WordServe June News 2023

Summer is here.  Are you ready to do some serious summer reading?  Here are our in new books, authors and news . . . our highlights below include new releases, contracts signed, notable reviews and PR events, new authors to the agency and other news of note by clients and agents.

New Releases

Congratulations to Jamie Sumner and Atheneum Books for the May 30th release of The Summer of June.

From the acclaimed author of Tune It Out and Roll with It comes a “needed, hopeful” (Booklist) middle grade book about a young girl who sets out to overcome her anxiety over the course of one life-changing summer.

Twelve-year-old June Delancey is kicking summer off with a bang. She shaves her head and sets two goals: she will beat her anxiety and be the lion she knows she can be, instead of the mouse everyone sees. And she and her single mama will own their power as fierce, independent females.

With the help of Homer Juarez, the poetry-citing soccer star who believes in June even when she doesn’t believe in herself, she starts a secret library garden and hatches a plan to make her dreams come true. But when her anxiety becomes too much, everything begins to fall apart. It’s going to take more than a haircut and some flowers to set things right. It’s going to take courage and friends and watermelon pie. Forget second chances. This is the summer of new beginnings.

Congratulations to Israel”D T” Del Toro, Jr. and St. Martin’s Press for the July 4th release of A Patriot’s Promise: Protecting My Brothers, Fighting for My Life, and Keeping My Word.

An inspiring memoir of promises kept, overcoming obstacles, and what it means to sacrifice for others, written by a Special Warfare Operator with the US Air Force.

When Israel “DT” Del Toro, Jr.’s Humvee rolled over a roadside improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, he had one thought as he lost consciousness: I have to keep the promise I made to my dad. DT was orphaned at the age of fourteen, and on the night before his father died, he repeated the promise his dad had required of him: “Take care of your brothers and sisters.”

Throughout his childhood and into adulthood, DT indeed looked after his younger brother and sisters, even to his own detriment and sacrifice. When he enlisted in the Air Force, progressing in ranks as a skilled marksman calling airstrikes, his promise extended to his brothers and sisters in the Air Force―his fellow soldiers and brothers-in-arms.

When DT was injured in action, he lay in a coma for three months with third-degree burns on 80 percent of his body. He nearly died three times, and doctors predicted―if he survived―he would forever breathe with a respirator and never walk again. DT pushed through every limit to his full recovery, and he became the first 100 percent disabled veteran to reenlist in the Air Force.

DT’s promise to his dad extends now to his fellow wounded warriors throughout the world as he advocates for awareness and affecting change in public policy for wounded, injured, and ill soldiers. He is a patriot who has kept his promise and changed the world with the spirit of his heart, soul, body, and mind.

Congratulations to Natalie Runion and David C Cook  for the July 4th release of Raised to Stay.

An honest exploration of disappointment with the Church, Raised to Stay is for anyone weary of God’s people but longing to keep their faith in God.

God might seem silent right now. God’s people might seem not worth the wounds. But hold on as Natalie Runion embarks on a journey for all who are wandering, wondering, and wrestling. Together, we will move toward trusting God again, knowing that even though Christian community may fail us, the love of God never fails.

When we say yes to God, we don’t say yes to church politics, ladder climbing, or burnout. We say yes to Jesus. We say yes to hope. We say yes to much that we can still embrace. Through honest words and deeply personal story, Runion challenges us to be part of a generation known for the passionate pursuit of Christ. To be remembered for loving one another, forgiving one another, and persevering with one another in our hunger for God.

We aren’t quitters. We are the stayers.

Congratulations to Bryan Clark and David C Cook  for the July 4th release of God’s Not Like That.

Many of us long for the abundant life Jesus promised, but instead we feel stagnant and frustrated in our faith. More of us cultivate our view of God from our family of origin than from the pages of the Bible—and a faulty view of God will always be a barrier to a satisfying spiritual life.

In his unique and interactive book God Isn’t Like That, author Bryan Clark returns us to Scripture on a step-by-step journey to identify and then correct our misconceptions about God. This highly practical book helps us understand:

Specific ways our childhood influences our beliefs today

  • The difference between a grace-based value system and a performance-based value system
  • How to distinguish truth from fiction when it comes to personal beliefs
  • Why even a loving and faith-filled family can inadvertently pass on false representations of God
  • What the Bible says about how God intended Himself to be depicted in the home

Abundant life has nothing to do with money or prosperity or health. Abundant life has everything to do with a right view of God that sustains us, comforts us, and satisfies us through every season.

Congratulations to Bill Myers and Fidelis Publishing for the July 12th release of Commune: Rendezvous with God (3).

“Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer.” —Albert Einstein

With the life of his niece’s newborn baby hanging in the balance, our hero continues his off-the-record conversations with Yeshua—sometimes visiting him in Bible times, sometimes amidst the baffling events of his own world.

One way or another, through trial and error, and always with a touch of humor, he learns the life-changing truths about prayer:

-What works
-What doesn’t
-What is religious lip-service
-What is true communion with God

Join Will Thomas as he continues stumbling his way toward holiness and, through no fault of his own, an ever-deepening friendship with God.

Contracts

Angie Ward signed with InterVarsity Press for the 2024 release of The Whole Church for the Whole World.

Camden  Morgante signed with Baker Books for the 2024 release of Recovering from Purity Culture

New Clients

William Byrd and Robert Elmer recently signed with WordServe.  Welcome!