Imagining him was harmless...until it wasn't. Romance novelist Meghan Townsend’s marriage is slipping, and no amount of prayer seems to help. She aims to recapture her husband’s waning attention by getting in shape and finds escape by crafting her own fictional love story. Taking inspiration for the hero from a new friend—the attractive, spiritual, and attentive Curtis Jameson—she pours her yearnings onto the page, and craves the kind of pulse-pounding romance found in her book, Racing Hearts…In 1916 Corona, California, motorcars are all the rage, and racing them is what Meghan’s hero, Russell Keegan, does best. But when his competition vandalizes his car, the only mechanic available is a greasy woman in a man’s overalls.After a racing accident claimed her father’s life, Winifred became the sole breadwinner for her family. She is disdained as a female mechanic, but her daddy's trade is all she has left. Can she swallow her hatred of the races and take up Russell's offer of big bucks to fix his car, or will she lose everything to mounting debt?Under Meghan's skillful pen, these two embark on a thrilling, adventurous romance. But she finds that writing those love scenes with Curtis’s face in mind takes her heart places it shouldn’t go. Will she realize in time that real life can be better than fiction?

Better than Fiction

Religion & Spirituality

Massaro, Michelle

Gardner, April W

Christian Books & Bibles

Plaited Press

Lizzie Browning loves nothing more than her tiny, island-home of Guernsey, but when German bombs drop on her crystal beach, her peaceful world explodes. For months, the big war in Europe has been nothing more than stories in the paper, but as the enemy takes over Guernsey, the war rushes to her doorstep. For Lizzie, younger brother Andre, and cousin James, the time to escape is now, and they know just how to do it. Phillip Seifert, the odd boy from down the street, has all the markings of a genuine Nazi-lover. Lizzie knows better than to trust him, but he somehow manages to weasel his way into James’ good graces. Phillip joins the gang in their audacious escape plan, and Lizzie can do little more than pray he doesn’t get them all shot. But Lizzie soon learns that God doesn’t always answer prayers in the way she expects. He might actually plan for them to live under Nazi rule…forever.

Lizzie and the Guernsey Gang

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

Createspace Independent Pub

For those who enjoy saga-length Christian historical romance. Bitter Eyes No More is a single, complete story. It is book four in the Creek Country Saga. A man of abiding honor, tested by a woman of ruinous passion. A woman of unspeakable sins, pursued by a God of unquenchable mercy. Spanish Florida once sheltered Lillian McGirth from her fears. Now, it feeds them. Mercy is for the deserving; for Lillian, an unwed mother accused of treason, there is only battering and defeat, but her fall breaks softly in the arms of an unexpected arrival, a man too beautiful of soul to stain with her lost character. Captain Marcus Buck sails in on a pledge to save Miss McGirth from herself and from her child's father, a ruthless don. All the while, he’s to regard her as virtuous and worthy of protection and to guard said virtue from pilfering. But the terms are flawed since he must first guard her from himself. Regardless, he is determined. He will free her, repair her name—simple labor compared to dodging the army’s noose, mending wounds three years deep, and navigating a host of rebel Natives bent on inflicting more. Through the steady crumble of his pledge, their friendship becomes a consolation, for she knows his pain as no other can or will. Their scars are one; their paths, however, might irrevocably become two…

Drawn by the Frost Moon: Bitter Eyes No More (Creek Country Saga) (Volume 4)

United States

Big Spring Press

In this ongoing story, you'll experience a vivid Native American setting and a weighty romance that will render you breathless. (Christian Fiction) On a moonless night in 1813, Adela McGirth encounters a set of wolves and the steely eyed warrior who slays them, searing himself on her heart. When he returns, it's with a brand of a different sort--the flaming arrow that destroys her life. In the copper-haired captive, Totka Lawe finds the other half of his spirit. He vows he would die ten deaths to protect her, and he would kill any who tried to steal her away. With bluecoat soldiers pursuing him, a jealous cousin pursuing her, and the woman herself pursuing home, that vow stands a serious chance of being called into action. In the first of this three-part, inspirational story, award-winning author April W Gardner brings to vibrant life an obscure event and the noble people who once dominated the Southeast, but are now forgotten. The Red Feather is part one of Beneath the Blackberry Moon, a single novel with three, full-length parts. If you love sagas that are deep and bold and aren't afraid to take their time unfolding, this is the one for you. Enjoy! About the Creek Country Saga, a Christian Historical Romance Series: Beneath the Blackberry Moon (books 1-3) is one story consisting of three complete parts plus a novella-length compilation of bonus scenes. Drawn by the Frost Moon (books 4-6) continues the series but begins its own trilogy. Each of its books can stand alone. 1. The Red Feather 2 The Sacred Writings 3. The Ebony Cloak The Untold Stories (supplemental reading) 4. Bitter Eyes No More 5. Love the War Woman (fall 2017) 6. Finding Pretty Wolf (2018) About the Creek Country Saga, a Christian Historical Romance Series Beneath the Blackberry Moon (books 1-3) is one story consisting of three complete parts plus a novella-length compilation of bonus scenes. Drawn by the Frost Moon (books 4-6) continues the series but begins its own trilogy. Each of its books can stand alone. 1. The Red Feather 2 The Sacred Writings 3. The Ebony Cloak The Untold Stories (supplemental reading) 4. Bitter Eyes No More 5. Love the War Woman (coming late 2017) 6. Pretty Wolf No More (coming 2018)

Beneath the Blackberry Moon: the Red Feather

(Christian Historical Romance) Big Warrior Totka Hadjo enters his toughest battles yet--the fight for love, the invasion of fear, and the inescapable ashes of each. The war has ended, and now, Totka Hadjo must endure eleven moons and twenty-six sleeps without his beloved Copper Woman. But he has a two-fold task to keep him occupied: establish a lodge deserving of her and challenge her Jesus Creator to a vision, to prove his existence. Totka leaves the white settlements with Copper Woman's holy book, an object with medicine strong enough to keep at bay the hounding ghosts of his unavenged ancestors. But the sacred writings cannot restrain the Bluecoat who has returned from the dead, the one who first owned her heart. From the far reaches of the Muscogee Confederacy, Totka is powerless to stop the onslaught of events that conspires to take his beloved from him forever. Leaping Waters, Totka's old passion, is a constant presence he cannot escape, but she might be able to unlock the spiritual mysteries found in the holy book's talking leaves. While he wades through the confusing symbols, the Choctaws, his ancient enemy, are determined to seize prime Muscogee hunting lands. In the process, they aggravate wounds that might never heal and expose him to a truth too bitter to swallow. Denial and revenge go down much easier. About the Creek Country Saga, a Christian Historical Romance Series Beneath the Blackberry Moon is one story consisting of three complete parts plus a novella-length compilation of bonus scenes. 1. The Red Feather 2 The Sacred Writings 3. The Ebony Cloak The Untold Stories (supplemental reading) 4. Bitter Eyes No More 5. Love the War Woman (coming 2017) 6. Finding Pretty Wolf (coming 2018) EXCERPT "If I chose to pursue Leaping Waters, my cousin would not kill me for it," Totka said. Thick lids pinching, Grandmother Kit Fox grunted. "He would try." He hated to contradict the elder, but she was quite wrong. Ayo splashed water while swirling an arm through the vessel for more fibers. "Lance and Totka are as close as brothers," she said. "There would be no killing." Totka nodded. "Ayo is right. Lance would never lift a hand against me. Not for a woman. Not for anything." Grandmother tsked. "Ignore the warning if you wish, but I say your love for him has blinded you to his ways. The many winters you have spent in the shadow of his resentment has made you like a potted frog to a boil. Today, you feel no pain, see no danger. But tomorrow, you'll be dead." He wanted to argue with the old woman, but his breeding and respect for her won out. "Thank you, Grandmother Kit Fox. Your warning is heard. I'll think on it." It would be a pointless exercise, though, because there would never be a day he would provide Leaping Waters a buck, a doe, a plot with a lodge. A child. His blood floundered in his veins, betraying him. He snipped off the thought and left to find the woman they spoke of. She was as he'd suspected--on hands and knees, ripping weeds from the garden with a cyclone's efficiency. On his way to her, he collected the hoe from the storehouse. A hearty tug released the root she labored over. "It's too late, Totka Lawe. Too late." Fists filled with weeds, she sat back on her heels and looked up at him, lower lip trapped between her teeth, big brown eyes bright with tears. He eased himself into a squat before her, then struck a flint in his mind and let the sparks ignite. For once, he considered his own wishes, considered what might be if he were a more selfish man. If there were no impediment, he would have his clan mothers bid for Leaping Waters before this moon gave way to the next.

Beneath the Blackberry Moon Part 2: the Sacred Writings (Creek Country Saga) (Volume 2)

Beneath the Blackberry Moon Part 3: the Ebony Cloak

Saga-length Christian historical romance. Love the War Woman is a single, complete story. It is book five in the Creek Country Saga.For the DEFIANCE of a nation. For the DEFENSE of a tribe. For the LOVE of a war woman. War woman Fierce Mink has loved Tall Bull as long as memory. He is beauty and power, but in the secret pockets of her spirit, he is vastly more. He is the brave to whom she swore her heart, the friend to whom she owes her life, and the chief to whom she will never be bound. Soon, he will be required to take a wife, but lamentably, Mink is severe, intimidating, hard-bitten by war--qualities a man appreciates in combat, not so under the bearskins. But perhaps it's best he's blind to her, for he clings viciously to the Beloved Path, and unbeknownst to him, she has joined her fire with Jesus. Since his youth, Chief Tall Bull has treasured Mink. Even now, in their turbulent refugee world, she is comfort; she is home. Better yet, she shares his passion to preserve the Beloved Path and his fight to start anew in a land where they are no longer hunted. Then, a startling omen: before the blood moon, Tall Bull must make restitution for his transgressions, or the spirits will take payment. From her. A tragedy he would die to prevent. Another portent looms--that of a horde of bluecoat soldiers pecking at their borders, threatening to drive the Red Stick Defiance into uninhabitable swamps. The Defiance will not go quietly, and as Tall Bull prepares for a brutal strike, he realizes the bluecoats aren't his only enemy, and Mink's life isn't all he stands to lose.

Drawn by the Frost Moon: Love the War Woman

Lizzie Browning loves her tiny, island-home of Guernsey. It's quaint and peaceful, but when Germans drop bombs on her beautiful beach, the island becomes a prison. For months, the big war in Europe has been nothing more than stories in the paper, but as the enemy marches in, those dreadful stories become her own. For Lizzie, younger brother Andre, and Cousin James, the time to escape is now, and they know just how to do it. Phillip Seifert, the odd boy from down the street, has all the makings of a genuine Nazi-lover. Lizzie knows better than to trust him, but somehow, he manages to worm his way into James's favor. With Hitler Youth menacing them, Lizzie can do little more than pray that Phillip doesn't get them all shot. Soon though, Lizzie learns her prayers aren't always answered the way she expects. God might actually plan for them to live under Nazi rule...forever.

Jack is her freedom. Silas, her salvation. God? He's the building that buries her. It's 1917, and Halifax is at war. Silas Quinn, street sweeper and army reject, remains on the home front, shunning God and society as religiously as they shun him. But the night he stumbles across a half-frozen prostitute, his eyes blink open, and his greater purpose is born: preserve and protect. There'd been a day when shop girl Helen Fraser was desperate enough to believe a few nights in a brothel would cure her troubles. By some miracle, Major Jack Gordon deemed her worth saving, but Helen knows her meticulously recreated identity cannot last. What she doesn't expect is for its destruction to come about, not by a john or one of the madam's goons, but by a force great enough to flatten a city and bury her alive. Set against the backdrop of the Halifax Explosion, Beautiful in His Sight is a Christian historical romance that explores unequivocal grace and identity in Christ.

Beautiful in His Sight: a novel

Genre Fiction

2,500+ templates for constructing unique body beats BODY BEATS TO BUILD ON is on a mission to nix the same old he smiled, to transform the beat into phrasing the reader won't flag as been-there-done-that. Need help revolutionizing your tired beats? Now, there's a resource. It all starts with a gasp. Fifty-seven of them, actually. In one manuscript. You probably just gasped. Or maybe you... --gulped air --pulled a sharp breath through your teeth --sucked in a lungful of wind --took a crisply indrawn breath The truth is, having numerous inhales over the course of a manuscript isn't so odd-we humans, even the fictional kind, do tend to breathe. The trouble arrives with repetition, which readers will interpret as lack of originality or, Muse forbid, laziness. And they'll be right. Staying inventive isn't easy, though. Especially when it comes to those actions an author can't avoid repeating, such as gazing, shrugging, making a fist, and the list goes on. BODY BEATS TO BUILD ON provides the bones for fresh, vibrant content. Layer with a little imagination, mix and match, and voil -endless, unique beats. No more pet phrases. No more wasting time in search of a different way to write she blushed. Just you and your manuscript climbing to the next level. Bonus Material: --thesaurus of 600+ adjectives used to describe gazes, smiles, and laughter --library of 500 dialogue tags categorized for quick grab

Body Beats to Build On: A Fiction Writer's Resource

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gardner, April W. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gardner, April W

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gardner, April W. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Better than Fiction

Lizzie and the Guernsey Gang

Drawn by the Frost Moon: Bitter Eyes No More (Creek Country Saga) (Volume 4)

Beneath the Blackberry Moon: the Red Feather

Beneath the Blackberry Moon Part 2: the Sacred Writings (Creek Country Saga) (Volume 2)

Beneath the Blackberry Moon Part 3: the Ebony Cloak

Drawn by the Frost Moon: Love the War Woman

Lizzie and the Guernsey Gang

Beautiful in His Sight: a novel

Body Beats to Build On: A Fiction Writer's Resource