Books

Almost There
Dani Deane Series 3

Paris, the City of Lights. To seventeen-year-old Dani Deane, it’s the Promised Land. There, her widowed mother’s depression will vanish and she will no longer fear losing her only parent, her arty New York life, or her devoted boyfriend.

But shortly before their Paris getaway, Dani’s tyrannical grandfather falls ill, pulling them to rural Pennsylvania to deal with his hoarder horror of a house. Among the piles, Dani finds disturbing truths that could make Mum completely unravel. Desperate to protect her from pain and escape to Paris, Dani hatches a plan with the flirtatious neighbor boy that only threatens the relationships she most wants to save.

Why would God block all paths to Paris? Could real hope for healing be as close as a box tucked in the rafters?

What readers are saying:
"I wanted to hang around in these pages long after the story ended."
~Author Robyn Campbell

"Almost There made me fall in love with the YA genre all over again. This is the kind of teen fiction I enjoy: An authentic and inspirational novel that accurately portrays the teen life. Throw in a romance thread, family drama, teen angst, beautiful wordsmithing, an artistic element, and weave them together to create an original, page-turning-worthy plot."
~Tessa Emily Hall, Christ is Write book blog

"This is one of those books where you fall in love with the characters and find yourself relating to more than one of them in various ways."
~Ana, Amazon customer review

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Ever Near
Dani Deane Series 2

Four Advent candles, two teens, a Yule Ball, a grief anniversary, and a quest for the perfect gift.

Christmastime is here and for Dani Deane, the season only brings memories of spending last December in the ICU, watching her dad die. But trying to hide her holiday phobia from her boyfriend is making life a lot more complicated. To truly heal, she will have to face the pain and lean into her faith. Can she learn to trust God—and Theo—to stick by her as she seeks to find joy again?


In the bleak midwinter, Theo Wescott is watching his girlfriend Dani slip away again. The anniversary of her dad’s death has turned the holidays into a minefield. The race is on to find the perfect present that will bring her comfort and joy. But getting her best friend’s help with his elaborate plan threatens to derail his relationship with Dani. Will patiently waiting to reveal his ultimate surprise bring the cheer he hopes, or will it be a triggering epic failure?

e-book: Amazon (US) / Barnes and Noble (Nook) / Kobo / iTunes
paperback: Amazon (US)
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Never Gone
Dani Deane Series 1

Teen artist Dani Deane feels like the universe has imploded when her photographer father is killed. Days after his death, she sees him leafing through sketches in her room, roaming the halls at church, wandering his own wake. Is grief making her crazy? Or is her dad truly adrift between this world and the next, trying to contact her?

Dani longs for his help as she tries and fails to connect with her workaholic mother. Her pain only deepens when astonishing secrets about her family history come to light. But Dani finds a surprising ally in Theo, the quiet guy lingering in the backstage of her life. He persistently reaches out as Dani’s faith falters, her family relationships unravel, and she withdraws into a dangerous obsession with her father’s ghostly appearances. Will she let her broken, prodigal heart find reason to hope again?

From the skyscrapers of New York to the sheep-dotted English countryside, Never Gone explores life after loss with emotional honesty, humor, and a touch of romance.


“Never Gone is a ghost story for a new generation – a twisty journey through a young girl's battle with death, grief, and the discovery of family secrets that threaten to undo her world. Garver tackles difficult subjects with depth and grace, weaving the complexities of faith with the complexities of growing up.”
— Heidi Willis, author of Some Kind of Normal

“...a beautifully written book about loss, grief, redemption, and long-buried secrets. I loved the vividly rendered settings of both New York City and small-town England. The main characters were all multilayered, rich and complex.”
— S.C. Langgle, Amazon customer review

“Garver gives voice to a teen's experience of loss, love, angst, and faith, aptly portraying the complex interrelation of these forces in the life of an adolescent. One of the more refreshing features of this novel is the way it explores some of the deeper dynamics of personal faith without pushing some sort of proselytizing agenda. Never Gone is well-written, provocative, thoughtful literature -- and highly enjoyable too!”
— Chris C., Amazon customer review

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With sneak peek chapters from the sequel, Almost There 

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301 Seasonal Prompts for Fiction Writers

Whether you're a beginning writer or a seasoned pro, prompts can be a useful tool to warm up, beat writer’s block, develop and maintain a writing habit, change up your routine, start a new project, experiment in a new genre, or overcome burnout. This collection gives 301 story starts and development ideas focused on the cycles of nature and their effects on human culture, from weather patterns to the traditions and holidays that mark high points of each year.

e-book: Amazon
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1001 Evocative Prompts for Fiction Writers

Evocative /əˈväkədiv/ — Bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.

Ideas, emotions, images, intriguing questions, perplexing dilemmas—these are the raw materials from which great stories are built.

1001 Evocative Prompts will stimulate your thinking wherever you are in your writing journey and get you writing today. It provides story starts and writing inspiration for a wide variety of genres by focusing on emotions, character development, and pivotal moments.

You can face a blank page with confidence when you use these prompts to warm up, beat writer’s block, develop and maintain a writing habit, change up your routine, start a new project, experiment in a new genre, deepen parts of an existing story, or overcome burnout.


What are you waiting for? Dig in and get writing right now!

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Pocket paperback (5"x 8", 114 pp.) Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Workbook (8"x 10", 426 pp.) Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Emotions in the Wild
A Writer's Observation Journal


Are you seeking to make your fiction more emotionally true, your characterizations deeper, and your character interactions more dynamic?

The best way to bring more emotion to your fiction is research it "in the wild," through observation.

Emotions in the Wild will help you do just that. This series of guided journaling exercises will help you develop both broad and deep understanding of emotion as you people watch and record your observations.

Better yet, it will keep your observations organized so that you can use them again and again to enhance any fiction project. Once completed, the Emotions in the Wild journal will become your personal "emotions bible," your go-to source for building emotionally-charged scenes in your own authorial voice.

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Muddy-Fingered Midnights
poems from the bright days 
and dark nights of the soul


This thirty-poem collection is an eclectic mix of light and dark, playful and spiritual, lyric and narrative free verse. In an intricate dance of sound play, it explores how our perceptions shape our interactions with the world. Here child heroes emerge on playgrounds and in chicken coops, teens grapple with grief and taste first love, adults waver between isolation and engaged connection. It is a book about creative life, our capacity to wound and heal, and the unlikely places we find love, beauty, and grace. 

“In Muddy-Fingered Midnights, Garver seamlessly integrates unpredictable rhyme and alliteration to undergird the themes and strange beauty of these poems. Even in dark times that are ‘glassy with misery,’ there’s a hidden reflection in the pane: hope.” 
—Jessica Bell, co-founder of Vine Leaves Literary Journal and author of Fabric, semi-finalist, Goodreads Readers’ Choice Awards 2012: Best Poetry.

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