Route 66: The Whole Enchilada
Historical Fiction; Coming of Age; Faith-Based
Copyright © 2026 by J.P. Barelli
ISBN: 9798891276932 | eBook ISBN: 9798891271913
Route 66 — the legendary "Main Street of America" — connected the Midwest to the Pacific Coast. When it opened in 1926, it soon became a vital corridor for commerce, migration, and cultural exchange.
Route 66: The Whole Enchilada tells the story of the people of Santa Cuervo, a fictional town in New Mexico, located along the dusty bends of Route 66. Among its residents are a young boy and his teenage sister who struggle to flee poverty and isolation amidst the town's culture of superstition and folklore. Their odyssey to maturity, love, and prosperity are tested as family secrets haunt their journeys. Can the boy muster the courage when duty calls?
As Route 66 carries strangers, omens, and change into their small town, the characters are pulled into a mystery that has long been buried in the dust and silence of the desert. The past is about to rise.
Street Prince
Historical Fiction; Inspirational; Coming of Age
Copyright © 2026 by J.P. Barelli
Street Prince is a poignant portrait of twelve-year-old Lamont Jackson, a boy shaped by loss, poverty, and a fierce will to survive.
Abandoned at birth with a scribbled note—His name is Lamont. I am no fit mother.—he is raised with unwavering love by his grandmother, Elma. But when Elma's long-estranged daughter, Letty, returns home with two small children, the fragile peace shatters. A disastrous homecoming leaves the family reeling. Letty demands money to leave her children in Elma's care, then destroys the written confession of Lamont's abandonment. When Elma cannot pay, Letty rips the children away out of spite, plunging them into chaos.
Days pass with Letty vanished—leaving Lamont, five-year-old Ivory, and their toddler sister abandoned. A devastating apartment fire follows, scattering the children and tearing apart the family yet again.
Placed with foster parents and overwhelmed by trauma, Lamont runs away into a bitter winter night, trudging through snow and danger. He clings to one mission: free his mother from jail, reunite his fractured family, and win the friendship of his new classmate, the proper and distant Esmaria. But grit and cleverness may not be enough to save him.
Meet Lamont Jackson—Street Prince. His fate may rest in the hands of a judge, but his story will rest with you.
Johnny's War
Historical Fiction; World War II; Coming of Age
Copyright © 2026 by J.P. Barelli
It's 1942 in Kansas City, and Johnny's yearning to follow his young uncle into the Navy and join the brutal battles of the Pacific.
No one in town or his family think he should go, and the community tries to dissuade him. As pressure mounts from all sides, Johnny must choose. Will he defy his family and friends to fight for something greater? Will he listen to them?
Coming soon — check back for availability.
Somewhere Between
Historical Fiction; Arizona and New Mexico 1908; Railroads; G-Rated Romance
Copyright © 2026 by J.P. Barelli
Two orphaned sisters accept work with the Fred Harvey Company on the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon Railroads.
With two very different personalities and aspiring life goals, will the sisters find what they are looking for in the new world out west?
Coming soon — check back for availability.
Land of Promises
Historical Fiction; Old West; Coming of Age
Copyright © 2026 by J.P. Barelli
ISBN: 9798891277670 | eBook ISBN: 9798891272651
On the American frontier of 1841, families push west along the new Oregon Trail, chasing hope through a land as dangerous as it is promising.
Martha McHenry's husband left months earlier to claim a homestead in the Oregon Territory. When he fails to return, she fears the worst and sets out from Ohio with her young son to find him. Their journey leads them to Missouri, where they join Captain Matt Springer's wagon train preparing to depart Independence.
Meanwhile, prominent banker Wentworth McGough and his son-in-law are ambushed and killed by masked marauders posing as Indians. His six daughters escape and reach the wagon camp days later—alone, shaken, and without supplies. Captain Springer warns they cannot cross the plains without protection, and departure is only three days away.
To save them, he turns to an unlikely rescue party: courageous Caroline McGough, Martha and her son, loyal wranglers, and three rugged mountain men. As the caravan pushes west into unforgiving wilderness, every traveler is tested by hardship, loss, and the thin line between hope and despair.
Yet in the vast Land of Promises, they discover that courage, love, and steadfast faith can light even the darkest trail.
Coming soon — check back for availability.