Excerpt from Amish inspirational romance The Christmas Cradle by Charlotte Hubbard

Today’s highlight is the inspirational Amish romance novel The Christmas Cradle by Charlotte Hubbard.

As Charlotte does her virtual book tour, she will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

A little bit about The Christmas Cradle:

For the peaceful town of Willow Ridge, November presents an early holiday surprise. Stranded in the snow, 18-year-old Lena Esh and her boyfriend Josiah Witmer need more than a place to stay for the night. Lena defied her strict family and their judgmental beliefs to run away with Josiah and have his baby. But she’s starting to wonder if he can prove as responsible as he is passionate. And she isn’t sure how—or if—they can ever find a place to truly call home.

Expecting their own miracle baby, Miriam and Ben Hooley rally the town to help the young couple, and Lena draws strength from their unexpected support. Though trouble may come calling, in this season of joyous rebirth, a little child will lead them. And two couples will see their dreams of forever family come true…

Excerpt from The Christmas Cradle:

Very early Saturday morning Ben entered the Sweet Seasons kitchen and went immediately to the oven, where Miriam was pulling out a large pan of cinnamon rolls. “Are ya supposed to be liftin’ this much weight?” he asked as he took the pan from her. “Yesterday Andy reminded me—again—that ya need to find help if you’re gonna keep workin’. And it would be better if ya weren’t workin’,” he added emphatically.

As he set the hot pan on a cooling rack, Miriam sighed. “I’m not helpless, Ben,” she insisted. “What would I do with myself if I weren’t in this kitchen? It’s another month and a half until the baby comes—and it’s not like I haven’t given birth before.”

Although Old Order wives weren’t to work outside the home, Miriam’s dedication to her café was one of the reasons he loved her, so Ben spoke more gently. “I’m lookin’ after ya, followin’ Andy’s orders,” he replied. He kissed her, caressing the bulge of her sweet belly where their baby was kicking. “Plant your backside on that stool. What else can I do for ya?”

“For starters, you can tell me what you’re doin’ here so early of a Saturday morning, Mr. Hooley,” she teased. She perched on the tall stool beside the counter to mix the powdered sugar in her big glass measuring cup with milk. As she drizzled the white frosting over the hot rolls, Ben’s stomach rumbled so loudly they both laughed.

“I came to see if my woman would feed me something before I shoe Josiah’s mare,” Ben said, following every hypnotic swirl of the frosting as it soaked into the warm rolls.

“Puh. You didn’t sleep any better than I did last night, for thinkin’ about those kids.”

Ben smiled. His wife of ten months had figured him out long ago, so it was useless to refute her. “It’s that supper club that’s got me wonderin’,” he muttered. “Considerin’ how Higher Ground’s not nearly as big as Willow Ridge—and it has a diner already—how do ya suppose a second restaurant’ll survive?”

“And what on earth is a supper club?” Miriam eased one of the fresh rolls from the corner of the pan. “It sounds like a place that might have members, so only certain folks would be goin’ there to eat. But what do I know?”

When she’d laid the fresh cinnamon roll on a piece of paper towel and placed it in front of him, Ben kissed her loudly on the cheek. “Well, girlie, ya know how to make the best food a fella ever sank his teeth into, and ya make my heart dance. What else matters, really?”

A little bit about the author:

Drawing upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community in Missouri, longtime Missourian Charlotte Hubbard writes of simpler times and a faith-based lifestyle in her Seasons of the Heart series. Like her heroine, Miriam Lantz Hooley, Charlotte considers it her personal mission to feed people. Faith and family, farming and food preservation are hallmarks of her lifestyle. She’s a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and when she’s not writing, she loves to try new recipes, crochet, and sew. Charlotte now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their border collie.

Links:

Website | Facebook

Buy links:

Barnes and Noble | Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Featuring Amish inspirational romance novel Harvest of Blessings by Charlotte Hubbard

Today’s Reviews and Interviews spotlight is directed toward the Amish inspirational romance novel, Harvest of Blessings, by Charlotte Hubbard.

This week is the start of Charlotte’s virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. During her tour, she will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Author bio:

Drawing upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community west of the Mississippi, longtime Missourian Charlotte Hubbard writes of simpler times and a faith-based lifestyle in her Seasons of the Heart series. Like her heroine, Miriam Lantz Hooley, Charlotte considers it her personal mission to feed people. Faith and family, farming and food preservation are hallmarks of her lifestyle. She’s a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and when she’s not writing, she loves to try new recipes, crochet, and sew. Charlotte now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their border collie.

Here’s an introduction to Harvest of Blessings:

The tranquil little town of Willow Ridge is facing a startling challenge. Wealthy Nora Glick Landwehr is determined to make it her home again—and put her past to rest. Cast out by her own family, Nora can’t reconcile with Old Amish ways or her strict father. But she’ll do anything to help her community embrace the future . . . and make amends to the daughter she had to give up. She certainly has no time for her reckless new neighbor Luke Hooley. They disagree about almost everything. And how can she trust him if he always seems to believe the worst about her? Somehow, though, his unexpected support and passionate heart are helping her find her own way in faith. And Nora will discover that even in the face of insidious lies and unyielding judgment, God creates unexpected chances for forgiveness—and love.

Here’s a special excerpt from the novel:

As Miriam pulled seven loaves of bread from the oven early Saturday morning, she savored the silence of the Sweet Seasons kitchen. This time before her partner Naomi Brenneman and her waitresses arrived was always her chance to think things through, and the past twenty-four hours had given her quite a lot to consider.

Lord, I hope You’ll hold Nora and Lizzie and Wilma and Millie in Your healin’ hands, she prayed as she measured flour for the day’s pie crusts. And I hope You’ll open Gabe and Atlee’s hearts, as well. But Your will be done.

Miriam chuckled, at herself mostly. It seemed that telling God what to do rather than asking Him was an easy habit to fall into. Her visit with Nora yesterday, followed by the unfortunate scene with Gabe in the dining room, had made her think a lot about whether some of the Old Order ways came more from men’s insistence on control than from consulting God about the right way to handle their childrens’ mistakes. In some districts, expressing such an idea out loud might be considered reason for requiring a member to repent. But that didn’t stop a lot of Plain women from wondering if things couldn’t be different. Kinder. More loving.

“Miriam, when I die and go to heaven, please God, I believe it’ll smell a whole lot like your kitchen,” came a voice through her open window.

Miriam laughed. “Tom Hostetler, I believe you’re beggin’ for a sample,” she called out. “My stars, I can’t think you’ve already milked your cows.”

“I get up earlier when I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Jah, I know all about that.” As the bishop walked in, Miriam gestured toward a tall stool near her work area. “And between you, me, and this countertop, my heart’s achin’ for the Glick women. Every one of them had their lives turned upside down sixteen years ago when Gabe sent Nora away, and now they’re goin’ through it again.”

Tom smiled ruefully. “I knew you’d see it that way, just as I could’ve predicted Gabe’s reaction when Nora asked for his forgiveness,” he murmured. “That’s where the fish bone gets caught in my throat. She did ask. And her father flat-out refused to even give her the time of day.”

“And then there was Hiram, appearin’ from outta nowhere to get right in the thick of it,” Miriam said with a grimace. She passed Tom a serrated bread knife and went to the refrigerator for a stick of butter. “Somebody’s gotta see if this bread’s fit to eat. Might as well be us.”

Tom chuckled and selected the round, golden-brown loaf nearest him. “How much do ya recall from all those years ago?” he asked as he positioned the knife on the bread. “Hiram was the bishop then, and Gabe and I were preachers, with your Jesse servin’ as our deacon.”

“It was all so hush-hush. Nora’d already been gone a week or so before I realized it,” Miriam replied in a far-away voice. “Wilma looked like she’d been hit by a truck, and wouldn’t—couldn’t—let on about the details Gabe forbade her to discuss. So we were left to assume that Nora was pregnant. Then, when Atlee and Lizzie suddenly had a red-headed baby—as newlyweds, without her bein’ pregnant—that pretty much told the tale.”

“Gabe insisted that the less folks knew, the less they could gossip—and other girls wouldn’t follow Nora’s sinful path.” He slathered butter on a generous slice of dense, grainy bread and handed it to Miriam. “And while Hiram and Jesse and I went along with that age-old strategy, I wondered what would become of Nora . . . how she would ever join the church or reunite with her family.”

He paused to close his eyes over a big bite of bread. “But I was the youngster—hadn’t been a preacher very long, so I didn’t make waves,” he went on. “Eventually the whole episode faded away, and Millie grew up as Atlee and Lizzie’s child.”

“Well, our days of sweepin’ it under the rug are over. Mmmm,” Miriam murmured as she took a big bite of the warm bread. “Your fresh butter almost turns this bread into dessert, Tom.”

“Nah, it’s your way of puttin’ the ingredients together that makes it special,” the bishop insisted.

Social links:

Website | Facebook

To buy the book:
Harvest of Blessings -- Seasons of the Heart, Book 5
Zebra (February 24, 2015)
ISBN-13: 9781420133097 •• ISBN-10: 1420133098

Click on these links to buy this book now!
• The Book Depository •• Amazon •• Barnes and Noble •
• B-A-M •• Chapters •• IndieBound •• Powell’s •• Kensington Books •
Ebook: • Kensington Books •• Kindle •• Kobo •• iBooks •

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with Amish/inspirational romance author Naomi King

Today’s special guest is Naomi King. She’s talking about her Amish inspirational romance novel Emma Blooms at Last.

During her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, Naomi will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to one randomly chosen winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Drawing upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community west of the Mississippi, longtime Missourian Naomi King writes of simpler times and a faith-based lifestyle in her Home at Cedar Creek/One Big Happy Family series. Like her series heroine, Abby Lambright, Naomi considers it her personal mission to be a listener—to heal broken hearts and wounded souls—and to share her hearth and home. Faith and family, farming and frugality are hallmarks of her lifestyle: like Abby, she made her wedding dress and the one her mom wore, too! She’s a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and when she’s not writing, Naomi loves to travel, try new recipes, crochet, and sew. Naomi, whose real name is Charlotte Hubbard, now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their border collie, Ramona.

Blurb about Emma Blooms at Last:

Romance is in the air during the fall wedding season in the Amish community of Cedar Creek. But while one loving couple prepares to tie the knot, Amanda and Wyman Brubaker’s large family faces a threat from outside their happy circle…and must learn to pull together.

Recently wed Amanda and Wyman Brubaker are thrilled that their children from previous marriages have blended together to form a strong family. But when the construction of Wyman’s new grain elevator is delayed, making the project more expensive than anticipated, Amanda’s determination to rally the kids into taking on work to improve the family’s finances comes into conflict with Wyman’s sense of responsibility as head of the household….

Meanwhile, as James Graber and Abby Lambright prepare for their long-awaited nuptials, folks gather from far and wide. Amanda’s nephew Jerome has long been smitten with James’s sister Emma and wants to seize this chance to woo her. But Emma’s been burned once and is twice shy of trusting the fun-loving, never-serious Jerome. As Emma and Jerome struggle to understand each other, and find the courage to make a leap of faith, the Brubakers face a bigger challenge than they first anticipated and begin to discover just what it means to fight…the Amish way.

Excerpt from Emma Blooms at Last:

Emma slipped into her coat and bonnet and crossed the snow-packed road. The mercantile’s parking lot was jammed with cars and buggies, and when she stepped inside the store she was amazed at the number of folks who’d come to Cedar Creek to shop. As she made her way toward the yard goods section, Emma paid close attention to what the kids and teenagers were wearing on their heads. To her surprise, even a few young men sported the kind of knit hats with earflaps and pigtails that Abby had mentioned—and none of the caps were in the dark, dull colors that filled her yarn bin.

Emma found an instruction booklet for earflap caps that included a couple of other styles, as well. What a treat it was to shop for yarn in such fresh colors! The basket on her arm was soon stuffed with variegated and solid skeins in neon pink, lime green, aqua, lavender, and bright white. She hoped Abby was right about people wanting her homemade hats, because she’d have to make several of them to earn back what she’d be spending.

“You’ve got quite a collection of colors here!” Gail remarked as she rang up Emma’s order. “I bet I know what you’ll be doing this weekend.”

“Jah, you guessed it,” Emma replied. She didn’t want to reveal her plans for these flashy colors, because everyone who crocheted had met up with patterns that didn’t turn out the way they looked in the pictures. Even so, just imagining the different styles of hats she wanted to try made her itch to start one right now, instead of eating supper. And wasn’t that something?

What is your favorite quote?

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abe Lincoln said that, and I’ve found it to be so true! The longer I live—the more people I meet—I believe that the happiest, most successful people (success being whatever that person decides it is) are that way by choice. It’s not that these folks have fewer tragedies or less illness or no unfortunate events in their lives, it’s that they meet these obstacles with an “I can handle this” mindset, and move forward from there. I try very hard to behave this way, and to spend my time with people who have positive, upbeat attitudes. Attitude is everything! I think I’ve always been wired this way, and that’s a blessing. I’m just a naturally happy person who looks for that silver lining in every cloud.

If you could go on a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?

My husband and I love to travel, and because we have a 40^th anniversary in 2015, we have booked a 15-day Viking River Cruise on the Danube to celebrate! As Neal retires and has more time for longer trips, I anticipate that we’ll venture into the Mediterranean, the South Sea islands, and I would love to visit Australia and New Zealand if it didn’t mean an 18-hour flight to get there. We’ve taken many ocean cruises, and I enjoy being on these trips so much that anymore, I don’t really care where the ship’s going as long as I’m on it!

I also enjoy short chick trips with my best friend: our birthdays are close together, so instead of exchanging gifts we pick a little town to visit for a day or two each year. One year we went to Pipestone, MN, which is where, for centuries, Native Americans have quarried for the red stone they make their ceremonial pipes from. Even though it was cold and rainy, we had a wonderful time! We’ve also been to Eureka Springs in Arkansas and Spirit Lake in Iowa. Let’s just say there’s never a dull moment and never any dead air once the two of us get together! We’ve known each other since we were eight. I won’t do the higher math for you, but it’s been a loooong time since we met in Angel Choir at church, where her mom was our choir director.

What did you do before you became a writer?

I graduated from college with a double major in English and library science, and a minor in French, with a secondary teaching degree. The year I got out, Missouri had just passed a law saying that schools had to have a certified librarian (not just volunteer moms, which was the norm in a lot of schools), and I landed a K-12 school library job in the tiny town of St. Elizabeth, Missouri.

Talk about culture shock! I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City, so moving to a town that had fewer people than were in my graduating class—and renting an apartment right across the road from the school—was quite an experience for a 21-year-old...which meant I was only 3 years older than the seniors. And because the study hall was in the library, my first priority was being the babysitter. I also taught a class of 7th grade English.

I got engaged that year, thank goodness, and went on to be a school librarian in a couple of Iowa towns after I got married. Taught French in those schools, and did story hours with all the elementary classes at one of them. All in all, the 10 years I spent as a school librarian took me to 5 schools, mostly because my husband was changing jobs a lot and we’d move. By the time we reached St. Louis, where you had to substitute an entire year in order to be hired at a school, I decided there had to be an easier way to go crazy—I did not want to sub, as this was the 80’s and guns and knives were showing up in kids’ lockers.

Luckily I sold my first story to True Love magazine (a confession mag) in 1983 and decided to keep at it. Never looked back. Sold my first book in 1990 and, except for a 7-year dry spell when I couldn’t sell squat, I’ve been a full-time novelist ever since.

Who would you most like to be stranded on a desert island with? Why?

Seems to me Captain Jack Sparrow would be a fine, fine companion on a desert island. He’s resourceful enough to locate buried treasure and to get the attention of a ship that could rescue us—or he’d know where the rum cask was so we wouldn’t care about getting the attention of another ship. And if he became just plain old Johnny Depp again, that would be OK, too.

Social links:

Website | Facebook

Buy links:

The Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | B-A-M | Chapters | Indie Bound | Powell’s

Ebooks: Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks 

a Rafflecopter giveaway