Becky Wade – författare

From elite marathoner and Olympic hopeful Becky Wade comes the story of her year-long exploration of diverse global running communities from England to Ethiopia—9 countries, 72 host families, and over 3,500 miles of running—investigating unique cultural approaches to the sport and revealing the secrets to the success of runners all over the world.

Fresh off a successful collegiate running career—with multiple NCAA All-American honors and two Olympic Trials qualifying marks to her name—Becky Wade was no stranger to international competition. But after years spent safely sticking to the training methods she knew, Becky was curious about how her counterparts in other countries approached the sport to which she’d dedicated over half of her life. So in 2012, as a recipient of the Watson Fellowship, she packed four pairs of running shoes, cleared her schedule for the year, and took off on a journey to infiltrate diverse running communities around the world. What she encountered far exceeded her expectations and changed her outlook into the sport she loved.Over the next twelve months—visiting 9 countries with unique and storied running histories, logging over 3,500 miles running over trails, tracks, sidewalks, and dirt roads—Becky explored the varied approaches of runners across the globe. Whether riding shotgun around the streets of London with Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt, climbing for an hour at daybreak to the top of Ethiopia’s Mount Entoto just to start her daily run, or getting lost jogging through the bustling streets of Tokyo, Becky’s unexpected adventures, keen insights, and landscape descriptions take the reader into the heartbeat of distance running around the world.Upon her return to the United States, she incorporated elements of the training styles she’d sampled into her own program, and her competitive career skyrocketed. When she made her marathon debut in 2013, winning the race in a blazing 2:30, she became the third-fastest woman marathoner under the age of 25 in U.S. history, qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Trials and landing a professional sponsorship from Asics.

From the feel-based approach to running that she learned from the Kenyans, to the grueling uphill workouts she adopted from the Swiss, to the injury-recovery methods she learned from the Japanese, Becky shares the secrets to success from runners and coaches around the world. The story of one athlete’s fascinating journey, Run the World is also a call to change the way we approach the world’s most natural and inclusive sport.

To Have and to Hold: Three Autumn Love Stories

By Betsy St. Amant, Katie Ganshert & Becky Wade

They’ve helped orchestrate the perfect day for countless couples. Now twelve new couples will find themselves in the wedding spotlight in the second Year of Weddings novella collection.

Love Takes the Cake: A September Wedding Story by Betsy St. Amant

Charlotte Cantrell is always the baker; never the bride. When Will, a regular at Charlotte’s bakery, catches her attention, she can only hope that he is the reliable man this single mother has always hoped to find. The problem is that he’s regularly stopping in to buy cookies for another girl. But when Charlotte is hired to bake a host of wedding goodies for a difficult bride and finds out Will is the best man, she has the perfect opportunity to get to know him better—and find out how serious Will is about this other girl in his life.

The Perfect Arrangement: An October Wedding Story by Katie Ganshert

Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower and the proud owner of Forget-Me-Nots, a quaint flower shop. Her love life has always been a bit lackluster—until she ends up in an embarrassing fender-bender with handsome Nate Gallagher. Meanwhile, Amelia’s younger brother, William, has proposed to his girlfriend. Amelia would be excited except she has evidence that the fiancée is not who she says she is. It seems Nate is the only one available for any advice-giving, and he’s good at it—and pretty fun to talk to, too. As Amelia works to craft the perfect flower arrangements for other people, she begins to wonder if real love is better than the dream. And if it is, will Nate still be interested when he learns who she is?

Love in the Details: A November Wedding Story by Becky Wade

When Josh returns to his hometown of Martinsburg, Texas, to help his best friend get married, he didn’t intend to run into church wedding coordinator—and ex-girlfriend—Holly. He can’t help but pine after the girl he never got over. Holly broke up with Josh years ago in an attempt to ensure his future success. But she loved him then and still loves him now. As she helps him plan his best friend’s wedding, she longs to be with Josh but doesn’t feel worthy of his big-time lifestyle when she is more comfortable in her small-town world. Will Josh and Holly be able to keep things as they are when their true feelings threaten to surface at every turn?

Holly ended things to give him a better life, but she was the future he’d always dreamed of.

Eight years have passed since Holly last saw her high school sweetheart, Josh. Now the wedding of Josh’s best friend has brought him back to Martinsburg, Texas.  His duties as best man and Holly''s as the church''s volunteer wedding coordinator link them together.  As they work behind the scenes to plan a beautiful November wedding for their friends, they''re forced to confront painful reminders of what might have been.

Holly broke up with Josh all those years ago in an attempt to ensure his future success. However, she never told him the true reason behind her actions and now must decide whether to keep her secret hidden.  She''s terrified of letting herself fall for him because she barely managed to piece her life back together after losing him the last time.

Not a day''s gone by since Josh parted from Holly that he hasn''t thought about her.  The pain of the past eight years has been too much to bear and he doesn''t want to make himself vulnerable to her again. But the more time he spends with her, the harder it is to deny the love he still has for her.

Will Josh and Holly risk their hearts on the hope that God''s timing really can be best?

From three bestselling authors come sweet stories about love, friendship, and happily ever after.

A Brush with Love by Rachel Hauck (also published in A Season to Wed)

Ginger emerges from the pain of a childhood tragedy with a gift for bringing out the beauty in others. Despite her prestigious partnerships and clients, Ginger can’t help feeling like she’s on the outside looking in. But Ginger will have to rally her confidence when she’s asked to be the “beauty-maker” for the Alabama society wedding of the decade.

Then her high-school crush Tom Wells Jr. also returns to town and asks her for a haircut, Ginger’s thinly veiled insecurities threaten to keep her locked away from love. Despite Tom’s best efforts, Ginger can’t forget how he disappeared on her twelve years ago and broke her heart. Can she ever trust him again?

Love in the Details by Becky Wade (also published in To Have and to Hold)

Eight years have passed since Holly last saw her high school sweetheart, Josh. Now his best friend’s wedding has brought Josh back to Martinsburg, Texas.  His duties as best man and Holly''s as the church''s volunteer wedding coordinator link them together. She never told him the true reason for their breakup all those years ago, but it’s hard to keep the secret as feelings reemerge. And with those feelings comes the fear that held her back the last time.

Not a day''s gone by since Josh parted from Holly that he hasn''t thought about her. He doesn''t want to make himself vulnerable to her again, but the more time he spends with her, the harder it is to deny the love he still has for her. As the wedding approaches, both Holly and Josh will have to decide if they want to risk everything for love.

An October Bride by Katie Ganshert (also published in Autumn Brides)

Emma Tate has just ended an engagement. So when she suddenly announces that she’s engaged—again—this time to her lifelong buddy Jake Sawyer, every busybody in town is talking about it. Of course, no one but Jake and Emma know the real reason they’re getting married: so Emma’s dying father will have a chance to walk her down the aisle.

But while Jake and Emma move forward with their plan and frantically organize an October wedding, it becomes clear that their agreement has a few complications—the biggest being their true feelings for each other. With dubious friends, ecstatic parents, and nosy neighbors, Emma and Jake have a lot to contend with if they’re going to pull this off. The real question is who wants this wedding more, Emma’s dad or Emma?