Register to win a $15 Bath & Body Works Gift Card

Check out 4 great books we're giving away this week in the posts below.

Be sure and register to win a  $15 Bath and Body Works gift card on the sister blog at http://www.zoe-mack.blogspot.com/ .

So, after you're register for the books, hop on over there and register for the gift card. Good luck and thanks for following our blogs!

Vannetta Chapman's "Falling to Pieces" (A Shipshewana Amish Mystery)

Title: Falling to Pieces (A Shipshewana Amish Mystery)
Publisher: Zondervan

Cover blurb: In the Amish community of Shipshewana, two women—one Amish, one English—reluctantly join forces for a short-term business venture. Neither is looking for friendship, but when the town's newspaper editor is murdered, and an unexpected prime suspect is identified, the women form an unlikely alliance to solve the mystery.

Description: In this first book of a three-book series, author Vannetta Chapman brings a fresh twist to the popular Amish fiction genre. She blends the familiar components consumers love in Amish books—faith, community, simplicity, family—with an innovative who-done-it plot that keeps readers guessing right up to the last stitch in the quilt.

When two women—one Amish, one English—each with different motives, join forces to organize a successful on-line quilt auction, neither expects nor wants a friendship. As different as night and day, Deborah and Callie are uneasy partners who simply want to make the best of a temporary situation. But a murder, a surprising prime suspect, a stubborn detective, and the town's reaction throw the two women together, and they form an unlikely alliance to solve a mystery and catch a killer.

Set in the well-known Amish community of Shipshewana, Falling to Pieces will attract both devoted fans of the rapidly-growing Amish fiction genre, as well as those who are captivated by the Amish way of life.

1) How did this story come to you? I was asked by Sue Brower (executive editor) to come up with several ideas for an Amish mystery series. I submitted 5 series ideas with 3 stories each and this is the one she chose! We wanted to pair an Amish woman with an Englisch, and it just so happens Callie is from Texas--like me!

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
My first inspry was picked up by Abingdon Press. Zondervan saw that manuscript and liked it, but didn't need a writer for Amish romance because they have the fabulous Amy Clipston. When Sue asked me if I'd be interested in writing something different, I jumped at the chance.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I have a phobia about tall bridges (driving over them), I play the piano fairly well, and I didn't receive my college degree until I was 34 years old.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I'm working on book 2 of my Pebble Creek Series (Amish romance) for Harvest House. This is a lovely series set in Wisconsin. Book 1 will release in June of 2012. We hope to continue with more Amish mystery, as early reader response for Falling to Pieces has been tremendous.

5) Parting comments?
Be open to changes in your "life plan." Things haven't always turned out as I envisioned them, but God had something better in mind.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
They can find me through my webpage (http://www.vannettachapman.com/) or on facebook (www.facebook.com/vannettachapmanbooks). Also I post to my blog 3 times a week (http://www.vannettachapman.wordpress.com/).

Martha Rogers' "Summer Dream"

Title: Summer Dream
Publisher: Realms Fiction Division of Charisma House.

Cover blurb:  As the daughter of a small-town minister in Connecticut, Rachel Winston fears that the only way she’ll ever find a husband is to visit her aunt in Boston for the social season. But when Nathan Reed arrives in town, she can’t help but wonder if he’s the one.

Although attracted to Rachel, Nathan has no desire to become involved with a Christian after experiences with his own family. What’s more, he realizes that even if he wanted to court her, he has little chance of doing so until he resolves his anger with God and his family.

When Nathan is caught in a devastating blizzard and lies near death in the Winston home, Rachel and her mother give him a lesson in love and forgiveness that leads him back to his home in the South. Will he make peace with his family and return to Briar Ridge before Rachel chooses a path that takes her away from him?

1) How did this story come to you?
I saw a story on Discovery Channel about a great blizzard in New England in 1888. I started reading about it from newspaper clippings of that day and saw what a huge storm it was and that they gave it the name, “The Great White Hurricane.” I decided I had to write a book that included the storm in it. So the book was born and set in Connecticut.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
As it happened, I was finishing up a series for Realms when they asked me if I had other ideas. Summer Dream was in my files so I offered a proposal for it and three more to follow. They liked the idea and gave me another contract.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I once was a nursing major in college.
I was on the tennis team in high school.
I had my own column for our high school newspaper, “Around the Halls at WW” (Mostly a “gossip” column.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m finishing up the last book in my present series and then I have a Christmas book to write for Realms.

5) Parting comments?
My first series was a great success thanks to people like you who hosted me on their blogs. I really do appreciate the opportunity to share with others.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
My website is: http://www.marthawrogers.com/
I also have several blogs that are linked on my website.

Margaret Daley's "From This Day Forward"

Title: From This Day Forward
Publisher: Summerside Press

Cover blurb: Rachel Gordon is stranded in South Carolina, pregnant, a recent widow when her husband fell overboard on the voyage to America. Nathan Stuart, a physician who came home from serving in the American army during the War of 1812, disenchanted with his life and the Lord, rescues Rachel and saves her life. Feeling responsible for her, Nathan tries to discourage her from living at a rundown farm her husband bought to start a new future in America. He wants her to return to England.

Rachel refuses to go back to England where her father disowned her for marrying against his wishes. The farm is all she has, and she is determined to make it on her own. But Nathan has other ideas and becomes her farmhand to discourage her from staying in America. Instead he ends up protecting her and being challenged by her. Can two wounded people heal each other?

1) How did this story come to you?
Years ago I wrote a secular book which was part of a three book series. The publisher stopped publishing historicals. This is based on the second story but I changed the time period to after the War of 1812 instead of the Revolutionary War. I like that period in American history.

2) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I was a cheerleader in high school. I can’t sing but then that wouldn’t really surprise my readers if they heard me. I hate liver, fish and coffee.

3) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I am writing the third book in A Town Called Hope Series for Love Inspired. After that I have my third book in the Men of the Texas Rangers Series for Abingdon Press to write.

4) Parting comments?
I love to write stories, especially ones with a faith element in them.

5) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://www.margaretdaley.com/  Sign my guestbook on my website for a chance to win an autographed book.

Mary Ellis' "A Marriage for Meghan"

Title: A Marriage for Meghan
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Cover blurb: How long will true love wait? Meghan Yost is bright, talented, and eager to prove to her father, the bishop, that at nineteen she’s mature enough to teach in an Amish school all by herself. But just as she gains confidence and assurance, a troubled student challenges her authority and an enthusiastic suitor in the headstrong Jacob Schultz challenges her patience. How can Meghan outgrow her nickname of “little goose” if she can’t prove herself to be a capable adult who can stand on her own two feet? When a series of apparent hate crimes sweep through the district, the sheriff calls in the FBI, and Special Agent Thomas Mast arrives in Wayne County carrying a secret he’s hidden for years. Will he come to terms with the past and regain his relationship with God (before his career hardened his heart)? (With more on her plate than one girl can handle, Meghan sets out to help with the investigation.) Thomas works closely with the bishop, who hopes the criminals will be arrested before Meghan finds herself in love with the most inappropriate of suitors—an Englischer…An engaging story of one girl’s quest for independence and true love as social prejudice tests a community’s faith in a simpler world.

1) How did this story come to you?
As a former schoolteacher, I still have nightmares regarding facing six classes of middle-school teenagers during my first year. My heroine experiences similar jitters. Regarding hate crimes against the Amish, I ran into (and interviewed) a county sheriff’s department deputy who sparked that part of the story.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
We don’t really have kind of time, do we? I can only say I never gave up despite my fair share of rejections. Keep your dreams in your heart and pray for direction is the best advice I could give. Keep knocking on doors until one opens, even if it’s only a crack.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I’m obsessed with Niagara Falls; I’m obsessed with popcorn (I eat it every day) and I make an incredibly good lobster bisque (soup). Can you tell I just returned from a research trip to Maine?

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
My next release in Feb 2012 will be An Amish Family Reunion. It will be book four of the best-selling Miller Family Series. For those who enjoyed the series, we pick up the story 12 years after A Widow’s Hope and 4 years after The Way to a Man’s Heart. Right now I’m working on Living in Harmony, set in Maine.

5) Parting comments?
Any readers who’d like my recipe for lobster bisque can send me an email: maryeellis@yahoo.com

6) Where can fans find you on the internet? I hope they’ll stop my blog:

http://www.maryeellis.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236