To Purchase

Summary

Becky Miller follows the misadventures of a mom who dreams of doing Big Things for God. 

In Symphony of Secrets, a professional flautist tries to figure out who is sabotaging the orchestra. 

Stepping in Sunlight​ chronicles a navy wife's struggle to overcome the aftereffects of witnessing a violent crime while her husband is deployed.

Stats

Genre: Adult contemporary fiction of various types: humor (Becky Miller), cozy mystery (Symphony) and women's fiction (Sunlight)

Series length: Becky Miller has two books; Symphony and Sunlight are both standalones.

Violence: Very light

Magic/Supernatural: None

Romance: Light married romance in Becky Miller and Sunlight. Light romance in Symphony of Secrets.  

Christian/spiritual element: Strong explicit Christian elements exploring what it means to live the life of faith

Recommendation: Moms dealing with the craziness of life (Becky Miller) , readers struggling to re-enter "normal" after a difficult event (Stepping into Sunlight), and musicians looking for a light, entertaining read (Symphony of Secrets). 

---

Opening Lines:

A subtle change in air pressure was my only warning. One millisecond later, a foot flew out of the darkness toward my head. 

I backflipped out of range and reached for my sword. The honed blade flickered in the starlight. Determination raced through me as air rushed in my lungs. My family had guarded the imperial treasure for generations. I wouldn't allow this attacker to get past me to the palace. ..

..."Mommy! Cookies now." I snapped out of my daydream. Three-year-old Kelsey grabbed my sweater and hung on. All my clothes tended to list to the right these days, having been tugged relentlessly by my preschooler. 

The Secret Life of Becky Miller (Becky Miller, Book 1)
by Sharon Hinck

​Faster than a speeding minivan, able to leap piles of laundry in a single bound, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s . . . Supermom!

Becky Miller is a young mom who wants to do Big Things for God. Her vivid daydreams help her cope with the pressure to be a Wonderful Wife and Marvelous Mother. Yet the tape going through her mind continues to play:

Your mission: support your husband when he loses his job, nurture an eccentric circle of friends, raise perfect Christian children, cook delicious meals in a spotless kitchen, lead the women's ministry at church, and live a life filled with Meaning and Purpose. 

How does this supermom react when her grand plans start to fall apart? What will it take for her to turn off the tape and listen to God's voice instead?

---

Opening Lines:

The pulsing siren of a French police car shattered my ability to reason. Pure instinct took over. I had to get away.

With a sharp crank of my steering wheel, I reversed into a spin, nearly impaling a bus with my mini Cooper. Gears ground as I tore away down the narrow streets of Paris...

..."Dust swirled as the minivan skidded to a sudden stop. "Mommy!" Kelsey screamed from the backseat. 

​My fingers loosened their death grip on the wheel. "Sorry, honey. There was a squirrel."

Renovating Becky Miller (Becky Miller, Book 2)
by Sharon Hinck

Becky Miller's Guide to Home Repair

• Budget the gross national product of a small country--then double it. 
  
• Never, even invite your mother-in-law to stay with you during a remodel. 
  
• Figure out how to heat the living room before inviting your Bible study group over.
  
• Stock up on Tylenol and chocolate and sandbags. 
  
• Hire a professional to fix the plumbing.
  
• Sometimes renovation is an inside job. 

In addition to being a young mom, Becky Miller is a daydreamer. most recently, she's been envisioning herself in the happy endings she sees during her weekly movie nights with husband Kevin. But her real life feels more like a broken filmstrip, spinning out of control!

When Becky and her family purchase a rundown farmhouse, she pictures a slower, simpler lifestyle in the pastoral countryside. Of course, it doesn't quite work out like she imagined . . .

---

Opening Lines:

On Monday, I uncovered a drug ring in South Minneapolis. On Tuesday, I spotted a felony theft at a country club in Edina. On Wednesday, I overheard plans for industrial espionage while staking out the back room of a workshop in St. Paul. 

On Thursday, my daughter blew all my cases out of the water. 

No, my daughter isn't a defense attorney; she's a hopelessly practical girl with no imagination. 

Symphony of Secrets
by Sharon Hinck

Talented flutist Amy Johnson's dreams come true when she wins a spot with the Minneapolis Symphony. But this amateur sleuth has trouble concentrating on the notes as she begins to see devious motives behind her fellow musicians' many mishaps.

Meanwhile, her musically talented teenage daughter wants to give it all up for - gasp - the cheerleading squad. What's a musical mom to do?

Can Amy fine-tune her investigation before the symphony is forced to close and she loses not only her dream job but her promising new relationship with the conductor?

---

Opening Lines:

Terror in the supermarket. It sounded like a ridiculous headline from one of the tabloids on the rack near the checkout lane. Yet the only name for the pounding in my chest was that melodramatic word. ​Terror.
​

Stepping into Sunlight
by Sharon Hinck

One tragic event. One project of healing. One step toward hope. 

Penny Sullivan is ready to face the challenge of a cross-country move and caring for her energetic seven-year-old son while her husband leaves on his first deployment as a Navy chaplain. But after she witnesses a shocking crime, her world tips sideways. 

Hiding in her closet isn't an option when her husband and son depend on her, so she fights to recover. But even simple tasks such as filling her car with gas, buying groceries, and returning phone calls are suddenly more than she can handle. 

Help comes in funny packages--a temperamental DVD, a man who hoards gum wrappers, a meddlesome neighbor, and a small yellow notebook in which Penny scribbles down her recovery plan: Do one kind thing for another person every day. The results are sometimes beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking, and often lead to mroe than she ever could have imagined....

A story for every woman who has wondered where God is when life hurts.