I’ve always been drawn to realistic stories of moral dilemmas, hidden secrets, and unexpected twists. To do that in my novels, I draw from real-life experiences. I enjoy researching all my book locations and situations—everything from Amish special needs schools to Amish camel farms. Striving to be as authentic as possible, I spend time with my Amish friends, so the problems my characters face often are based on real-life events they’ve faced, and I have an Amish reader who checks the novels accuracy as I strive to write life-changing, heart-tugging novels of faith, hope, and forgiveness.
After a traumatic accident leaves her with amnesia, Emma moves to a new community to assist her sister with her newborn twins. Emma soon discovers clues that her family is hiding the truth about her accident. When she befriends their neighbor Samuel, her sister warns her away. But Emma ignores the warning and develops a deepening friendship with Samuel. With his help, she gradually overcomes her paralyzing fear of riding in buggies stemming from the crash. But when she learns shocking secrets about herself, buried memories flood back, making Emma realize with a past like hers, she can never marry. She appreciates Samuel’s steadfast support as she struggles to forgive herself and accept God’s forgiveness, but she’s convinced she’ll never obtain her heart’s desire for marriage and family.
I love books that draw you into the plight of the characters and make you ache for them.
Sent away from family and friends, Grace Miller is ashamed and isolated in the “sinner’s shack” as she calls it. Despite her heart-wrenching situation, I admire her pluck and courage. And when the community rallies around to help her, they show God’s love to a hurting stranger. But Grace isn’t the only one with hidden pain in the community.
As others around Grace open up and share their secrets, we discover that they, too, carry their own trauma they’ve hidden from the world. To love again, they need to forgive themselves and open up to God’s forgiveness and grace. I enjoyed the unexpected surprises, the strong emotional pull, the life-changing realizations, and the realistic story.
Second chances and the Christmas spirit abound in Mindy Steele’s heartwarming novel, one of faith, love, and the power of community.
Grace Miller believed herself in love with the charming Englischer who eventually broke her heart. Now alone except for the secret life growing inside her, she arrives in the unfamiliar small village of Walnut Ridge, Kentucky, to hide and hopefully gain forgiveness.
She is pleasantly surprised, however, to find a tight-knit, welcoming group who help her heart grow right alongside her belly. And with the holidays around the corner, there’s plenty of preparations to occupy her mind. Also occupying…
As I experience secondhand the wrenching and difficult decision by an Amish family I know to leave the faith, Saloma Miller Furlong’s memoir of her own leaving rings true. But her tale is also marked by shocking secrets and terrible suffering.
She writes openly of her raw and painful emotions and the powerlessness of living in an abusive home, yet she lightens the heaviness with sweet moments of beauty and simplicity. I admire her courageousness in escaping the brutality as well as her unflinching honesty in revealing the chilling truths of her life, and the heartbreaking, but liberating, decision to leave the only life she’d ever known.
This true story is not an easy read, but I’m grateful she shared her struggles and gave others permission to share theirs.
Told by an outsider, lawyer Ellie Hathaway, who left the Amish community years ago, Picoult immerses us in a stunning and heartbreaking story of a young Amish girl accused of murdering her newborn.
I admire the amount of research Picoult did to stay true to many of the Amish traditions, but she also spins a mesmerizing tale that captivated me emotionally and provided many twists and turns, including an unexpected and shocking reveal at the end. The story left many haunting moral questions that lingered long after I finished the book.
From the bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper comes the riveting story of a murder that shatters the picturesque calm of Amish country -- and tests the heart and soul of the lawyer defending the woman at the center of the storm.
The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania,…
Titus Returns isn’t a typical Amish story, and I like that it delves into serious topics that many Amish romances avoid—prison, PTSD, depression, and alcoholism.
When Titus returns after five years in prison, he’s a different person and no longer at home in his Amish community. He’s been through experiences no one could possibly understand, leaving him struggling with his faith, his identity, and PTSD.
He desires to make amends, but faces temptation from his now-married, former girlfriend along with the anger of the twin who blames him for her brother’s death. Despite all Titus’s problems, I appreciated the way this story of tragedy and loss turned around through the healing power of forgiveness.
Wells Landing (Book 5) Five tumultuous years ago, Titus Lambert had a tragic car wreck that left him serving time for vehicular manslaughter. He may not belong in peaceful Wells Landing anymore, but he must make amends. Visiting the Kings, whose son Alvin died that terrible night, he finds their farm in disrepair. They need his help. Honest toil and his friendship with Abbie King slowly help Titus’s soul to heal.
Although I’m not convinced Old Order Amish women actually would venture out this way, I liked that the female characters made the tough decision to leave their community because of abuse and violence to start the new community of Promise Lodge.
The story delves into some of the hidden problems some Amish women have to deal with and exposes the dark secrets characters are hiding. Second chances, forgiveness, and fresh starts are all themes close to my heart, and I found the interesting, strong characters combined with their trust, faith, and community relationships made for a compelling story.
"Hubbard writes Amish stories with style and grace." --RT Book Reviews
It's a better life, a fresh start--and a heaven-sent second chance. Founded by three Amish sisters determined to put misfortune behind them, Promise Lodge is a colony where faith's abiding promise can be fulfilled--and love can make all things new…
Energetic widow Mattie Bender Schwartz is working day and night to get Promise Lodge going. She's also hoping the change will help her son Noah's heart to heal after his broken engagement. But his former fiancée, Deborah, is looking for a fresh start too. Filled with regret, and cast…
I have been a writer for more than twenty years and have favored pursuing “truth in fiction” rather than “money in formula.” I also spent over thirty years in the corporate world and was exposed to many situations reminiscent of those described in my fiction and in these recommended books. While I support enterprise, “enlightened capitalism” is preferable to the bare-knuckle type we have today, and which seems to resurface whenever regulation weakens. I also find writing novels closer to my lived experience connects me intimately with readers who are looking for socio-political, realist literature.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis.
His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election. Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.
Does an octogenarian beekeeper living on Vancouver Island hold the key to Avery’s recovery, a man holding secrets that put lives in jeopardy? Avery races across the country to find out, with crooked bosses, politicians, and assassins on his tail. Joseph spins a cautionary tale of corporate and political greed that is endemic to our times.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis. His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election.
Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.
Does an octogenarian bee keeper living on Vancouver Island hold…
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