Welcome to my new blog feature, The Reading Bag! Every Friday I’ll spotlight a book for your weekend reading. AND I’ve got a sneak peek for you – a short excerpt!
Though I read throughout the week, on Fridays I start looking around for new books to read over the weekend. In the winter, I curl up in front of the fireplace to read. In the summer, I take my reading out to the patio or front porch. No matter what time of the year it is, I always need a new read for the weekend. I hope you’ll check these books out and add them to your own reading bag.
Letting Go by June Foster
Pastor Zackary Lawrence lost his wife and unborn child when an embolism took her life. After questioning God why, Zack couldn’t find the will to continue as pastor at Oak Mountain Bible church in his small town of Oak Mountain, Alabama. But when his parents encouraged him to continue his work, he reluctantly returned to the pulpit. Now, six months later, the congregation has dwindled to less than a handful, and Zack witnesses the closing of the church’s doors. Desperate, he takes a job at the local hardware store and reluctantly moves in with his parents.
Though Ella Russell had secretly been in love with Zack since high school, her hopes were shredded when he returned from seminary, accompanied by a wife. Trying to forget the only guy she’d ever loved, she threw herself into her profession as a high school counselor, working with rebellious youth. When Zack’s wife died, Ella grieved with him. Now as one of the few remaining members of Oak Mountain Bible Church, she tries to encourage Zack yet abandons her dream of a future with him. But when she drops by the church, the worst has happened. She finds a distraught Zack locking the doors for good with the bank’s immanent foreclosure.
Can God resurrect Zack’s life and allow him to finally discover the woman he’s always loved? If Ella entrusts her heart to Zack, will he shatter her hopes once more?
**Excerpt**
A man wielding a rifle slipped into the woods again, just out of sight. Odd. Someone shot her yet there was no pain. With her left hand, she touched the place where the bullet had entered then stared at her fingers. Blood drooled down her palm and onto her wrist. As quickly as the bullet had made impact, now a searing ache sent unbearable throbbing to her arm. A dark fog beckoned.
An award-winning author, June Foster is a retired teacher with a BA in education and MA in counseling. June’s book Give Us This Day was a finalist in EPIC’s eBook awards and a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards for best first book. Ryan’s Father was one of three finalists in the published contemporary fiction category of the Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Writing Contest and Awards. Deliver Us was a finalist in COTT’s Laurel Awards. June has written four novels for Desert Breeze Publishing. The Bellewood Series, Give Us This Day, As We Forgive, and Deliver Us, and Hometown Fourth of July. Ryan’s Father is published by WhiteFire Publishing. Red and the Wolf, a modern day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, is available from Amazon.com. The Almond Tree series, For All Eternity, Echoes From the Past, What God Knew, and Almond Street Mission are available at Amazon.com. June enjoys writing stories about characters who overcome the circumstances in their lives by the power of God and His Word. Recently June has seen publication of Christmas at Raccoon Creek, Lavender Fields Inn, Misty Hollow, and Restoration of the Heart. Visit June at junefoster.com.
Letting Go is available now on Amazon: Letting Go