Books
FICTION
Why She Never Told Me
A Novel
A mother's secret threatens a nearly perfect life.
~~~
Layla Belanger enjoys her moderately successful career writing whimsical books for children, but she’s eager to expand to more meaty, adult fare. Still, when approached by a strange, older man about writing his dark story of family turmoil, her intuition whispers “no.”
She seeks advice from her exciting new man--the charming father of a precocious little girl--as well as from her prosperous but emotionally distant parents. In so doing, she starts in motion the crumbling of a wall of secrets she never knew existed.
When the truth is unearthed, Layla must decide: how much is she willing to forgive? How unconditional is her love?
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If Only in Our Dreams
A Novella
A Christmas secret upends Harper Deering’s life and relationships. She might lose one loved one in order to cherish another.
~~~
Harper has figured it out. The most fulfilling Christmas celebrations go beyond the giving of gifts and involve the giving of one’s self—a mirroring of the original Christmas, so to speak. She’s organized her family’s traditions accordingly.
But the discovery of a lifelong secret on Christmas morning rocks her world and sets her on a course that challenges her ideas of generosity and loyalty. Is there such a thing as being too sacrificial to keep a loved one happy? Harper has always been a risk taker, but the relationships at stake now are all too precious. Whom is she willing to lose?
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When She Stumbled
A Novella
Georgie Hobbs loses it all and finds herself seeking revival in a most unlikely place.
~~~
Georgie awakens on a gorgeous morning in her lovely Washington, DC apartment and stands on the precipice of professional and personal success. She’s the author of an exciting new biography about a hotshot marriage therapist. She has a talented boyfriend in Manhattan, where she may move if their love continues to grow.
But in a matter of hours, Georgie sees her vision of the future crumble in nearly every respect—her career, her love, her home—gone.
City girl Georgie escapes to the tiny rural town of Grimsey, Iowa, to lick her wounds and find shelter with her sister’s family. Thanks to an old movie star, a handsome sculptor, and unearthed secrets, shelter is just the beginning of what she finds.
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A Special Kind of Double
A Novella
Franny Otterbridge is not equipped to search for her sister alone. She’s even less prepared for what she finds.
~~~
Franny and Grace Otterbridge were always the closest of sisters. But after their father’s death, Grace veered off in a different direction. Now Franny feels she’s lost her. Literally—Grace has gone missing. Franny assumes she’s taken off on another wild hair, but signs soon suggest otherwise.
Franny accepts amateur sleuthing help from new flame Nevan Burns, a young fine artist (who’s also a fine young artist). He proves himself more than good company, and Franny finds herself swinging from one emotion to another, from joy to fear, from anticipation to dread. Soon the hunt for Grace consumes Franny’s every thought. What will her search uncover?
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A Midnight Clear
A Novella
For Maddie Travers, there's something weighty about the midnight hour. She's no Cinderella, but for better or worse, her life has a way of changing after that twelfth stroke.
~~~
When she attends a Washington, DC dinner party thrown by friends far wealthier than she, writer Maddie Travers is distracted by internal debates. Should she move back to Washington? Should she seek work she might find more fulfilling?
She meets the appealing “regular guy,” Dom Sebastiani, at the party and consequently wonders whether she’s ready to seek romance again. So many decisions! At the stroke of midnight, a shocking turn of events sets Maddie on a path that holds at least as many questions for her as it does answers
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You’re Where I Want to Be
A Novella
Delaney Shaw spent her youth faced with adult responsibilities. The time has finally come for her to blossom as she should have years ago.
~~~
As a pregnant teen, Delaney had to grow up quickly. Now she’s forty and embracing experiences she missed as a hard-working single mom—college, independence, and…romance? No, thank you. No time for romance. But Delaney’s grown daughter, her best friend, and a dashing-but-vexing professor might change her mind.
Delaney’s been blessed with a chance to change her future, if her past and present hang-ups can just get out of the way.
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Together by Design
A Novella
Home stager Elena Tafani thinks she has everything under control. She's about to learn that life isn't as tidy as it appears.
~~~
Elena is in control of almost every aspect of her life. But getting arrested is only the first in a number of experiences that throw her summer completely off kilter. She may know how to stage a home to show it at its best, but her life isn’t showing quite as well. There’s her runaway niece, her hard-bitten sister, her over-indulgent parents, and her judgmental clients. Then there’s Chaz, the best friend for whom she’s developing very confusing feelings.
What’s a good rule follower supposed to do?
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Local Girl
A Novella
Entrepreneur Edie Keegan—a small-town perfumier—juggles business, family, and a pushy friend determined to find her a man.
~~~
Edie achieves ever-growing acclaim for her popular Local Girl perfume. Her romantic life hasn’t been quite as successful, but that’s fine with her. As she insists to her matchmaking friend, Sara-Penny Butler, she’s not in the market for love. But Sara-Penny knows better, and she understands Edie and her painful past more than Edie realizes.
When Ben Walsh, the town veterinarian, turns Edie’s head, she questions whether love is worth the risk of getting hurt, whether Ben is the man for her (despite her cat allergies), and whether Sara-Penny is ever going to mind her own business.
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Miss Apprehension
A Novella
Cherise Paul is an unintentional runaway bride who stumbles into adventure on the set of a Hollywood film.
~~~
The setting for Cherise's destination wedding couldn’t be more romantic. So why does she feel she’s being dragged down the aisle? She doesn’t plan to run away and become entangled with the famous young actor, Niles Adair, and his film crew, but circumstances unfold exactly that way.
When her fiancé, Jerry Gallagher, re-enters the scene, Cherise must decide: What does she want? What is she afraid of? What does she not understand? And who would have thought that Spanx could play such a pivotal role in one woman’s destiny?
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More Than Meets the Eye
A Novella
Part of the In Love and War collection, More Than Meets the Eye focuses on young Washington, DC graphic designer, Jensy St. Martin, and her challenges in life and love.
~~~
Jensy St. Martin is not pleased when she recognizes the latest ad man to join the Washington, DC agency she has long considered her professional home.
Phil Quinn was a cocky, love-’em-and-leave-’em type when they attended the same high school ten years ago, and she senses he hasn’t changed much since then. When the two ad designers are forced to work together on a campaign, Jensy learns more than she wants to know about the man, and his growing attractiveness becomes the least of her worries.
Trish’s fellow authors in this romantic collection are Miralee Ferrell, Kimberly Rose Johnson, and Debby Mayne.
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Under the Dogwood Tree
A Novella
Shy librarian Bernadette Doyle gives care to her spirited grandma, rekindles an old love, and uncovers a surprising crime in beautiful Northern Virginia.
~~~
Bernadette thinks she’s put her life on hold for the summer, while she cares for Cookie, her aging firecracker of a grandmother. But Cookie’s run-in with a spastic dog leads to Bernadette’s run-in with a handsome EMT who recognizes “Bernie” as his past childhood love.
The next three months of rekindled romance, white-collar crime, suffered loss, and explored recovery show Bernie that her life is not on hold. Far from it—her life has just begun.
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Love's First Stage
A Novella
Forget breaking the proverbial leg on the stage, what about a broken heart?
~~~
Anna Chesterfield earned a six-month trip to audition for the Manhattan theater through such odd circumstances, she’s certain God had a hand in it. And the kind attention from her benefactor’s smart, attractive, newly dateable son only convinces her further.
But when she encounters several moral dilemmas, she struggles to know exactly why God led her to New York. Is it time to grow up or time to grow away from the future she’s craved all her life?
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Labor of Love
A Novella
Part of The Midwife's Legacy collection:
Four brave women fight against the outside elements, the odds, and those who oppose them as they help to bring new life into the world and also find new love. This generational starts in the Midwest and leads to the Willamette Valley of Oregon. A journal with messages of faith and encouragement in the calling of midwifery is a key factor, written in the mid 1800s by Adele--the first midwife of the family--and added to through the ensuing years, as her descendants also remark on what has helped them.
As each story unfolds, the journal provides encouragement to help these women as they embark on their own adventures as midwives, each nugget of wise counsel and Godly wisdom aiding them with what they are going through in their personal lives.
In Labor of Love, Kendra Silverstone has been certain of her calling to be a midwife as long as she can remember. Whether aiding in childbirth at the Willamette Valley Hospital Center or in the privacy of a family home, she feels God’s loving hand in her work. But when a local doctor campaigns aggressively against midwifery at the same time one of Kendra’s mothers experiences the loss of her newborn, she finds her confidence shaken. She starts to reconsider her life’s work and question her reading of God’s guidance.
Her blossoming romance with carpenter Steven Nichols provides a bright light in her circumstances, not only because of his supportive, nurturing love, but because of the journal he finds while repairing and refinishing an antique desk passed down to Kendra through the years. Will the guidance and blessings provided through her ancestors’ words be enough to convince Kendra of God’s will for her life?
Trish’s fellow authors in this exciting collection are Jane Kirkpatrick, Rhonda Gibson, and Pamela Griffin.
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'Tis the Season
A Novella
Love finds a home on Christmas morning in this heartwarming North Carolina holiday story.
When Nikki Tronnier accepted an offer, nearly a year ago, to serve as personal chef to aged billionaire Harvey Fennicle, it meant moving back home to Cary, North Carolina. It also meant she would soon reach a lifelong goal to buy back the Tronnier family home built by her great-grandfather, William, for his lovely bride, Lillian. Nikki hopes to return to the tradition of hosting the kind of gatherings her family used to enjoy.
But before she is able to make an offer, someone else buys the house. In her disappointment, she's ready to put up a fight about that. Then she learns that the one person who stands in her way is the very man who just stole her heart.
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Unforgettable
A Novel
Take an exciting, nostalgic trip back in time to the 1950s, when the challenges faced by and between men and women were simply different than they are today. Readers will enjoy ballroom dancer Rachel Stanhope, her brash young hero Josh Reegan, and the romantic and professional adventures that throw them together and teach them to embrace the best and worst about each other.
~~~
Rachel tries to see the good in everyone. But even her good graces are challenged when she meets Josh outside her Arlington, Virginia dance studio on a brisk fall morning in 1951. Admittedly, he’s attractive, but she finds his cynicism and cockiness hard to tolerate.
A hard-news journalist and former World War II Air Force pilot, Josh considers distractions like ballroom dancing frivolous wastes of time. He has yet to shed his wartime drive to defend good against evil whenever he can. Yes, Rachel’s confident nature is a refreshing challenge, but he wouldn’t tangle with her if his newspaper hadn't roped him into covering one of her studio’s competitions in New York City.
Between Arlington and New York, between the melodrama of ballroom antics and the real drama of political corruption, between family involvement and romantic entanglement, Rachel and Josh have their hands full. The last thing either of them expects is mutual need and support. But once they stop dancing around the truth, the results are unforgettable.
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FICTION SERIES
Millicent's Tea Shop Series:
What a fun new series! These characters and stories are set in one of Trish’s favorite places ever. Middleburg, Virginia retains much of its historic flavor, with its old stone houses, elegant estates, rural farms, and small-town friendliness.
Milly Ashford Jewell, owner of Milly’s Tea Shop, listens, observes, and occasionally advises the heroes and heroines of these stories. Milly has lived both frugal and extravagant lifestyles, so she attracts, and empathizes with, people from all walks of life. Each group of people that gathers at Milly’s tea shop undergoes some kind of change. Is it the tea shop? Is it Milly? Or is it something beyond simple understanding?
The Perfect Blend
A Novel
Steph Vandergrift left everything to elope with Middleburg attorney Rick Manfred, who then stood her up at the altar. Too embarrassed to return home, Steph hopes to earn enough to get by until she can decide what to do next. Tea Shop owner Milly Jewel hires her and appreciates the extra help at the tea shop.
Also appreciative of Steph is Kendall James, one of the kindest, most eligible bachelors in the area. But by the time Steph feels able to consider dating again, her runaway fiancé
returns and tries to win her back. Steph is wary, but she and Rick always blended so well.
Christie Burnham, the frank-talking equestrian from whom Steph rents a room, and her frillier sister Liz become fast friends and confidantes to Steph. Between the two sisters, there isn’t much any man is going to pull over on Middleburg’s newest bachelorette and tea shop employee.
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Tea for Two
A Novel
Tina Milano and her women's group are mentioned in The Perfect Blend (the first book in this series), but Tea for Two is where we meet her and Zack Cooper. Trish planted several passing mentions of Zack and Tina while she wrote Steph's story in The Perfect Blend. By the time she was able to write Tina and Zack's story, she was eager to unfold their lives, conflicts, and love. She hopes readers will be eager to experience what happens to them!
~~~
Zack tries his best to raise his children, but he’s losing his grip on them in their teen years. They’ve both had scrapes with the local law.
Tea Shop owner Milly Jewel has the perfect woman in mind to help Zack. Counselor Tina Milano meets weekly at the tea shop with her women’s group. Milly encourages Zack and Tina to work together to draw the teens back before they get in even hotter water. Milly never thought things might heat up between Zack and Tina. Or did she?
Tina’s connections with the Middleburg police department prove a mixed blessing for Zack and his kids. Both her best friend and old boyfriend are officers on the force.
And when Tina’s women’s group gets wind of her personal pursuits and clashes, they want to help. The group’s meetings at the tea shop take on a slightly different flavor. Tina wonders who, exactly, is counseling whom.
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The California Beach House Series:
Years before she moved to the west coast, Trish wrote these two entertaining books set in a funky little beach house in San Diego (continuing a series started by fellow author Sally John). Both of these stand-alone books draw together fascinating characters, humorous events, and loving awakenings.
Beach Dreams
A Novel
By the time Trish finished Too Good to Be True, she had developed a strong fondness and a sense of intrigue about two of the book’s characters, Tiffany LeBoeuf and Jeremy Beckett. She didn’t want to leave them hanging, “unfinished” in the fictional world. She was pleased to discover many readers felt the same way. Thus begins their story, beginning in Northern Virginia and traveling to sunny San Diego. The change in setting puts an entirely new twist on the development of their touching and humorous romance.
~~~
Tiffany seriously needs to get away. She has just lost her mother to cancer, and she returns home to find herself fired for devoting the past three months to her mother’s care. Grieving and stressed, Tiffany seeks rest for her body and soul at a cozy beach house in San Diego.
A scheduling mix-up causes a double booking, and Tiffany ends up sharing the house with a woman named Eve. When Eve’s boyfriend, Jeremy Beckett, arrives to surprise Eve, he surprises Tiffany as well. Jeremy and Tiffany share a brief history, and it’s not a pretty one. They also share a mutual attraction, and it’s not a comfortable one.
Jeremy settles in at the beach house next door, intent on making his love life right. What happens after that surprises them all.
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Sunset Beach
A Novel
Trish loved creating all new characters for this return trip to the beach house in San Diego. Sonny Miller, her vacation roommates, and their questions and confessions about family and identity provide plenty of conflict and fun. Readers will enjoy watching with Sonny as the mysteries of her past unfold. And they’ll love exploring the possibilities of new friendship and romance afforded by Irina and her brother. We weren’t yet ready to say goodbye to the beach house characters, and we hope readers will feel the same!
~~~
Sonny is tired of not knowing who she is. Soon she’ll begin graduate school to earn her masters in Psychology. But how can she counsel future clients about their identities when she isn’t even sure about her own? To that end she has cooked up a little meeting at a certain beach house in San Diego.
Sonny’s mother, classical soprano Teresa Miller, isn’t aware she’s about to be reunited at the beach house with her sister, Melanie Hines, after 25 years of estrangement. And Sonny isn’t aware her mother has invited a surprise guest of her own. Russian adoptee, Irina Petrova, finds herself dragged along on a trip so tumultuous she summons her handsome concert violinist brother for moral support.
The four women converge on the quirky little beach house in San Diego, each with her own disappointments and hopes about family, identity, and love. For Sonny, the trip reveals all she expected and more than she ever dreamed.
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The Ren and Kara Series:
These two twenty-somethings have their hands full as they search for fulfillment in all areas of life: faith, love, career, and the constant juggling of friends, families, and the occasional very mean girl.
The Guy I'm Not Dating
A Novel
Trish got the idea for Kara's story while attending a women's Bible conference with her daughter. She introduced Trish to a young woman who had been living with her boyfriend until he found the Lord and felt convicted to end their relationship. In time, the Lord won her heart as well. The two of them became friends for quite a long time before they decided to begin a pure "courtship," with marriage a strong possibility for their future. Trish says, “I was so impressed by the way they turned their relationship around. Eventually the Lord put the story of Kara and Gabe on my heart. I liked the potential for conflict, humor, and romance in their less-than-orthodox modern love story.”
~~~
Kara Richardson has finally suffered one breakup too many. She’s decided to go the no-dating route to romance, although she’s not quite sure how that works.
She couldn’t have picked a worse time to meet Gabe Paolino. Gorgeous men hardly faze Kara. A personal trainer, she works with hunks every day. But Gabe, the handsome young deli owner in town, proves way too available and way too challenging for Kara’s vow of friendship. How will she adhere to her new lifestyle without scaring Gabe away?
Enter matchmaking friends, a strange elderly aunt, three demanding teens, and one hard-to-take vixen with eyes for Gabe. Add an overcrowded road trip and plenty of God’s blessings, and Kara may discover that the guy she’s not dating is the best boyfriend she’s ever had.
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Too Good to Be True
A Novel
Trish actually got the idea for Ren’s story before writing Kara’s. She wanted Ren to be funny but somewhat vulnerable emotionally. She knew her story would have much to do with our timing versus God’s, and she had specific romantic encounters in mind for Ren and Tru. Trish says, “The more serious facets of the story--surviving divorce, infertility, trying to adopt, and honoring one’s humorously manipulative parents--just started floating around in my head while I folded laundry, applied my makeup, drove to the grocery store. As often happens, the random ideas settled into place once I sat down at the computer and got to work. That ‘settling’ is one of God’s many blessings during the writing process--great fun!”
~~~
Your classic romantic heroine swoons after meeting Prince Charming in, say, an enchanted forest. But Rennie Young would never have met the gallant Truman Sayers if she hadn’t fainted immediately beforehand--in the boys’ sportswear department of her local Wal-Mart.
Ren, a 20-something elementary schoolteacher, has reluctantly accepted that her husband--who divorced her over a year ago--is not coming back. Tru Sayers, a handsome young labor-and-delivery nurse, seems like a gift from God. Ren’s friends and Tru’s siblings are supportive and excited about the match. But there are . . . complications.
Ren’s control-freak mother is desperate to match her daughter up with “more suitable” men. Tru’s mother wants Tru to remain a bachelor--and at her beck and call--forever. Is it possible to honor your parents while on the verge of killing them?
Despite conflicts, embarrassments, and a pity binge or two, Ren learns how to lean on the Lord and His loving will for her. Just when Ren thinks her happiness is slipping away, God shows her that no miracle is too good to be true.
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NONFICTION
Grace is Like Chocolate Without the Calories
Devotional
No matter how busy, crazy, or off track our lives can be, we are assured of the sweetness of God's ever-present, freely given grace.
These one hundred devotions remind readers how fully God's grace covers every slip and stumble. Our best can never be good enough, but grace is greater than our largest shortcoming. Writing with humor and heart, four of America's best-loved inspirational writers share their own lives, inviting readers to find the blessings in the challenges. Whether you are facing deadlines, double-scheduled meetings, growing loads of laundry, or all that and more, if you begin your day with a reminder of God's love, your whole day will be all the sweeter.
Trish’s fellow authors in this sweet collection are Sandra D. Bricker, Loree Lough, and Cynthia Ruchti.
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Better Than Chocolate (Tasty Morsels of God's Goodness)
Devotional
Every woman has time for chocolate. Taking a moment to delight in the Lord is even better.
This sweet little book is a collection of 100 daily devotions that busy women can read and enjoy while having their morning cup of coffee, waiting for an appointment, or ending the day and turning off the light.
Trish’s fellow author in this delicious collection is Debby Mayne.
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Be Still and Let Your Nail Polish Dry
Devotional Journal
Today’s women are wives, moms, and businesswomen, juggling family, careers, responsibilities, and harried schedules. This devotional helps women take a little time for themselves every day to renew their spirits and grow closer to God . . . all in the time it takes to paint a set of fingernails.
Drawing from the original devotional of the same title, as well as Delight Yourself in the Lord . . . Even on Bad Hair Days and His Grace is Sufficient . . . Decaf is Not, this 365-day version includes devotions for the whole year and journaling lines for every single day.
Trish’s fellow authors in this exciting collection are Kristin Billerbeck, Andrea Boeshaar, Sandra D. Bricker, Gwen Ford Faulkenberry, Diann Hunt, Loree Lough, Debby Mayne, and Cynthia Ruchti.
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His Grace is Sufficient…Decaf is NOT
Devotional Journal
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). With this single promise, God's grace does what nothing else can. Grace enables us to do the impossible. When we don't have the ability, the resources, or even the drive to accomplish God's will for our lives, His grace is there. And when our feet slip or we've chosen the wrong path, His grace is a heartbeat away to dust us off and show us the way home, no questions asked.
~~~
Complete pardon? Clemency? Unearned favor? Oh, come on. What’s the catch? Can it really be that, as we navigate the high-wire act of our busy lives, God’s grace forms a quiet safety net beneath us? Each one of us has lived with imperfect (perhaps very conditional) love, and the concept of God’s perfect love often seems unfathomable by comparison. But all those things we hope will justify or fortify us in some way--good works, career or family focus, even chocolate or caffeine!--contribute nothing long-lasting. They’re just momentary, while the supply of God’s grace never runs dry.
So does that mean when you step into line to order your next double espresso, we would suggest that you make it a decaf? Absolutely not! But we’re here to show you...to gently remind you...that there is nothing else that offers the high-octane surge of His full-on grace.
Trish’s fellow authors on this delightful, hope-filled devotional are Sandra D. Bricker, Loree Lough, and Cynthia Ruchti.
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Delight Yourself in the Lord…Even on Bad Hair Days
Devotional
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) Probably the most quoted promise in the Bible, this one passage of scripture inspires hope, sustains faith, and oozes with joy.
Whether single or married, career girl or stay-at-home mom, today’s Christian woman is faced with daily obstacles. Delight Yourself in the Lord...Even on Bad Hair Days is a devotional filled with upbeat reminders about infusing hope and joy in the Lord as the first step toward conquering life’s problems and chasing down the desires of your heart. Through 100 funny and thought-provoking devotions, the authors remind women to go back to the basics with God. And they even share a few private “bad hair confessions” along the way!
Trish’s fellow authors of this fun, poignant devotional are Sandra D. Bricker, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Debby Mayne.
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