What do you think?
Rate this book
Texas Hearts #1
The Envelope
Tragedy and guilt follow Sheila Carson around like a sick puppy, causing continual estrangement from her family and a heavy fear of getting too close to other people, especially other people of the opposite sex. She cannot bear the thought of accidentally destroying another man’s life again.
Then she meets Hank Johnson. At first, the new fourth-grade teacher gets on Sheila’s nerves, especially after a run-in between one of his students and one of her Kindergarteners. But Hank’s rugged handsomeness and fun-loving personality begin to win Sheila over when he ends up one day after school, helping her to search for her favorite student, Diana, who mysteriously goes missing.
Sheila’s faith in God compels her to take a personal interest in Dianas’s broken home life, and at the same time makes her begin to wonder if Hank might be part of God’s plan for her life.
But while Hank attends church and seems to have his own brand of faith, he is hiding his own past tragedy that has caused him to doubt God’s love for him during the past several years. So when Sheila’s heart begins to lead her in the direction of missions, Hank abruptly drops his relationship with her.
But it cannot end there. A mysterious envelope that Hank has forgotten about turns out to be an intricate and shocking connection between both their tragic paths.
Will Sheila ever receive the forgiveness she desperately needs? Will Hank ever admit his love for Sheila – and shake off the past hurt that threatens to keep them apart? “The Envelope” weaves together the lives of one man, one woman and an innocent five-year-old girl to bring about a heart wrenching story of healing, forgiveness and God’s persistent love.
Then she meets Hank Johnson. At first, the new fourth-grade teacher gets on Sheila’s nerves, especially after a run-in between one of his students and one of her Kindergarteners. But Hank’s rugged handsomeness and fun-loving personality begin to win Sheila over when he ends up one day after school, helping her to search for her favorite student, Diana, who mysteriously goes missing.
Sheila’s faith in God compels her to take a personal interest in Dianas’s broken home life, and at the same time makes her begin to wonder if Hank might be part of God’s plan for her life.
But while Hank attends church and seems to have his own brand of faith, he is hiding his own past tragedy that has caused him to doubt God’s love for him during the past several years. So when Sheila’s heart begins to lead her in the direction of missions, Hank abruptly drops his relationship with her.
But it cannot end there. A mysterious envelope that Hank has forgotten about turns out to be an intricate and shocking connection between both their tragic paths.
Will Sheila ever receive the forgiveness she desperately needs? Will Hank ever admit his love for Sheila – and shake off the past hurt that threatens to keep them apart? “The Envelope” weaves together the lives of one man, one woman and an innocent five-year-old girl to bring about a heart wrenching story of healing, forgiveness and God’s persistent love.
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 11, 2012
1907 people are currently reading
608 people want to read
About the author
Emily Josephine
145 books36 followersAssuming she's still alive when you read this, Emily Josephine lives somewhere on Planet Earth with a couple of people she refers to as "family" when she's in a good mood, writing stories with characters who lead much more interesting lives than she does, with an eye toward entertaining readers as well as encouraging them to grow into the person God created them to be, and in so doing endeavoring to kick the habit of writing run-on sentences; however, she sometimes waxes Charles Dickens-ish and is at such times unable to help herself - and speaking of famous people, if you look for "Emily Josephine" on any social media site or on YouTube, you will find more than one person going by that gorgeous name, but it will not be THE Emily Josephine, the author about whom you are now reading, because Emily Josephine The Author is severely and deathly allergic to both social media and YouTube, and if anyone tries to assert the proposition that such an allergy is an absolute and certain impossibility, she will stoutly deny their denial, "stout" being an absolute and certain absurdity in this context as there has never been anything stout about Emily except for the blessedly brief period of her life when she was pregnant and a mommy to a newborn baby.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
May 1, 2020
I struggled with this one. On the one hand, I had flashbacks from growing up in charismatic and Pentecostal churches, and in the late 90s/early 2000s, a lot of this is pretty typical of the culture. So it was very familiar and somewhat comfortable.
On the other hand, the culture back then, and in this book, were full of many unrelatable Christian-ese statements and sentiments, as well as dangerous thought processes that all you had to do was pray or have faith and God would take “it” away. Have PTSD? “That’s easy” - It’s just demonic and you can pray for immediate deliverance. Have cancer? Get saved and pray and God will heal you. And there will always be someone to prophetically speak to you when he needs you to know something. And while I’m certainly not saying that was 100% of the time what the book was saying, there was a enough of it that made it frustrating.
In real life, God doesn’t always (or often) take things away when they’re hard or you’re weak or things are bad. His strength makes up for our weakness - but our weakness still remains. That’s the point. Yes, God can heal or deliver or speak thru someone. But quite often, he wants us to struggle thru things so we learn to lean on him rather than constantly have the problem removed and “fixed”.
(And the emotional immaturity and lack of ability to control the characters’ reactions with other ppl so often, and doormat-codependency of the mother were also really annoying)
On the other hand, the culture back then, and in this book, were full of many unrelatable Christian-ese statements and sentiments, as well as dangerous thought processes that all you had to do was pray or have faith and God would take “it” away. Have PTSD? “That’s easy” - It’s just demonic and you can pray for immediate deliverance. Have cancer? Get saved and pray and God will heal you. And there will always be someone to prophetically speak to you when he needs you to know something. And while I’m certainly not saying that was 100% of the time what the book was saying, there was a enough of it that made it frustrating.
In real life, God doesn’t always (or often) take things away when they’re hard or you’re weak or things are bad. His strength makes up for our weakness - but our weakness still remains. That’s the point. Yes, God can heal or deliver or speak thru someone. But quite often, he wants us to struggle thru things so we learn to lean on him rather than constantly have the problem removed and “fixed”.
(And the emotional immaturity and lack of ability to control the characters’ reactions with other ppl so often, and doormat-codependency of the mother were also really annoying)
August 7, 2018
Good clean uplifting book
I liked that the book is about Christian people finding the will of God for their lives. They struggled with real life problems and God led them to the correct answers.
I liked that the book is about Christian people finding the will of God for their lives. They struggled with real life problems and God led them to the correct answers.
March 30, 2019
Tragedy and guilt follow Sheila Carson around like a sick puppy, causing continual estrangement from her family and a heavy fear of getting too close to other people, especially other people of the opposite sex.
October 16, 2022
I don't see any envelope. I mean, this is the envelope.
May 30, 2016
Hank left the mission field after a plane accident killed the pilot and two other missionaries. On the plane he found an envelope but no one seemed to know where it came from. He put it in a backpack and forgot about it.
Shiela ran away from Minnesota where members of her family blamed her for killing her niece when she was backing out of the driveway.
Both she and Hank were teachers in the same school in Texas. She had kept that horrible secret, and Hank has kept his mission work and plane accident secret as well.
They became friends, and as believers they had an instant bond. While searching for a missing homeless student they became closer.
A lot of other things happened but I won't give it away.
The writing was good, but the metaphysical aspect was a bit much and overdone. It's not something I enjoyed reading about.
Shiela ran away from Minnesota where members of her family blamed her for killing her niece when she was backing out of the driveway.
Both she and Hank were teachers in the same school in Texas. She had kept that horrible secret, and Hank has kept his mission work and plane accident secret as well.
They became friends, and as believers they had an instant bond. While searching for a missing homeless student they became closer.
A lot of other things happened but I won't give it away.
The writing was good, but the metaphysical aspect was a bit much and overdone. It's not something I enjoyed reading about.
December 27, 2019
Not my genre
I read chicklit in between other genres. Somehow I had missed the subset of evangelical Christian writers and books. It is not a place of comfort for me. The personal god who heals cancer in an individual but lets famine, wars , and other tragedies destroy the lives of thousands is not a heroic or believable character. The characters in a book who run their lives around this character are neither sympathetic nor believable either. If this is not for you, find something else with better plotting and writing.
I read chicklit in between other genres. Somehow I had missed the subset of evangelical Christian writers and books. It is not a place of comfort for me. The personal god who heals cancer in an individual but lets famine, wars , and other tragedies destroy the lives of thousands is not a heroic or believable character. The characters in a book who run their lives around this character are neither sympathetic nor believable either. If this is not for you, find something else with better plotting and writing.
December 11, 2016
The bond
Sheila is a girl who. . .
Hank is a guy who. . .
What happens when two teachers and a child in trouble get to know each other and. . .
Will they be a happy family or will they be friends??
Sheila is a girl who. . .
Hank is a guy who. . .
What happens when two teachers and a child in trouble get to know each other and. . .
Will they be a happy family or will they be friends??
May 18, 2013
Not really my cup of tea, too heavy going on religion. In not a religious person, so not for me. If you are, then I'm sure you would enjoy this book, love wins out in the end as always.
March 23, 2019
The envelope
An unusual story. Sheila had left her home and family in Minnesota and moved to Texas. Having become estranged from her family following accidentally running over her cousin's daughtet. Hank had left the mission field after a plane crash that killed two of his close friends. Both were teaching at the same school where they developed a growing relationship. Both were hiding from their past problems. Several unlikely developments follow. God's will wins in the end. I gave it 4 stars as at times things didn't always ring true
An unusual story. Sheila had left her home and family in Minnesota and moved to Texas. Having become estranged from her family following accidentally running over her cousin's daughtet. Hank had left the mission field after a plane crash that killed two of his close friends. Both were teaching at the same school where they developed a growing relationship. Both were hiding from their past problems. Several unlikely developments follow. God's will wins in the end. I gave it 4 stars as at times things didn't always ring true
June 1, 2019
The envelope
This was a very intriguing story of love , God and missionaries doing their jobs. It was very rewarding to read how missionaries go about doing what they do every day. The travels to foreign countries and the different lifestyles and the food they have to survive on. So many things take place with teachers and students and how they all learn something different all the time. This was a free arc read and a well written one. This is my review and mine alone. Norma Gorrill
This was a very intriguing story of love , God and missionaries doing their jobs. It was very rewarding to read how missionaries go about doing what they do every day. The travels to foreign countries and the different lifestyles and the food they have to survive on. So many things take place with teachers and students and how they all learn something different all the time. This was a free arc read and a well written one. This is my review and mine alone. Norma Gorrill
April 29, 2020
This book was a well written story with twists and turns that they do you have to really think about following. Best of all, the author clearly demonstrated grief and godly several of repentance. That’s always a delight.
The reason I did not give it five stars were for all of the pagan wedding ceremony stuff thrown in as well as other situations… The story overall is very good and a definite good read, I just could’ve done without some of that.
The reason I did not give it five stars were for all of the pagan wedding ceremony stuff thrown in as well as other situations… The story overall is very good and a definite good read, I just could’ve done without some of that.
May 8, 2021
God’s will is best
This was a compelling story with a good reminder that we need to be obedient and continue on the path that God has set out for us, at all costs. I loved reading a story that the characters were teachers, as I connect with that. It was written in such a way that the characters and plot were believable and yet, the message of filling God’s will was skillfully woven within the pages.
This was a compelling story with a good reminder that we need to be obedient and continue on the path that God has set out for us, at all costs. I loved reading a story that the characters were teachers, as I connect with that. It was written in such a way that the characters and plot were believable and yet, the message of filling God’s will was skillfully woven within the pages.
January 12, 2022
I loved the book. The characters were very believable and the mystery of the envelope held my interest. I did think I had figured out the ending to the problems between Linda and Sheila, but I was wrong. I thought that Sheila would have been a match to allow her to donate bone marrow to save Linda’s life. Maybe that happens in the next book. I hope so! I will definitely read more books by this author.
January 2, 2018
The Envelope
A truly heart touching story of two people trying to obey God's will for their lives yet allowing past events to keep them locked in a place that prevents full obedience. Their lives, their love and their future can never be happy until they fully trust God and each other with their innermost fears. Great story telling and great witness for God's Grace
A truly heart touching story of two people trying to obey God's will for their lives yet allowing past events to keep them locked in a place that prevents full obedience. Their lives, their love and their future can never be happy until they fully trust God and each other with their innermost fears. Great story telling and great witness for God's Grace
May 27, 2018
Healing
Very good read. A teacher haunted by a tragic accident moves across the country where she meets another teacher, also with a sad past. I related well to the characters, especially the lead characters. I look forward to reading more books in this series and by this author.
Very good read. A teacher haunted by a tragic accident moves across the country where she meets another teacher, also with a sad past. I related well to the characters, especially the lead characters. I look forward to reading more books in this series and by this author.
September 29, 2018
Riveting Christian Fiction
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this book. They were well-developed and "human." I wish The Lord spoke as clearly to me as it seemed He did to Sheila, Hank and Diana. Such a "feel good" story of redemption and emotion leaves the reader wanting to dig deeper in their journey with God.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this book. They were well-developed and "human." I wish The Lord spoke as clearly to me as it seemed He did to Sheila, Hank and Diana. Such a "feel good" story of redemption and emotion leaves the reader wanting to dig deeper in their journey with God.
March 4, 2019
Awesome, wonderful, inspiring
I felt Emily Josephine was writing about me. Emily writes about dealing with the same fears and doubts that I have. fears of the past has kept me from truly believing i am loved by our awesome God. I can run away from God but yet can not deny God working in my life. (Jeremiah 29:11) Thank you Emily for this message of hope , love and firgiveness
I felt Emily Josephine was writing about me. Emily writes about dealing with the same fears and doubts that I have. fears of the past has kept me from truly believing i am loved by our awesome God. I can run away from God but yet can not deny God working in my life. (Jeremiah 29:11) Thank you Emily for this message of hope , love and firgiveness
April 5, 2019
Such an inspirational book everyone who love God must read. I have learn so much from Hank and Sheila; their love for God. They were ready to leave their comfortable lives to fulfill God's will. I also learnt a lot about listenning to God in whatever we want to do, especially in finding your soulmate. It's the best clean romance book
April 26, 2019
Great Christian suspense. A tragic incident takes over Sheila Carson's life, estranged from her family, she tries to make a life for herself, teaching kindergarten. Hank, also a teacher, tries to befriend her, and of course it takes awhile for Sheila to warm up to him. But, there is so much more to the book, than that. No Spoilers!! read the book.
Read
March 6, 2020Great clean book
The spiritual lives of two wonderful people feel God has forsaken or is punishing them because of past horrible events. As their lives became intermingled the haunting events of the past prevent them from embracing the future God has in store for them. The mystery of "The Envelope" begins to break down barriers. I loved the story.
The spiritual lives of two wonderful people feel God has forsaken or is punishing them because of past horrible events. As their lives became intermingled the haunting events of the past prevent them from embracing the future God has in store for them. The mystery of "The Envelope" begins to break down barriers. I loved the story.
February 23, 2021
Very enjoyable and unpredictable
Sat with it till I got to the end. The author keeps you wondering, which for me is most important.
I gained new insight into Ps 14. I'll now always be careful about saying no to God. A good deal of us his children are indeed fools. When you read the book, you'll understand what I mean.
Sat with it till I got to the end. The author keeps you wondering, which for me is most important.
I gained new insight into Ps 14. I'll now always be careful about saying no to God. A good deal of us his children are indeed fools. When you read the book, you'll understand what I mean.
August 15, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. I have no idea why this showed up on my Kindle, but God had a reason for that. The story was a little winded at times, but I love how everything worked out and came together in the end. The faith part of the book was very prominent throughout the book, but it is a Christian book :) I really liked this book and I would recommend this book to many others.
August 9, 2017
Heartwarming!
Sheila and Hank were realistic characters, who through the work of God came together. This was well-written and I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Sheila and Hank were realistic characters, who through the work of God came together. This was well-written and I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to reading more from this author.
May 25, 2019
Great story!!!
After having read many Christian fiction novels, I am glad to say this is definitely one of my favorites!!! Well written with many twists and turns while still focusing on the importance of a life with Jesus and the power of forgiveness!!!!
After having read many Christian fiction novels, I am glad to say this is definitely one of my favorites!!! Well written with many twists and turns while still focusing on the importance of a life with Jesus and the power of forgiveness!!!!
July 29, 2019
A fun heartwarming story
Great story. Fast paced with an original story line. Solid, believable characters. Theologically sound, spiritually uplifting. A nice sweet romance without being graphic.
Great story. Fast paced with an original story line. Solid, believable characters. Theologically sound, spiritually uplifting. A nice sweet romance without being graphic.
January 14, 2020
The Envelope
Very good story. I am glad Hank and Sheila got married. With all they went through, they finally found each other. , I think it's great they are missionaries. God bless them.
Very good story. I am glad Hank and Sheila got married. With all they went through, they finally found each other. , I think it's great they are missionaries. God bless them.
January 25, 2020
The letter.
This book was awesome, I enjoyed reading it. At first when I saw that it was free, I wasn't going to get it. But God had other plans! This book covers it all, forgiveness, trials and tribulations, fear of the unknown but mainly the love of God! Loved this book!
This book was awesome, I enjoyed reading it. At first when I saw that it was free, I wasn't going to get it. But God had other plans! This book covers it all, forgiveness, trials and tribulations, fear of the unknown but mainly the love of God! Loved this book!
February 6, 2020
Great book
The Envelope was a very good and clean book. I enjoyed every word and would highly recommend it to anyone, especially to Christian women who don't care for all the yucky sex stuff.
The Envelope was a very good and clean book. I enjoyed every word and would highly recommend it to anyone, especially to Christian women who don't care for all the yucky sex stuff.
April 2, 2020
Characters you can relate to
Great story line with relatable characters! The feelings and thoughts were what would be in my mind. Makes you think of circumstances in your own life. Made me pause to pray!
Great story line with relatable characters! The feelings and thoughts were what would be in my mind. Makes you think of circumstances in your own life. Made me pause to pray!
April 25, 2020
Wanting to run in opposite directions can there love win out?
Shelia and Hank were both teachers that fall in love. However, she wants to be a missionary and he wants to runaway from being one. Heartfelt love story.
Shelia and Hank were both teachers that fall in love. However, she wants to be a missionary and he wants to runaway from being one. Heartfelt love story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews