999, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
Comments: none

When a hurricane blows through town it knocks the steeple off the roof of the Glory Community Church and onto a Storm Channel broadcast van. The weather reporter and camera man inside are injured and one town resident is killed. Town officials blame the church’s administrator, Ann Trask, both because she was in charge of the building and because an incident in her past seems to demonstrate a lack of good judgment under pressure. However, it may be that the victim succumbed to murder rather than the storm. As Ann and camera man Sean Miller try to solve the mystery, they find romance and Ann rediscovers parts of her faith. This is the third of the the Benreys’ series of books set in the fictional Glory, NC, all three of which are part of Steeple Hill Books’ larger “Love Inspired Suspense” series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: December 8th, 2008 under 2008, Benrey, Janet and Ron, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship, Suspense/Thriller.
Comments: none

Turning forty without a husband and children has Eva Liles down.  Has she set her sights too high?  Is she wrong to want a man who’s tall, handsome, college-educated, financially secure, romantic, and a churchgoer?  The older ladies at Community Baptist are only too glad to call her out for being picky, but how will they react when they find out that she’s seeing a man who’s in prison?  Eva tries to keep her distance from Xavier, but as she comes to know him and his family, she realizes that she has to make a choice: reject Xavier because he doesn’t measure up to her checklist or take a chance on what she feels in her heart.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: October 8th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Turnage, Leceila, Wake.
Comments: none

Being a pastor’s wife is a hard row to hoe, so the Pastors’ Wives Alliance was formed. The women meet each Saturday to share their frustrations over demanding church members, expectations of extreme propriety, endless fund raising, their husbands’ long hours, and the ups and downs that most couples endure. This particular Saturday the meeting become more serious when one of the group announces that she is leaving her husband and shares the reasons why.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: September 12th, 2008 under 2000-, 2007, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, McNeill, Georgia Hooker.
Comments: none

What’s up with the men in Abbotsville??!! Mildred Allen’s husband has disappeared, Richard Stroud might have had his hand in the till, Pastor Ledbetter is toying with the idea of accepting a call to another church, and even Julia’s reliable Sam is acting suspiciously. And as if that isn’t enough, a developer wants to tear down the historic courthouse and redevelop the courthouse square. Miss Julia has a plan to scare off the developer, but it’s anything but a quiet spring in Abbotsville.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

Posted: August 28th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
Comments: none