1. 28 CBA Retailers+Resources | 05.16 The Official Magazine of CBA
The Amish
Firefighter
Laura Hilton/Whitaker House
p $12.99 ISBN: 9781629116853
Abigail Stutzman has
been safe at home court-
ing a good Amish boy,
when her mother sud-
denly marries the father
of her new beau. Abigail
is sent away to live with
an aunt and uncle she
never knew existed.
Samuel Miller has
been turning away
from the Amish faith,
slowly embracing motor
vehicles and women of
the world, when Abigail
turns his world inside
out. But when Samuel
finds her at a fire in his
family’s barn, he believes
she may be the arsonist.
The couple tries to get
to the bottom of things
while fighting their feel-
ings for each other as
the rest of the communi-
ty tries to keep the truth
from coming to light.
Recommend to fans
of Kim Vogel Sawyer.
—Kelsey Perkins
Anchor in the
Storm
Susan Sundin/Revell
p $14.99 ISBN: 9780800723439
A childhood accident left
Lillian Avery physically
disabled, and her former
boyfriend traumatized
her, but she hasn’t let it
stop her. America enter-
ing WWII opened the
door for her to be hired
as a pharmacist. Career-
minded, she doesn’t
trust men, especially her
brother’s friend whom
she calls“sailor boy.”
Naval officer Arch
Vandenberger’s a good-
looking charmer who’s
wealthy but doesn’t
want to be. Women have
only loved his money,
not him, so he likes that
Lillian’s unimpressed.
She’s standoffish until
his kind ways begin soft-
ening her cold heart, yet
he can’t fix himself.
Discovering some of
his men are using barbi-
turates for combat fa-
tigue and Lillian’s receiv-
ing forged sedative pre-
scriptions, they partner
up to investigate. Lillian’s
in grave danger and
Arch becomes a suspect
after they identify drug
dealers and a murder oc-
curs. Hope in God is their
only anchor.
Sudin’s second book
in the“Waves of Free-
dom”series combines
historical facts and naval
war techniques and ac-
tions with a captivating
fictional tale of romance,
intrigue, and mystery,
ending with discussion
questions.
Contains descriptions
of naval battle injuries
and destruction; also in-
sight into post-traumatic
stress disorder struggles
and treatment during
WWII. Recommend to
fans of war romances
and mystery novels.
—Nancy Kanafani
The Beautiful
Pretender
Melanie Dickerson/Thomas
Nelson
p $15.99 ISBN: 9780718026288
easy to set up a special playlist. That’s definitely smart
allocation of social media time!”
It takes only an hour or so to learn the basics of
Google Hangouts. Retailers with a frontliner inclined
to technology should have him or her investigate the
option.
“There are unlimited ways to use Google Hangouts,”
says Briedenbach. “Be creative, flexible, and willing to
build it a playlist at a time. People will catch on. Give it
time to get comfortable.”
Access a CBA webinar series on virtual events, host-
ed by Briedenbach, at www.cbaonline.org/training.
—Lora Schrock
>>>With more and more demands on retailers’ time and dollars, setting up,
promoting, and hosting a book club—with the author in attendance—is on the way
out, right?
No, says Angela Briedenbach, bestselling author, host of“Grace Under Pressure Ra-
dio” on iTunes, and president of the Christian Author Network. Video conferencing
platforms,suchasGoogleHangouts,areatimesaving,simplewaytoconnectreaders
and authors. And stores can facilitate the events.
“GoogleHangouts,theprivateversion,allowsforface-to-facemeetingsofupto10
people for free,”she explains.“The public version, called On Air, is a live video confer-
ence (free as well) that allows the presenter to have multiple other presenters, switch
screens to show the person speaking, see the group on the other side of the con-
versation, share your screen, videos from YouTube, chat bar, and an ability to set the
meeting up in advance in order to invite others to attend.”
When her 2015 title Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection (Barbour) debuted,
Google Hangouts On Air quickly became the solution for an online book club.
“You can liken it to a simulcast. Even more exciting is that the videos will record to
yourYouTubechannelforfreeaswell,”sheexplains.“OncethevideoisonYouTube,it’s
Video conferencing connects
readers and authors.
Host an Online
Book Club
Fiction////
P R O D U C T I N T E L L I G E N C E
Reviews
Angela Briedenbach demonstrates how retail
stores can facilitate online events.