Check out the first Books Galore giveaway for full contest rules and information, but here are the most important things to know:

Leave a comment between now and next Wednesday night if you’re interested in winning a book. Winners will be drawn Thursday morning. In your comment, please put the NUMBERS (not titles) of all the books from this current giveaway that you’re interested in. For example, your comment might say something like: “Put me in for #2, 7, and 9.” Include as many books as you’d like, and feel free to enter for all of them. Make sure that your comment includes an easy way for me to get in touch with you (email or your blog, etc.).

With each book listing, I’ve included where the author can ship. Please be sure to only enter for books that will ship to where you live. Thanks! (FYI: This week, the books will ship anywhere!)

1. The Only Best Place
By Carolyne Aarsen
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Leslie VandeKeere thought the move from Seattle to the farm in Montana was only temporary – a chance to rejuvinate their marriage and relationship with her kids. Then her husband started putting down roots and she went back to work. At first it looked like everything was the same as it was back in Seattle, only the community and his family started intruding into her life bringing faith and challenges she never had to face before.

2. Midnight at Sea
By Colleen Coble
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Dive into Midnight Sea and be whisked away to a coffee plantation on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Soon you’ll be so deep in the descriptions of warm sand and island breezes that you won’t even notice the wintry weather outside.

You’ll meet Lani, a new Christian trying to overcome her “good-time girl” past. She’s making progress ? but an apparently random shooting leaves her blind and wondering why God didn’t protect her.

Then there’s Ben, an ex-cop with issues of his own. His assignment is to help Lani learn to work with her new seeing-eye dog.

But he doesn’t have to like the job ? or her.

Stir in Lani’s ex-hippie aunt Rina and her eccentric circle of friends, sprinkle some smuggling on top of that, add a dash of murder and mystery and you’ve got a delicious concoction that will keep you guessing until the end.

Take a sip of Midnight Sea. It’s good to the last drop.

3. DragonSpell
By Donita K Paul
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

One dragon egg holds the key to the future

Once a slave, Kale is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. Yet this young girl has so much to learn about the difference between slavery and service.

A desperate search begins

A small band of Paladin’s servants rescue Kale from danger but turn her from her destination: The Hall, where she was to be trained. Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. First, she and her comrades must find Wizard Fenworth. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg whose true value they have not begun to suspect.

Weaving together memorable characters, daring adventure, and a core of eternal truth, Dragonspell is a finely crafted and welcome addition to the genre of fantasy fiction.

This series of books have been widely read by all ages from soldiers in Iraq to parents reading to their children on road trips to Bible studies and in Christian Schools. Less literary than Tolkien, they are easy to read. More subtle than CS Lewis, the Christian allegory makes an enjoyable read for those at any level of commitment to God.

4. Spring Rain
By Gayle Roper
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

It’s taken a lot of hard work, but Leigh Spenser has finally put memories and rumors to rest and found peace in small town Seaside, NJ, where she lives with her ten-year-old son Billy. Then Clay Wharton comes home.

It only makes sense. His estranged twin Ted–Leigh’s closest friend–is dying of AIDS. Leigh will just have to avoid Clay to make certain he never discovers the secret she’s protected for so long. It’s not until Billy’s life is endangered that Leigh and Clay find the answers they have sought so long.

5. Summer Shadows
By Gayle Roper
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Abby Patterson has been left with a limp and chronic pain from the accident that killed her husband and daughter. She moves to Seaside, NJ, to get away from the smothering love of her parents, finding the perfect house on the beach. At least it would be perfect if it weren’t for her grouchy landlord Marsh.

When Abby witnesses a hit and run and is left with amnesia, she finds unexpected help from Marsh, especially when she finds her life and reputation repeatedly threatened.

6. Never Say Never
By Lena Nelson Dooley
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Charlotte Will Never Love Again

When Charlotte Halloran’s husband was killed by a drunk driver, her heart died, too. Now, one year later, Charlotte and her teenaged daughter are boarding a cruise ship to take their minds off their loss. But when the Pearl of the Ocean’s captain catches her eye, Charlotte wonders if “never” was God’s idea or–hers.

Captain Gareth Van den Hout knows the pain of losing love. Three years ago, he lost his precious wife to cancer. His time aboard the cruise ship created a chasm of secrets between them, and he’s vowed it will never happen again. But when he sees Charlotte, Gareth is compelled to risk his heart and get to know the petite, black-haired beauty, even if only for a short time.

Could the Lord have plans to heal and unite two broken hearts convinced “never” is forever?

7. A Daughter’s Quest
By Lena Nelson Dooley
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Constance Miller is on a mission

As he lies dying, Constance’s father asks her to seek out a troubled friend of his from the war and tell him about God’s love. Although she would rather stay with those she has known all her life, Constance obeys her father’s wishes. She leaves her home in the mountains of Arkansas on a quest to find Jim Mitchell, reportedly living in Iowa.

Constance soon discovers that locating Jim will not be as easy as she had hoped, especially if she wants to avoid raising suspicions among the townsfolk of Browning City. And for reasons that escape her, the local blacksmith, Hans Van de Kieft, seems to take her on as his special concern, shadowing her every step.

Will Constance find Jim, or will her quest lead her instead to a destiny prepared by her heavenly Father, on that she would have never envisioned on her own?

8. SAHM I Am
By Meredith Efken
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

For the members of a stay-at-home-moms’ e-mail loop, lunch with friends is a sandwich in front of the computer, but where else can they discuss things like…

Success: Her workaholic husband is driving Dulcie Huckleberry around the bend. It’s hard to love someone in sickness and in health when he’s never home!

Art: Let the children express themselves, opines artistic Zelia Muzuwa, and then her son’s head gets stuck inside a kitty scratching post….

Health: Surely aches and pains are normal in an active little boy, yet those of soccer-mom Jocelyn Millard’s son don’t seem to be going away.

Motherhood: Teen-mom-turned-farmer’s-wife Brenna Lindberg can deal with the mud and the chickens, but what about her husband’s desire for a child of his own?

Indiscretions: However youthful, they can come back to haunt you, learns pastor’s wife Phyllis Lorimer.

AMends: These could stand to be made between officious list moderator Rosalyn Ebberly and her pampered sister Veronica. Perhaps the other SAHM I AMers can teach these two something about sisterhood…

9. Sisterchicks Do the Hula
By Robin Jones Gunn
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Some dreams take a while before they come true. Best friends Hope and Laurie never made it to Hawaii during their college years. But when they’re about to turn forty, the islands still beckon, and off they go – with an unexpected stowaway on board (Hope happens to be seven months pregnant). A little pineapple, a little sunshine, and a surprising little surfing lesson give these two sisterchicks all their crazy hearts could hope for – and more – as they enter the next season of their lives with a splash and with a beautiful vision of what God has dreamed up for them.

10. The Guy I’m Not Dating
By Trish Perry
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Kara Richardson has finally suffered one breakup too many. She’s decided to go the no-dating route to romance, although she’s not quite sure how that works.

She couldn’t have picked a worse time to meet Gabe Paolino. Gorgeous men hardly faze Kara. A personal trainer, she works with hunks every day. But Gabe, the handsome young deli owner in town, proves way too available and way too challenging for Kara’s vow of friendship. How will she adhere to her new lifestyle without scaring Gabe away?

Enter matchmaking friends, a strange elderly aunt, three demanding teens, and one hard-to-take vixen with eyes for Gabe. Add an overcrowded road trip and plenty of God’s blessings, and Kara may discover that the guy she’s not dating is the best boyfriend she’s ever had.

11. Too Good to Be True
By Trish Perry
Fiction
Ships: Anywhere

Your classic romantic heroine swoons after meeting Prince Charming in, say, an enchanted forest. But Rennie Young would never have met the gallant Truman Sayers if she hadn’t fainted immediately beforehand—in the boys’ sportswear department of her local Wal-Mart.

Ren, a 20-something elementary schoolteacher, has reluctantly accepted that her husband—who divorced her over a year ago—is not coming back. Tru Sayers, a handsome young labor-and-delivery nurse, seems like a gift from God. Ren’s friends and Tru’s siblings are supportive and excited about the match. But there are . . . complications.

Ren’s control-freak mother is desperate to match her daughter up with “more suitable” men. Tru’s mother wants Tru to remain a bachelor—and at her beck and call—forever. Is it possible to honor your parents while on the verge of killing them?

Despite conflicts, embarrassments, and a pity binge or two, Ren learns how to lean on the Lord and His loving will for her. Just when Ren thinks her happiness is slipping away, God shows her that no miracle is too good to be true.