Sweet Tea And Southern Grace

Sweet Tea and Southern Grace is in the genre of Christian Fiction and is the author's first published novel. It is in the style of Jan Karon's Mitford Series and its setting is a small Southern town in rural America where sitting on front porches, drinking sweet iced tea out of heirloom glasses, and participating in innocent gossip are the favorite pastimes of the good folks of Park Place, South Carolina. The story revolves around the town's Presbyterian Church and its almost meddlesome minister, Reverend Rock Clark, whose meddling ways quite often get him into trouble. There's a sweet romance brewing between the story lines, but the young preacher is too busy tending to his flock and putting out fires to recognize it. A culmination of mystery, intrigue and God's grace makes this book a delightful read.

Secrets can be funny things. We think they keep us safe, but more often than not, they spill out when we least expect and make a mess out of everything. It’s a truth Scarlett Jo Newberry knows all too well—a truth Grace Shepherd and Zach Craig are about to learn the hard way. As the lives of this boisterous pastor’s wife, polished news anchor, and beleaguered divorce attorney intersect in the tree-lined streets of Franklin, Tennessee, scandal threatens to topple their carefully constructed worlds. Grasping at survival, they embark on a journey of friendship and courage, desperate to find a way back to laughter, love, and life.

A stranger's murder in the dark alley behind May's Flower Shop is causing the residents of Park Place, South Carolina to keep their children inside and their doors locked at night. Banty Hen Antique Shop owners, Sam and Valerie Owens, are caught right smack dab in the middle since they were the last ones to see the victim alive. Valerie's new venture, the Sweet Tea Quilting Bee is comprised of an eclectic mix of women, calling themselves 'newbies' and 'oldies' in the art of quilting. Their weekly meetings help keep Valerie's mind off the murder, but it's hard to keep the secret from the ladies that the victim was killed over, of all things, a quilt! The murder suspect has been described as tall and thin, a pitifully vague description, but Police Chief Jess Hamilton and his new detective, a self-described Columbo, are on the case, questioning every tall and thin person in town. Even Sister Margaret, a nun who has just begun her mission at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, doesn't go unnoticed. But it's hard not to notice a nun who dances, and sings along with country music when she thinks no one's watching.

Settle back into that comfortable chair and enjoy a second helping of poignant, humorous and nostalgic tales about how things used to be in the legendary South. From vindictive mules and small town marriage rituals that include a pig, to Grandma's story of how a quilt square got her a husband and a home remedy of the hemorrhoidal variety that goes awry, More Sweet Tea delivers what readers have been thirsting for since the first in the Sweet Tea series, Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes. Other books in the series: On Grandma's Porch and Sweeter Than Tea

In High Tide at Pelican Pointe, we once again begin our story in the quaint little town of Park Place, nestled in the heart of the Olde English District of South Carolina. We find the good Reverend Rock Clark and his very pregnant wife, Liz, making preparations to take a much needed beach vacation, leaving the busyness of his growing congregation behind. They've been gifted ten days in Miss Edie's Pelican Pointe beach house with three days alone before the rowdy Clark clan joins them for their annual pilgrimage to the sea. Even though the Clarks add a lot of fun and adventure to the vacation, Liz is a little overwhelmed by all the drama and activity of a large family, but she soon fits right in and grows to love them all. She and Rock will need their support when the story takes a sudden turn from a few days of peace and tranquility by the sea to the dark and sinister happenings on the west end of the island. Hold on to your beach hats, because for Rev Rock and Liz, there's trouble in paradise.

When it comes to family, love, tradition and pride are a powerful brew . . . The fourth of the Sweet Tea story collections (SWEET TEA & JESUS SHOES, MORE SWEET TEA, ON GRANDMA'S PORCH) treats readers to a panorama of Southern life, both then and now. Family dramas, comic mishaps, sentimental remembrances and poignant choices illuminate these thirteen stories by new and established authors. There's something for every reader: The gritty realism of a hunt for wild boars, the gentle grieving for a home now filled only with memories, the funny battle between a woman and her recipe for deviled eggs, and much more. Come sit a spell on the front porch. Prop your feet up, sip a cold glass of sweet iced tea, and lose yourself in a way of life that's as irresistible as pecan pie and as unforgettable as a chilled slice of watermelon on a hot summer day. Welcome to a place that exists between the pages of How It Was and How It Might Have Been--just a little bit south of the long path home. Sweet Tea Collections: Sweet Tea & Jesus Shoes, On Grandma's Porch, and More Sweet Tea

"In fifty-plus concise, focused, appealing, and penetrating meditation on scriptural passages, this book offers insights and challenges applied to ... life. The voice is original, unyielding and gentle, guiding, asking the readers to turn from busy-ness to consider, confront, and appreciate God in ourselves, in others, and beyond us and to be able to bring the divine to our scattered, tormented, and troubled planet. This book is surely a true gift of the spirit." Dr. Laura Dabundo, Inspirational-Religious Judge for Georgia Author of the Year Awards

In the case of Lula Horne, fifty-five is the new sixty-five, and she’s proud of it. Lula despises modern technology and prefers walking her dog to attending hot yoga. She spends her days tending her perennial garden and cooking for sick friends. She’s stubborn and opinionated and committed to her traditional values, a nonconformist if ever there was one. When her daughter brings her girlfriend home for a visit, Lula goes off like the firework display at her Fourth of July party. For twenty-six years, Midge, Lula, and Georgia have watched the seasons change and their children grow up while sipping tea on Georgia’s front porch. One Tuesday in early June, Georgia shares news that brings their long-standing social hour to an abrupt halt. Over the course of that summer, everything changes for them. A secret drives them apart and an unexpected diagnosis brings them back together again. As these three women share their lives—their past sorrows and fears of an uncertain future—readers will shed more than one tear.

Charming devotions give us a fresh look at life offering calming reminders of Gods grace, and a southern wink at our busy lives, reminding us why we are blessed.

Main Street in the small town of Park Place, South Carolina is all decked out for Christmas, but for one lonely resident in the Victorian house on South Main, it's just one more holiday to get through. Agatha has led a charmed life as the wife of Charlie O'Malley, a well-loved physician in town, but when Charlie dies two weeks after their 36th wedding anniversary, his fortune disappears without a trace. Now, two years and a drained bank account later, Agatha decides to turn her old home into a bed and breakfast to make ends meet. Each paying guest brings something new to the spirit of the household, but can it be enough to save Christmas for Agatha? Will her life ever be merry and bright again? God is in the driver's seat in this sweet romantic story of faith, hope and redemption.