Showing posts with label Laura Hilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laura Hilton. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

Amish Fiction continues to capture readers' hearts...

Clash of The Titles

It's Clash of the Titles week here on the blog and we're taking a week off from book giveaways. Please take a moment to read the guest post below from Clash of the Titles' Jennifer Slattery.

Amish Fiction continues to capture readers hearts, and this Friday, I'm adding two must reads to my list. I love the promise of plot twists in The Waiting a unique Amish Fiction about heartache, love, and laughter, by Suzanne Woods Fisher. According to readers, this novel is full of surprises, sweetened by romance, and spiced by suspense. Although readers connected to all the characters, they appeared to love Jorie most of all, a woman characterized by love.

From the back cover:
She was waiting for love--and found it in the most unexpected place. Jorie King's life is on hold. She has been waiting for Ben Zook to return to Lancaster County. Waiting for him to settle down and join the church. Waiting to marry him.But when news arrives that Ben has been killed, Jorie is devastated. She finds unlikely comfort in the friendship of his brother Caleb. Friendship ripens into love, and two broken hearts plan for a life filled with the promise of a fresh beginning--until their worlds are turned upside down.With her realistic characters whose weaknesses develop into strengths, Suzanne Woods Fisher offers a reading experience that rises above the others. You will love growing in spirit with these complex people living the simple life as The Waiting transports you into a world where things aren't as simple as they seem.

A bit about Suzanne:
When Suzanne isn't writing or bragging to her friends about her first new grandbaby (!), she is raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. She started raising the first puppy after the family returned from living in Hong Kong for four years, in a 44-story highrise.

Ten puppies later, she is hooked. She says it’s like eating potato chips: You can’t stop after one. To Suzanne's way of thinking, you just can't take life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone's underwear in its mouth.

My second "must-read" comes from A Harvest of Hearts ,an engaging Amish Fiction about a strong-willed woman with a dream that threatens her Amish way of life, by Laura V. Hilton. Readers love the authentic realism Laura adds to her writing and image-evoking details.



From the back cover:Matthew Yoder volunteered to be part of the swap of Amish men from his Old Order Pennsylvania Amish Community, to the Amish community in Seymour, Missouri. There is nothing for him in Pennsylvania, as the youngest of twelve children, and the lack of farmland around Lancaster County, he felt he could make a better future in another district. Shanna Stoltzfus has been raised Amish, and couldn’t wait for her rumspringa so she could pursue her education. She hated having to quit school in the 8th grade to stay home and learn everything that makes a home run smoothly. But now she has earned her GED and is taking college courses, but her family is begging her to come home; her little sisters miss her. And there’s something about newcomer, Matthew Yoder that draws her attention. But is it enough to give up her dreams of education and join the Amish church?


A bit about the author:
Laura V. Hilton is a home school mom of five children – but not all five are currently homeschooled. Her sons are in college working on their associate degrees, but they are still living at home. She'd miss them if they weren’t! Her three daughters are the ones she teaches.

She's a breast cancer survivor of three years now.

She's a northern girl living in the south. Yes, she likes her tea unsweet. She has gotten acquainted with grits but she hasn’t been brave enough to try chocolate gravy. Everyone says it’s good, but seriously…gravy? She has a hard time imagining it on potatoes.

And join us next week at Clash of the Titles to meet these two great authors!

***Jennifer Slattery is a publicist, writer, and freelance editor living in the midwest with her husband of sixteen years and their fourteen year old daughter. She writes for Christ to the World Minnistries, the Christian Pulse, Internet Cafe Devotions, and Samie Sisters and her work has appeared in numerous publications. Visit her devotional blog, Jennifer Slattery Lives Out Loud to find out more about her and her writing.

Jennifer Slattery
Broken Lives Saturated by Grace
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JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud.com
ClashOfThetitles

Monday, September 19, 2011

Laura Hilton's "A Harvest of Hearts"


Title: A HARVEST OF HEARTS
Publisher: Whitaker House

Cover blurb: A Harvest of Hearts Book 2 of the Amish of Seymour series, September 2011

Matthew Yoder volunteered to be part of the swap of Amish men from his Old Order Pennsylvania Amish Community, to the Amish community in Seymour, Missouri. There is nothing for him in Pennsylvania, as the youngest of twelve children, and the lack of farmland around Lancaster County, he felt he could make a better future in another district. Shanna Stoltzfus has been raised Amish, and couldn’t wait for her rumspringa so she could pursue her education. She hated having to quit school in the 8th grade to stay home and learn everything that makes a home run smoothly. But now she has earned her GED and is taking college courses, but her family is begging her to come home; her little sisters miss her. And there’s something about newcomer, Matthew Yoder that draws her attention. But is it enough to give up her dreams of education and join the Amish church?

1) How did this story come to you?
I was praying about an idea for a second book in the series and God answered

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I wrote a proposal for book one (three books and a synopsis) and blurbs for this book and one other, and it sold.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
1. I met two of the stars of Hee Haw when I was a waitress (work/study program) at the College of the Ozarks
2. I am a breast cancer survivor.
3. I love lighthouses – and have visited most of the ones in Michigan

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m working on book one of another series that hopefully someone will want.

5) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://laurav.hilton.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Laura-V-Hilton/161478847242512?ref=ts

Monday, April 25, 2011

Laura Hilton's "Patchwork Dreams"


We're happy to have Laura Hilton with us today talking about her book Patchwork Dreams. To learn more about Laura and her book, read on!

Title: Patchwork Dreams
Publisher: Whitaker House

Cover blurb: Becky Troyer has committed the ultimate sin, and finds herself on the edge of her Amish community. Jacob Miller believes he was sent to the Old Order Community in Missouri to help out a distant cousin. Instead, he discovers he was part of an arranged swap--sending men from his Pennsylvania district to the Missouri district to bring new blood into the Amish community. Becky dreams of marriage, but doesn't dare hope that anyone would choose her--not with her history. Can God use the lies that have affected Becky and Jacob to bring them together? Or will Jacob rebel and head home to his first love?

1) How did this story come to you?
My agent suggested I try an Amish story since I love to read them. I thought about it awhile and I knew that Amish men are sometimes transferred to different communities to lower the rate of DNA related diseases. So I thought I’d write about that happening.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Well, I wrote three chapters and a synopsis and sent it to my agent. I was rather shocked that within a day or two I had three requests for the whole manuscript, (which I hadn’t written) and the next day, it was sold – from the synopsis and first three chapters. I had six months to write the story – which I did – and the book will be out next month.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I’m a breast cancer survivor.
I have five kids and I’m a homeschool Mom.
My grandparents on my maternal side left the Amish.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I recently sent in the second book in my three book Amish series—A Harvest of Hearts, releasing in September of this year – and now am working on marketing for Patchwork Dreams and writing the third book in this series, yet untitled.

5) Parting comments?
Thanks for having me here.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/ (for my book reviews) or http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/ for my personal blog. I’m also on facebook.

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