Mandy believes everything can be made better by making a list—including choosing a husband. Lists make everything clear and easy. Lists keep all the pluses and minuses of life in their own neat little columns with no room for surprises...and the key to happiness is structure and avoiding surprises. Max is a free spirit with a God-given gift for sculpture. If he’s ever made a list, it was by mistake. He insists the key to happiness is to let God take the reins of his life.When Max lands a huge project, and employs Mandy to handle his business’s accounting, she struggles to accept that God can keep all her checks in balance. This December, can Max learn that sometimes a little structure is a good thing? And can Mandy relax enough to enjoy the holidays and actually fall in love, or will she firmly stick to The Christmas List?

Something strange is brewing at the Comeback Café A grandfather’s song has turned a diner into hallowed ground. A contrary girl with a gypsy heart feels the tug of home. And a truck driver named Jedidiah keeps his foot on the gas, ready to sweep you into an unforgettable story of belonging and grace. It’s the 1960s Midwest, and Ellee Crumb wants to change the world, starting with her mother, but she’s having trouble even getting her teachers to know her real name. So Ellee sits at the Comeback, her broken heart lying there on a table, when a three-armed waitress and a quirky stranger show up and hand her back the pieces. An affecting tale, My Mother’s Wish will remind you of the power of grand hopes and effect of impossible expectations. You’ll witness the influence every life has on another, and you’ll find new reasons to believe in the comfort and joy in an everyday, American version of the story of Christmas: being known and loved, just as you are.

Those Radio Days by A.S. Merwin