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A Lancaster Amish Christmas is a Best Seller!
Yesterday I heard the thrilling news that my newest story, “Lucy’s Christmas Sunbeam”, is part of a BEST SELLING collection of cozy Amish Christmas romances!
The story is part of the book, “A Lancaster Amish Christmas”, which released from Barbour Publishing September 1, and yesterday it was named #16 on the ECPA Christian Fiction Best Seller list for October!
I’m going to be straight with you; my story is really fun, and I loved writing about Lucy and her baby sister, Millie, whom she is determined to raise despite the fact that she’s single and only 18 when the baby is born.
BUT . . . I figure that the success of the book is due to the fact that the other three authors, Amy Clipston, Mindy Steel and Amy Lillard, are all very popular and well-known authors. I won the lottery when I was offered the chance to have my story included with theirs!
Woo hoo! I’ll take it! Whatever the reason the book made the best seller list, I’m simply thrilled – like, dancing around the room thrilled!
It’s such a good feeling to have all that hard work affirmed. People like my story! I’m still new enough, not quite a year into this writing journey, to need to know that. Heck, that may always be the case.
Even though I write fiction, there is a part of me in each story, and in each character.
So it’s nice to know my efforts are appreciated! Each of the four novellas in the book are 25,000 words long, so the readers are getting a bang for their buck!
If you haven’t yet read this book, and my story, let me know what you think when you do! And please leave a review anywhere and everywhere you like if you have a few minutes. It doesn’t have to be much . . . a five star rating and the words – I couldn’t put it down! – will do! Lol.
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Miss Muffet’s New Kayak has Arrived!
Miss Muffet, the rescued cinnamon roll dog toy who has become author Anne Blackburne’s buddy and fellow voyager, was so impressed by Anne’s new foldable kayak that she wanted a kayak all her own.
So Anne ordered her the Bark 5000 kayak, complete with squeaky function and extra crinkliness. Miss Muffet waited impatiently until the tidy little craft arrived.
She wasted no time unboxing it and getting it out on the lake. As you see here in this unretouched photo, she is paddling (we assume, since she has no arms) slightly turbulent waters with a threatening looking sky in the distance.
Be careful, Miss Muffet! Where’s your life jacket??
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An Amish Christmas Table
New, from Four Beloved Authors of Amish Romance:
“An Amish Christmas Table”
Releasing October 14:
An Ideal Christmas by Mindy Steele
Gathered Around Love’s Table by Rachel J. Good
Trouble at the Christmas Table by Jennifer Beckstrand
Love Beneath the Pine by Tracy FredrychowskiStep into the cozy, snow-kissed world of Amish country with a collection of heartwarming Christmas stories by four of your favorite Amish storytellers. This holiday season, let the spirit of love, family, and faith fill your heart with these enchanting tales:
An Ideal Christmas by Mindy Steele
Ina Graber has decided on the perfect Christmas gift for her sister, Lavina, and she knows exactly who needs to build it. Now if she can only convince her childhood crush to help her when he doesn’t even know she exists.
Orders are piling up on local furniture maker and widower, Abner Fisher, but when a young woman from by a nearby community asks him to do the impossible, Abner discovers anything is possible this Christmas.
Gathered Around Love’s Table by Rachel J. Good
Miriam Lapp can’t bear to face a lonely Christmas table, which once held her large family, who’ve all gone to Pinecraft to care for her ill grandparents. Miriam has stayed behind to keep her rebellious seventeen-year-old brother, Abraham, out of trouble during Rumspringa. She decides to fill the seats at her holiday table with lonely and homeless people. Little does she know that this simple act of giving will lead her on a journey to warm her aching heart and provide healing for her brother.
One of her guests, Jerry Gingerich, has been struggling since he left the Amish. Reluctantly, he accepts her invitation, but the welcoming atmosphere and kindness he finds at the Lapp home begins to break through his walls. Miriam’s generosity becomes a beacon of hope to him as well as to the others she asks to share her table. But can Jerry open his heart completely, not just to the spirit of Christmas, but to the greatest gift of all – God’s love and forgiveness – so he can find healing, redemption, and love?
Trouble at the Christmas Table by Jennifer Beckstrand
Eleven-year-old twins Alfie and Benji Petersheim are in big trouble. They’re stuck in the cellar because intruder Zeke Hostetler is sleeping in their bedroom. Worse than that, Zeke is in love with their schoolteacher Sarah Zimmerman. But the worst part is Alfie and Benji accidentally put a long scratch in Mamm’s new kitchen table, and Mamm is going to be very angry when she sees it. Zeke Hostetler comes to the rescue and agrees to secretly fix the table if Alfie and Benji will help him woo Sarah Zimmerman. Unfortunately, if they help Zeke, they’ll lose their favoritest teacher in the world. But if Mamm sees that scratch, she’ll probably put them up for adoption or, worse, give them the spatula.
Alfie and Benji are going to need binoculars, walkie-talkies, three chickens, an unruly dog named Tintin, and a lot of luck to get themselves out of this mess.
Love Beneath the Pine by Tracy Fredrychowski
In the heart of Amish County, among the enchanting snow-covered landscape of Willow Springs, Hannah Schrock’s kitchen buzzes with activity and delightful aromas as Christmas approaches. Overwhelmed by her baking orders and devotion to her ailing grandmother, Hannah finds an unexpected ally in Isaac Kauffman, a gentle soul whose silent love for her has endured for years.
Isaac discovers an antique table in the barn. Even amidst Hannah’s refusal to help him, Isaac embarks on a journey to restore it, uncovering hidden secrets and heartwarming tales of its past owners along the way.
As the holiday season unfolds, Hannah and Isaac navigate a delicate balance between duty and desire, discovering that sometimes the sweetest surprises often emerge from the most unexpected places.
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Releasing Tomorrow, September 1!”A Lancaster Amish Christmas”
My very first novella is part of this fun collection!
About the Book:
Christmas Is Simply a Time for Love
Enjoy a simple Amish Christmas in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, that is sweetened by second chances, trimmed in love, and wrapped in faith.
Four Novellas set in Pennsylvania Amish Country from four of your Favorite Authors of Amish Romance!Lucy’s Christmas Sunbeam by Anne Blackburne
When her parents suddenly died, Lucy stepped into the mother role for her infant sister with Down’s Syndrome. But Lucy’s boyfriend wasn’t interested in a readymade family. Living in the dawdi house on her brother’s farm, Lucy is happy with life–until she literally runs into the hardware store owner and desire for romance returns.
A Bird-in-Hand Christmas by Amy Clipston
After learning her boyfriend Wyatt was seeing someone else, Makayla moved across state and married. Recently widowed, she visits her parents for Christmas, only to find that Wyatt is still single and working for her father. When her five-year-old son instantly bonds with Wyatt, Makayla starts to hope for a second chance at love.
Christmas Lily by Amy Lillard
Seven-year-old Jacob Bontrager is working hard to help his lonely widower father find love again. He believes his pretty new teacher who has just moved to the community is perfect, but none of his matchmaking works until a snowstorm strands Lily Kate Troyer at the Bontrager farm. Could God and nature be on Jacob’s side?
Leaving Lancaster by Mindy Steele
The Wicky sisters didn’t expect their father to sell their thriving deer farm with plans to move them to the deep woods of Kentucky. Always obedient Louise fears for her growing jam business. Beth cannot wait to start a new adventure in a new place, while her twin, Leah, is running out of time for her own happy-ever-after.
They have only one Christmas left in Lancaster. Can three sisters forge the perfect plan to ensure Leah gets the Christmas wish she has longed for or will God deliver a Christmas miracle for all three?
Available tomorrow in digital and print wherever you buy fine books! Available now for Kindle on Amazon.com. I can’t wait for you to read these wonderful, feel-good stories! Enjoy!
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Book Review: Serenity’s Secret
“Serenity’s Secret” is the next book coming from Barbour Publishing in “The Heart of the Amish” series!
Exactly what I’d expect from Lisa Jones Baker, one of my ‘sister authors’ in this wonderful new series from Barbour.
Serenity Miller is back, and this time she’s here to tell us her story!
Popular Amish romance author Lisa Jones Baker has penned another gripping tale from Barbour’s “Heart of the Amish” series, “Serenity’s Secret”.
We first met Serenity Miller in Lisa’s previous “Heart of the Amish” book, “The Quilt Room Secret”, as a secondary character. But now it’s time for this lovely young woman to shine in her own story!
The owner of The Pink Petal flower shop in Arthur, Illinois, Serenity’s life is just the way she likes it – almost.
She does have one big secret – a heartbreaking secret that will prevent her from ever marrying and having a family of her own; or so she believes. She’s convinced herself she doesn’t mind so much – that is until her feelings for her helpful neighbor, Stephen Lantz, start to grow and change.
Then he saves her from serious harm after she is attacked by trespassers on her property, and she finds herself moving him from the ‘interesting neighbor’ category into the ‘handsome hero’ category.
That’s when her secret becomes a whole lot harder to stomach, and to hide from Stephen. But what can she do?
On one hand, how can Serenity lead her handsome and likable neighbor on, knowing they can have no future together, especially when she learns of Stephan’s long-held dreams for the his future life?
On the other hand, how can she let him walk away when her heart is telling her to hold on tight!
Sis yuscht! What a dilemma!
When her attackers return for another attempt at what they’re seeking, Serenity’s very life will be at stake. Will Stephen show up again to save the day?
Read “Serenity’s Secret”, releasing October 1 from Barbour Publishing, to find out!
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My Favorite Review Ever
Did you know that authors depend upon good reviews to help sell their books? It may seem obvious; good reviews may convince individuals to purchase books, but they also move books up in rankings in various sales venues, and can even help get an author onto a best seller list.
This is why you may have seen authors ask their readers to take a few minutes to post a review if they enjoyed a book. It doesn’t need to be long. Simply saying, “I loved this book!” and giving it 4 or 5 stars will help out your favorite authors.
Of course, all authors dread getting the other kind of reviews; negative ones posted by people who did NOT like their book.
Generally speaking, negative reviews should not be posted simply because you didn’t enjoy a story that was well written and correctly presented.
What I mean is, if a story is advertised as being “spicy”, and you prefer to read books that are “clean” or “cozy”, meaning no sexual content, overt violence, cussing, etc., then it’s not the author’s fault that you picked up their clearly labeled book, were shocked by the content, and hated the book. It wouldn’t be fair in that case to give the author a bad review. Instead, just walk away. Leave no review. Move on to another book more to your taste.
On the other hand, if a book is full of sexy scenes after being promoted by the author as being Christian romance or a cozy mystery – both of which are understood NOT to contain spice – one might suspect intentional misrepresentation, and that’s reason for a poor review. Or if a book is just a hot mess – as if the author didn’t even bother to try and eliminate typos, grammatical errors, spelling errors or worse, major plot issues, that could be a reason for a poor review.
But even then, a 3-star rating (out of five) is punishment enough for most author errors. One-or-two-star ratings are just unnecessary; and sometimes downright mean!
A one-star rating can crush an author’s spirit, making him second guess his ability to write and whether he should just give up and pack it in. You can see why leaving such a review requires some very careful thought. Author egos are fragile enough as it is!
But I recently received a one-star rating that I simply had to laugh at. I won’t reveal the poster’s name or even where the review was posted, but I’ll share what they wrote in a review of my recent release, “Mary’s Calico Hope”, from Barbour Publishing’s Heart of the Amish series:
Subject Line: Too expensive!
Review: Have not read it. Not going to read it though I really want to. I can’t believe it costs $11.50 for 258 pages.
That’s it! This person left a one-star review for my book, and hadn’t even read it!
A major rule for authors is to never, never engage with readers about their reviews. All an author can accomplish by taking this road is to create bad feelings and lose readers. Worst case, it could end their writing career.
In fact, conventional wisdom holds that the smartest thing an author can do is to avoid looking at their reviews. Obviously, I didn’t follow that to the letter of the law. But I don’t make a habit of reading reviews. Sometimes someone has something less than lovely to say, and if you see it, that’s your own fault.
I was looking at performance ratings on a website, and it was just THERE. So I read it. And I’m glad I did, because it’s just ridiculous, and gave me the idea for this article.
I just shook my head and laughed at this review. But if I were to talk with this person, I’d inform them that I don’t set the prices for my books. Also, the going price is closer to $15 . . . $11.50 was a sale price. Lol. And finally, why don’t they just get a library card and read it for free?
A word about pricing: If I pay $15 or even more for a book I want, I look at it like this – I’ll be getting up to 10 hours of entertainment for that money. Viewed that way, it’s a bargain! Also, consider the hundreds of hours the author spent writing, rewriting, proofing, editing and marketing the book. Then consider that most authors receive rather modest advances – or none at all if they are self-published. And that most authors never earn out their advance, meaning they never get more money for their books.
At that point, maybe you’ll agree that that $15, or in this case, $11.50, was pretty fair.
In any case, please do leave reviews for books you enjoy. If you didn’t like a book, think carefully about why before slamming an author with a one or two star review.
The ego you save may be mine!
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I’m Taking over the KUWTA Page Saturday!
Saturday, July 6, I’ll be running the Keeping up with the Amish Facebook page, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
It’s going to be a day full of fun!~ Here’s what you can expect:
- Mini-Muffin Book Promos of other Amish authors, by Miss Muffet, my rescued former-dog-toy cinnamon roll, throughout the day! She’ll be sharing current or soon-to-release books by some of your (and mine!) favorite authors of Amish romance!
- A give-away of a brand new tiny painting of the kitty from my next book in The Heart of the Amish, “Lizzie’s Little Mouse”, which will release from Barbour on April 1, 2025! To win, you just need to give me your email so I can include you in my monthly newsletters. If you’re already done that, just do it again and tell me so.
- Information on where I’ll be doing book signings and author events in the coming months.
- I’ll share one of my favorite recipes – my summer go-to! And it will be featured in my next book! Hint: It involves cherry pie filling!
- I’ll tell you a little about my novella, “Lucy’s Christmas Sunbeam”, which will be releasing in September as part of a collection with some of your – and my! – favorite Amish authors!
- I’ll share a scene from my new release, “Mary’s Calico Hope”, book five from Barbour’s Heart of the Amish series.
- I’ll answer reader questions throughout the day. Ask me anything within reason.
- At the end of the day, I’ll reveal the gorgeous new cover for “Lizzie’s Little Mouse” and choose the winner of the tiny painting of Little Mouse, Lizzie’s cat!
- Other fun things as they occur to me. See you tomorrow!
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Are You Checking in Daily?
The CelebrateLit tour for Mary’s Calico Hope continues through July 10
Every time you like one of the bloggers’ pages, and click through to the entry, you’re entered for a chance to win a print copy of the book and a nice $25 Amazon.com gift card!
Here’s a small excerpt from today’s blogger, Patty Pierce from Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy:
“The author does an amazing job building the characters and storyline. One of my favorite character is the Bishop who plays an integral part in the story.
Truly, this clean, sweet Amish/Mennonite story will keep you reading.”
Thanks for the nice words, Patty!
Blog Stops
Here is the schedule for the rest of the CelebrateLit blog tour/review. Remember to check in daily to increase your chance to win. And feel free to share my blog tour with your friends who enjoy reading sweet Amish romance.
June
27
June
28
June
29
(Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
June
30
July
2
July
4
July
7
July
9
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Celebrate Lit Tour Continues Today!
Today’s Blogger promoting my brand new release, Mary’s Calico Hope, is Debbie from Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations.
Thanks for your review, Debbie! Check it out for a chance to win a print copy of the book and a $25 Amazon.com gift card!
Blog Stops
Here’s the rest of the tour schedule. You can click on past days to see what was said about the book by those bloggers!
June
27
June
28
June
29
(Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
June
30
July
2
July
4
July
7
July
9
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Mary’s Calico Hope is featured in a Celebrate Lit Blog Tour now through July 10!
Each day from now until July 10, Mary’s Calico Hope will be featured by one or more bloggers through Celebrate Lit online! I’ll post all the bloggers below. If you go to their pages and like them, you’ll be entered to win a print copy of the book and an Amazon gift card.
Here’s one of today’s posts, from blogger Jeannette at Jeannette’s Thoughts:
“I adore kittens. And Mary has one called Hope. This is so appropriate because Mary needs hope. She has been crippled since she was a young child. She has given up hope for a better future.
Dr. Rueben King couldn’t help noticing Mary. And it wasn’t because of her handicap.
Mary deserves all the happiness. She gives so much to others in her community. Mary has the opportunity to live her life with less pain and fulfilling her dream of having a family of her own.
I received this book to review from Celebrate lit.”
Blog Stops
Here’s the rest of the tour schedule. You can click on past days to see what was said about the book by those bloggers!
June
27
June
28
June
29
(Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
June
30
July
2
July
4
July
7
July
9