The Soft Whisper of Roses, by Myra Johnson
Every blended family has its problems, but how do you build a future when the past won’t let go?
Rebecca Townsend has only been married six months and already doubts Gary’s promise of “till death do us part.” Betrayed by her first husband, she’s trying her hardest to get it right this time. But when her new husband’s unresolved family issues resurface, she’s afraid she and her son will be abandoned once again.
Just when Gary thought he’d found happiness with a woman who truly understood him, the death of his first wife blindsides him with unanticipated grief and guilt. After years of letting his career get in the way of being the husband and father he should’ve been, he must now live up to his new wife’s expectations while attempting to fit his resentful teenage daughter into the mix.
But high-pressure careers don’t leave much time for stopping to smell the roses, and this family is almost out of time. A radical plan conceived by Gary’s ex-wife before her death risks tearing them all apart…or will it finally bring them together as the family God meant them to be?
All She Sought, by Myra Johnson
[previously published as Pearl of Great Price]
An abandoned Arkansas lake resort holds the secrets of a young woman’s past . . . and her future.
Raised by her grandfather after her mother died, flea market manager Julie Pearl Stiles promised herself she’d postpone the search for her absentee father until the truth could no longer hurt Grandpa. Then one crazy June day ushers in a series of discoveries that threaten to turn Julie’s peaceful, small-town life upside down.
Haunted by a devastating childhood mistake, real estate entrepreneur Micah Hobart turned his back on God a long time ago, but success has proven a poor substitute for the inner peace he craves. Everything changes when he’s blindsided by the outspoken flea market manager who quickly captures his heart.
Wealthy Little Rock socialite Renata Channing has devoted her life and ample bank account to helping underprivileged children. But no amount of philanthropy can blot out the emotional abuse she endured at the hands of a mentally ill mother, and all the money in the world won’t restore the precious “pearl” lost twenty-five years ago in the depths of Lake Hamilton.
As Julie is drawn deeper into the tragic past Micah and Renata share, she finds herself questioning everything she’s ever believed about herself, her family, and her future. As she seeks to unravel the mystery of her past, will she find her way to forgiveness and finally, fully accept who she is as a child of God?
Flowers of Eden historical romance series
The Sweetest Rain (Book 1), by Myra Johnson
As the drought of 1930 burns crops to a crisp, Bryony Linwood dreams of cooling winter snows and the life she would have had if Daddy hadn’t been killed in the Great War and Mama hadn’t moved Bryony and her sisters to their grandfather’s struggling tenant farm in tiny Eden, Arkansas. Now Mama’s gone, too, and as times grow tougher, Bryony will do whatever it takes to ensure her family’s survival.
Michael Heath barely survived the war, and twelve years later all he wants to do is forget. A virtual recluse, his one passion is botanical illustration. Lost in the diversity of nature’s beauty, he finds escape from a troubled past and from his wealthy father’s continual pressure to take an interest in the family plantation.
When Bryony accepts employment at the Heath mansion, it’s just a job at first, a means to ward off destitution until the drought ends and Grandpa’s farm is prosperous again. But Bryony’s forced optimism and dogged determination disguise a heart as dry and despairing as the scorched earth … until she discovers Michael Heath and his beautiful botanical illustrations. Their tentative friendship soon blossoms into healing for wounded souls and a love that can’t be denied.
Castles in the Clouds (Book 2), by Myra Johnson
The first book in the Flowers of Eden series introduced readers to Bryony Linwood, an orphan trying desperately to provide for her sisters in the shadow of the Great Depression. In Castles in the Clouds, we meet one of those sisters—Larkspur Linwood, a young woman who has a passion for teaching but yearns for something more than life as a small-town Arkansas schoolmarm.
Young and impressionable, Lark mistakes a college professor’s interest for romantic love. When he offers her the chance to join his efforts to start a school in Kenya, she pictures herself bringing the light of knowledge to hundreds of African children eager to learn. But the menial tasks she’s assigned at the school aren’t so different from life on the farm where she grew up. Miserable and deflated, with her fragile heart broken, she gives up and returns home.
Enter Professor Anson Schafer, whom she met briefly in Kenya. Partially blinded from an eye infection he contracted there, Professor Schafer cannot return to Africa. He has come to Lark’s school to recruit teachers like her for a more modest venture—the founding of schools and relief efforts here in the U.S. for those struggling through the Depression.
Still stinging from her experience in Kenya, Lark is reluctant to risk leaving her familiar surroundings, but she knows how great the need has become, and—although this isn’t the exciting life she’d envisioned—she finally agrees. As they work side by side, Lark begins to realize that the deepest satisfaction comes not so much from what you do, or where you do it, but from the attitude of your heart.
A Rose So Fair (Book 3), by Myra Johnson
Plucky Rose Linwood grew up on her grandfather’s Arkansas tenant farm, a life her two older sisters never cared much for. Working alongside her grandpa, though, Rose learned to love the land as much as he did. Now her sisters have married and moved on, Grandpa has gone to his eternal reward, and Rose is determined to make a go of the farm on her own. But crops have been slow to recover since the drought of 1930-31, and the whole country struggles in the grip of the Great Depression. Drifters looking for work or handouts roam the countryside, some of them up to no good, so Rose keeps her trusty Winchester rifle at the ready.
Caleb Wieland, Rose’s best friend, isn’t the farmer his late father was, and he’s about to lose his cotton crop to boll weevils. He’d let the farm go and search for work he’s more suited to, except he can’t desert his widowed mother. Besides, he’s been quietly falling in love with Rose since they were in grammar school, and the thought of leaving her behind is too much to bear. He’d give anything to win her heart, but Rose’s stubborn independence is proving as thorny as the flower for which she’s named.
Autumn Rains, by Myra Johnson
“We all have our own prisons.”
Healy Ferguson knows all about prisons, both the real and the emotional kind. Paying your dues to society doesn’t always mean you’ve paid your dues to yourself, and often the price you exact on yourself far exceeds the crime.
Valerie Bishop is caught in the emotional prison of post-traumatic stress disorder, unable to venture more than a few feet out her back door. Shadowy moments from a night she can’t remember bombard her without warning, keeping her trapped between the painful past and a future seemingly without hope.
But God promises to repay the years that have been lost; for those who trust in Him, He promises refreshing, life-giving rain. Will Val and Healy trust to see God’s perfect plan, or will they choose the chains that hold them back?
Romance by the Book, by Myra Johnson
In reality, Sailor Kern is a water aerobics and swimming instructor at her local YMCA in Birkenstock, Missouri. But in her dreams, she shares a life with famous romance writer Chandler Michaels. And now she’s about to meet him in person! And not only meet him, she gets to be his assistant the whole time he’s visiting Birkenstock.
But romance and reality don’t always mix, and when Sailor entrusts Parker Travis, the town’s most sought-after hairstylist, with giving her a new look to impress Chandler, she’s in for some big surprises. Will Sailor follow her dream man, or will she recognize the true hero God has placed before her, right in her own hometown?
Where the Dogwoods Bloom, by Myra Johnson
Jilly Gardner left home ten years ago with a broken heart, determined never to return. But the ache in her heart has never healed, and when Cam Lane calls to ask for her help…she finds she can’t say no.
Cam doesn’t know what came between Jilly and her foster family, but he feels it’s time she set things straight. But how can Cam address the unforgiveness in his friends’ lives when his own is paralyzed with self-inflicted guilt and shame?
Will Cam and Jilly ever realize that unconditional, forgiving love comes only from God the Father, whose mercies are new each morning?
Worth the Risk, by Myra Johnson
For single mom Cara Gallagher, her desk job with an Alpine, Texas, assistance ministry is both a fresh start and a letdown. A lover of the great outdoors and ancient Native American history, she still regrets not completing her doctorate and pursuing an anthropology career. Six years ago, however, those plans were sidelined by an unplanned pregnancy and her boyfriend’s self-serving betrayal.
Wilderness guide Lucas Montero is caught up in another kind of betrayal—a lawsuit filed by an injured client bent on distorting the truth about what really happened. Not only is Lucas’s reputation on the line, but his employers risk losing their business, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.
When Cara and Lucas first meet, romance is the last thing either of them feels ready for. But they don’t stand a chance against Cara’s five-year-old daughter, Zoe, who’d like nothing more than for Mommy to fall in love and be happy again, especially if Lucas could be her new daddy!
A rocky trail is in store as Lucas and Cara learn to forgive, let go of the past, and allow God to guide the way. As they strike out on the path toward happiness, they’ll soon discover that love is always worth the risk.
Note to readers: Originally published as part of the Love Will Find a Way novella collection, this story is a revised version with expanded scenes.
Horsemen of Cross Roads Farm
An inspirational romance series by Myra Johnson
A Horseman’s Heart: North Carolina’s a long, long way from Texas, but horse trainer Kip Lorimer needs to get out of town fast because the woman who long ago destroyed his last remnants of trust has just caught up with him—again. Special-ed teacher Sheridan Cross has trust issues of her own, so when Kip shows up with a horse to donate to the family’s equine therapy program, she can’t help but be suspicious. A cowboy a thousand miles from home and living out of a horse trailer? What’s wrong with this picture?
A Horseman’s Gift: Music has lost its joy for Filipa Beltran, and she’s tired of living out her parents’ dreams for her. After years of guitar lessons, she makes a drastic decision to leave music school, return to her hometown, and move forward with life on her own terms. Nathan Cross was set on becoming a big business mogul, but his plans derail following his widowed mother’s remarriage. Now he’s headed back home to carry on his late father’s legacy running an equine therapy program. But when he discovers childhood friend Filipa is also back in town—to stay—he can’t believe she’d sacrifice everything her parents dreamed of for her.
A Horseman’s Hope: Love is definitely out of the question while Grace Lorimer works her way through college to earn her occupational therapist certification. Besides, her mother’s string of failed relationships and broken promises prove romance is not worth risking her heart—even when she begins to care deeply for longtime friend and single dad Ryan O’Keefe. Four years after Ryan’s girlfriend, Shana, became pregnant, he still can’t believe he’s a father . . . and can’t imagine being anything else. His daughter is the light of his life, but Shana isn’t interested in marriage and parenthood. Then Ryan receives shocking news about Shana, and his world is torn apart as he faces losing his daughter. Long suppressed feelings for Grace resurface, but is a whirlwind marriage of convenience the answer?
Novellas
Lifetime Investment, by Myra Johnson
Lily Trapp (first introduced in Myra Johnson’s historical romance Every Tear a Memory) is a spunky newspaper writer married to Adam Longmont, accountant for his father’s grocery business. When they set out from Arkansas to help Adam’s widowed aunt save her failing South Texas ranch, Lily wonders what she’s gotten herself into. As they battle drought, rustlers, and the effects of the 1929 stock market crash, both Lily and Adam find they have a lot to learn about trading stubborn independence for loving cooperation and communication.
Designs on Love, by Myra Johnson
Ranch foreman Jacob Collins has had designs on Vera Mae Beasley since he first realized the differences between boys and girls. Then Vera left to study fashion design in Philadelphia, and Jacob had all but given up hope of sharing a future with her. Now she’s back in Texas, mourning the loss of her family to yellow fever and closing out the family business. Helping Vera heal offers Jacob a second chance at winning her heart, and he’s not about to let it slip away.