Showing posts with label M. Jean Pike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M. Jean Pike. Show all posts

Sunday, November 23, 2025

Guest Post: CHESTER'S MIRACLE by M. Jean Pike

My guest today is a New York girl who fell in love with Ohio, M. Jean Pike writes about love and life in small town America. The author of twelve Christian romance and inspirational women’s fiction novels, Jean combines an insatiable curiosity about human nature with her Christian faith to bring readers unforgettable tales of life, love, and the inner workings of the human heart. 


Her latest release is a Christmas novella, CHESTER'S MIRACLE. Here's the blurb: 


What if the wrong turn leads to the love you've always prayed for? Aimee dreams of love, but her small Ohio town offers little hope. Until she meets Max online. His charm sweeps her off her feet, and she agrees to meet him for a Christmas Eve service in the West Virginia mountains. But before she leaves, she rescues Chester, a senior service dog facing euthanasia, and brings him along for the ride. When a blizzard strands her on a mountain road, Aimee's fairytale date turns into a nightmare: Max's number is disconnected, his profile deleted, and her car is buried in snow. Cold, scared, and alone, she prays for a miracle—only to be found by Marty, a kind-hearted mountain man with a heart as warm as the fire in his cabin. Marty's been praying for love. But Aimee's been burned, and trust doesn't come easy, even when Chester works his own kind of magic. As Christmas unfolds, Aimee must decide: Is Marty the answer to prayer, or is she too afraid to take a leap of faith? A heartwarming Christian romance about trust, divine timing, and miracles that find us when we least expect them. Perfect for fans of holiday love stories, rescue dogs, and mountain men who believe in second chances.

 

That sounds wonderful! Now read an excerpt.

She inched up the slippery hill, up and up and up. Dusk had given way to winter dark, and Aimee’s hands and feet felt frozen solid. Removing one hand from the wheel, she nudged up the heat. When her glance returned to the road, she gasped. An animal stood by the shoulder, poised to dart in front of her. A large dog or a small deer. It was too dark to tell. Detecting motion in her headlights, she pressed the brakes. 

It turned out it was neither a dog or a deer, but by the time she made out the outline of the rotted tree, what she’d thought were ears were just small, jagged limbs. Her car was spinning again, sliding off the road and down the side of the hill. She braced for a crash, but heard only a dull thunk, as the car bumped to a stop. 

Chester slid to the floor. 

“Oh, Chester!” She groped for him and pulled him into her lap, cradling him close. “I’m so sorry. Are you OK?” 

He answered with a slobbery kiss on her cheek. 

“I got us stuck, but I know a trick,” Aimee told him. She put the car in reverse and pressed the gas, then eased it into drive. Forward and back, forward and back as she’d been taught in Driver’s Ed class years before. The wheels spun, tossing snow like confetti as the car burrowed deeper into the ground.

 Forward and back, forward and back. The headlights dimmed and went dark. The radio fell silent as the car sputtered and died.

 “I think we’re out of gas.” Tears fell again. “Lord, I’m in a jam, and I don’t know what to do.” 

She fumbled for the phone. Even without a signal she should be able to call 911, wasn’t that how it worked? “OK, Chester. I’m calling for help. Someone will be here any minute.” 

Except the call did not go through. She checked her phone again for signal strength. Not even one bar. Great. 

Lord please help me. You’re the only one who can…

She sat there in the dark, desperately trying to think through her situation. She could get out and walk, but to where? She hadn’t seen civilization in miles. And besides that, it was bitter out and she had no socks or gloves. She and Chester would freeze to death. Or they could freeze in the comfort of the car. 

Lord, I need a miracle. I need an angel…

She’d heard of people dying of hypothermia in situations like this. Simply falling asleep and not waking up. She sang every Christmas carol she could recall, anything to stay awake for just a moment more. After some time had passed, her throat was raw and her teeth chattered nonstop. She felt the calm of sleep overtaking her.

 The whine of an engine broke the silence, and the soft glow of approaching light flashed across her windshield. A pair of snowmobiles slowed, and then stopped on the ridge above her. Two figures disembarked, one very large, the other, very small.

In the light of their headlamps, the larger of the two scrambled down the incline, coming fast toward Aimee’s car. After a moment, the beam of a flashlight lit his path. A man. He was enormous, with a dark beard, his hair dark and wild where it sprang from the sides of his hat. He looked like a mountain man and in her dazed state, Aimee didn’t know whether to be terrified or relieved. His muffled shout drifted to her through the closed window. Her frozen fingers couldn’t manage the door handle. 

Chester growled a warning deep in his throat. 

Aimee wanted to reassure the dog, but her teeth were chattering so hard, she couldn’t speak. 

The man’s face appeared outside her driver’s side window. 

Three things happened simultaneously. 

The man yanked open the door. 

Aimee screamed. 

And Chester bared his teeth, his growl becoming a ferocious bark as he sank his teeth into the man’s outstretched hand.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄


This is a story you must read! It's on sale, too, for only $0.99! 

Warm up your holiday with this sweet read. 


Buy it at: 

Amazon 

Barnes&Noble

Kobo

Apple



Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Guest Post: KING OF HEARTS by M. Jean Pike

My guest today is M. Jean Pike. Some of her favorite things are changing seasons, unexpected blessings, and Love that lasts forever. With a writing career that has spanned two decades, Jean combines an insatiable curiosity about humans and why they do what they do with a keen interest in the quirky and offbeat things in life to bring readers unforgettable tales of life, love, and the inner workings of the human heart. Her short works have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Lutheran Digest, Whispers From Heaven and others.

Her new release is KING OF HEARTS. This is what it's about:

After keeping a secret promise to a friend, Harper Blessings' s life is spiraling out of control. Her food truck barely pays the bills, she' s raising her rebellious brother and caring for her forgetful aunt...and she' s four months pregnant.

When Aunt Clara wanders off at a carnival and hires the carousel operator who rescues her to do odd jobs, Harper' s house-of-cards life begins to topple. The last thing she needs is a handsome drifter complicating her already problematic life. Or so she thinks.

Drifter Dalton Kingston has a few secrets of his own. Growing up as a child of privilege, he wanted for nothing...except love. Then an unspeakable tragedy causes him to walk away from it all, pushing love as far away as possible. Until love pushes back in the form of a beautiful woman who desperately needs his help, and the God he' s not sure he can forgive.

Do you want a taste of this wonderful story?

Here it is!

“Aunt Clara?” Her voice was gentle, musical. “Sweetheart, what are you doing here?”

The old woman smiled. “I’ve come to meet you for lunch.”

The girl’s glance took in her aunt’s slippers, her uncombed hair. “Where’s Nicky?”

“He was sleeping like an angel. I couldn’t bear to wake him, so I came on my own.”

“Oh dear. Here, let’s get you out of the sun.” She steered her aunt to one of the tables and seated her beneath a pink –and- white- striped table umbrella. 

“This is my great niece, Harper,” Clara told Dalton. “My home girl.”

Despite her obvious agitation, Harper smiled. “Now where did you hear that?”

“Nicholas taught it to me.” 

“Aunt Clara,” she said gently, “I thought we agreed you were going to wait for Nicky to come with you to the festival today.”

“But he’s sleeping. And I had this nice young man to help me.” She beamed at Dalton. “He operates the carousel. I don’t know his name.”

“Dalton King.”  His gaze dropped from her eyes to the bulge beneath her apron. She saw him notice it and her face flushed a pretty pink. 

“Harper Blessings. Thank you for helping my aunt. She gets a little mixed up sometimes.”

“I’m not mixed up, dear.” 

“I know, sweetheart.” She patted her aunt’s hand. “I can’t take a lunch break right now but let me bring you a cold drink.” 

“Don’t trouble yourself, dear.”

“It’s no trouble. Wait right here, OK?”

Pulling her cell phone from her apron pocket, she disappeared around the side of the food truck. Several moments later she returned with two bottles of water. She handed one to her aunt, and the other to Dalton. “Nicky’s on his way to walk you home. Can you wait right here until he arrives?”

“I can walk home alone, dear. It’s only a few blocks, and it’s such a pretty day out.”

“Aunt Clara, we have talked about this.”  

 Dalton ran a hand through his hair, letting it linger on the back of his neck. His work was clearly done here. This was a family matter. And though Harper Blessings was clearly in a quandary, the world’s wrongs were not his to right anymore. Even so, he heard himself say, “I’ll wait with her.”

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do--”

“Harper?” the girl at the counter called. “We’re almost out of onions.” 

She shot a glance at the growing line of customers, clearly torn, unable to leave the grill unattended, and unwilling to leave her elderly aunt in the hands of a stranger. She must have decided he was the lesser of two evils, because she finally said, “Thank you. My brother will be here in just a few minutes.” 

He shrugged. “It’s no problem.”  

But it was. The way her gaze turned him inside out, like the subtle turn of a key in a door he’d thought locked up tight. The sudden vertigo he felt when his eyes met hers that made him feel as though the ground was tilting beneath his feet. These were definite problems for Dalton Kingston.


Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/King-Hearts-M-Jean-Pike-ebook/dp/B0D48XZH16/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title

PBG: https://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_46&products_id=1679

My Blog:

https://mjeanpike.wordpress.com/

FB:

https://www.facebook.com/JeanPikeBooks



Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Guest Post: THE LITTLE THINGS by M. Jean Pike

     My guest today is author M. Jean Pike. Her favorite things are changing seasons, unexpected blessings, and love that lasts forever. With a writing career that has spanned two decades, Jean combines an insatiable curiosity about humans and why they do the things they do, with a keen interest in the quirky and offbeat things in life to bring readers unforgettable tales of life, love, and the inner workings of the human heart. 
     Jean cut her teeth on short stories and inspirational nonfiction. Her articles have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, GRIT, Lutheran Digest and others. After several years of writing short fiction, she decided to try her hand at novel writing. Her debut took eight years to complete! She has since penned ten others. Number eleven, a contemporary Christian Romance, The Little Things, is available now!

You can visit her at her website mjeanpike.wordpress.com
Or check out her tweets at twitter.com/jeanpikeauthor

 Here's the book blurb!

A decade ago, Rochelle Delany made a decision that changed her life forever. Wanting more than just football games and potluck suppers, she boarded a bus for California and didn't look back. But instead of a glamorous life, she became trapped in a nightmare of labor trafficking. Now, she's made a daring escape and returns home to Ohio.

Sandy Fairbrother has a problem with trust. Twice betrayed, he now puts his faith only in God. He' s a single dad doing his best to grow his construction business and raise his young son. But haunted by an impulsive kiss Rochelle gave him fifteen years ago, her unexpected return has him rethinking things. He' s been given a second chance to win her heart. And this time, he plans to succeed.

Rochelle barely remembers Sandy, but she's drawn to his goodness. But just when she thinks she's found peace, her past catches up with her, and she finds herself in danger of losing the only safe haven she' s ever known.


Read an Excerpt!

He stood there, staring at her, as if he were waiting for something. Finally, he said, “You’re Rochelle, right?”

 She searched his face, clearly at a disadvantage. ”Yes.” 

“Sandy Fairbrother. Maybe you don’t remember me.”

She vaguely remembered the name. Her gaze moved over him, her mind trying to reconcile this big, handsome man with the thin, quiet boy she barely remembered from high school. Nice enough looking, but not gorgeous. Athletic enough to be on the sports teams, football, she thought, but not first string. Just an average boy. 

“Of course,” she said. 

“So, you’re back.”

“The prodigal daughter returns.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. Bess was a wonderful woman.”

“Thank you.” An awkward moment of silence passed. “May I ask what you’re doing here?”

“Austin mentioned that he assumed Bess left the house to the two of you in her will. He said he was hoping to unload it quickly and wondered if I’d be interested in buying it.”

The shock of his words was like a second slap. No, more like a throat punch. “Why would you be?”

“I own a few rental properties around town, as well as a small construction company. I do renovations, buy and flip homes, that sort of thing. I told Austin I’d be happy to take a look at the place.”

 His words spun around inside her head, making her dizzy. The one place in the world where she felt safe was in danger of being sold? Torn away from her? Fear slithered inside her stomach and rose up the back of her throat as her last hope of security slipped away. Oh, Lord. Don’t let me be sick. Pulling in a breath to calm herself, she tossed the checkered dishcloth into the sink.

“Austin really should have discussed this with me first, before talking to you. We haven’t made any definite plans for the house yet.”

“Right. Well, I just thought—‛”

“You thought what?” She fixed him with an angry stare. “My foster mother is barely laid to rest, and you come swooping in here to take advantage of us for the opportunity to feather your own nest?”

 He seemed momentarily taken aback. Then he grinned, infuriating her farther. “I wouldn’t exactly say I swooped. I walked in through the front door. After your brother invited me.”

“Well, I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time. Until further notice, this house is not for sale. Understood?”

 He watched her for a long moment, something unreadable in his expression. Amusement, definitely, but something else as well. 

“Understood.”

 

You can find the books in the links below: 

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Things-M-Jean-Pike-ebook/dp/B0C1ZYD5VB

Pelican:

https://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_46&products_id=1626