The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection

Welcome...

To Hope-Inspired Stories, for anyone who'd like to discover more about books and stories that uplift and encourage.

Several years ago, while teaching high school art, I found out I was as thrilled as my students when they won awards or were acknowledged for their accomplishments, and that promoting other people's good works was very gratifying. 

So it's my hope you are blessed with a message of grace through the words of authors featured here. Please join me each week as writers of fiction, nonfiction, and devotionals; of romance, mystery, historical and contemporary stories share their work. 

To help me celebrate the upcoming holidays this month, it is my privilege to have as my guest Carrie Fancett Pagels, one of the authors included in "The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection". Carrie, a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, is a prolific and well-known author, and recent winner of the prestigious Georgia Romance Writers' Maggie Award Medallion and Certificate for Excellence for her novel, "My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring".  

Please join me in welcoming her this week, by leaving a comment to be in a drawing for this latest collection that hi-lights her story: "The Sugarplum Ladies"  

• Publisher: Barbour Books (September 1, 2018)

Authors included: C.J. Chase, Susanne Dietze, Rita Gerlach, Kathleen Maher, Gabrielle Meyer, Carrie Fancett Pagels, Vanessa Riley, Lorna Seilstad, and Erica Vetsch 

Author: Carrie Fancett Pagels 

Reminder: The authors presented here value your insights, so don't forget to leave a comment. You will be included in a drawing for a book by the author featured during that week. 

..And if you become a Follower of Hope-Inspired Stories, your name will be

added to a multiple-prize drawing at the end of this month. December's big giveaway: a pretty tote filled with gifts that include "The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection"this week's DVD choice--"When Calls the Heart: The Christmas Wishing Tree," a journal, a 25.00 gift card, a sweet "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" mug, and more, all reflecting this month's holiday mood. 

"Let Heaven and Nature Sing" mug

Carrie hopes you will enjoy her favorite Christmas hymn:

Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel

An awe-inspiring Latin hymn written in the twelfth century.  

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8).

Thank you...May you all be blessed and inspired!

Hope-Inspired Stories Photo:  The beautiful photo of Sodus Bay, N.Y. during a particularly harsh storm on Lake Ontario earlier this year was taken by photographer and sister in Christ, Ginger Strom. Note the courageous lone seagull taking flight in the upper right corner of the photo.