When I released my first indie book, I sent my street team a necklace along with the advance reader copy. The pendant, a gift from the hero to the heroine, figured prominently in the book. She had never had a home or family of her own, and desperately wanted one. The pendant symbolized love, family, belonging—and home.  One of my team members lost almost everything they owned a couple weeks after the book released in a massive fire that completely destroyed their barn and house. Thankfully, their entire family of eight, and all their animals, managed to escape. A week later she sent me this email: Hi Carole, I wanted to write and let you know what a blessing your book has been to me through this week.  When we left for church Sunday morning I decided to take my necklace off that I wear every day and replace it with your carnelian one.  While I'm sad to lose the other one (it was a mother's necklace with all my children's names on it - that did need to be ...

Hello Friends! I am very excited to be introducing a new blog series I'm calling, When Reads the Heart. This series will feature uplifting stories of books and stories that have changed and touched lives. My very first guest for When Reads the Heart is award winning author Linda Wood Rondeau. ***** HOW TO BE A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT BEING RELIGIOUS by Fritz Rednoir Just 188 pages. Back in 1971, a quick read. Yet, the book changed my life. The powerful message of what makes Christianity different from any other religion, ended my search for religious practice and helped me learn to walk with God through faith alone. Though I did not grow up in a traditionally Christian home, my parents believed in God and taught me the importance of nightly prayers. My grandparents came to Christianity in midlife through the influence of my father’s brother, then age seventeen, who became saved at a Billy Graham Crusade and joined the choir. We only attended church when my grandparen...