About Charlotte HubbardI’ve called Missouri home for most of my life, and most folks don’t realize that several Old Older Amish and Mennonite communities make their home here, as well. The rolling pastureland, woods, and small towns along county highways make a wonderful setting for Plain populations—and for stories about them, too! While Jamesport, Missouri is the largest Old Order Amish settlement west of the Mississippi River, other communities have also found the affordable farm land ideal for raising crops, livestock, and running the small family-owned businesses that support their families.
Like my heroine, Miriam Lantz, of my new Seasons of the Heart series, I love to feed people—to share my hearth and home. I bake bread and goodies and I love to try new recipes. I put up jars and jars of green beans, tomatoes, beets and other veggies every summer. All my adult life, I’ve been a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and we hosted a potluck group in our home for more than twenty years.
Like Abby Lambright, heroine of my new Home at Cedar Creek series, I consider it a personal mission to be a listener and a peacemaker—to heal broken hearts and wounded souls. Faith and family, farming and frugality matter to me: like Abby, I sew and enjoy fabric arts—I made my wedding dress and the one Mom wore, too, when I married into an Iowa farm family more than thirty-five years ago! When I’m not writing, I crochet and sew, and I love to travel.
I recently moved to Minnesota when my husband got a wonderful new job, so now he and I and our border collie, Ramona, are exploring our new state and making new friends.
To find out more about Charlotte, please visit her at www.CharlotteHubbard.com.
Visit her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.hubbard1
On Goodreads at: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/53342.Charlotte_Hubbard
The leaves are falling and there’s a chill in the air in Willow Ridge, Missouri, the quaint, quiet Amish town where love, loyalty, and faith in the Old Ways are about to be put to the test …
AUTUMN WINDS
Winds of change are blowing through Willow Ridge, and they’re bringing a stranger to the Sweet Seasons Bakery. At first, widowed Miriam Lantz has misgivings about Ben Hooley, a handsome but rootless traveling blacksmith. But as she gets to know the kind-hearted newcomer, she wonders if his arrival was providential. Perhaps she could find love again—if only there weren't so many obstacles in the way. With Bishop Knepp relentlessly pursuing her hand in marriage and the fate of her beloved café at stake, Miriam must listen to God and her heart to find the happiness she longs for and the love she deserves.
READ EXCERPT here
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My Thoughts
Winds blow a storm into Willow Ridge as Miriam Lantz is preparing food for the day for the Sweet Seasons Bakery. She came in at 1am this morning which is earlier than she would normally have started her day. The storm seemed to be getting worse when she heard something out front. A crash and breaking glass. When she ran to the front of the store she saw part of a tree had fallen through the shop window. Then she heard a man's voice, he was trying to calm a horse when it was spooked by the thunder and kicked the man into the front of the building.
Miriam did not recognize the man. How was she going to help him? Then she heard him speak. As she went to get a chair to take out to him she realized he had gotten up and followed her into the shop.
He introduced himself as Ben Hooley, a traveling blacksmith. He reassured her he was alright and busied himself by removing the tree from her shop.
The day the autumn winds blew in is when Ben also blew into her life and that of Willow Ridge community. But Bishop Knepp is determined that Ben finish his work and leave town. The Bishop has it in his mind that Miriam is going to marry him, no matter how many times she refuses his proposal. When he realizes Miriam and Ben are attracted to each other he pursues her even more. Is the Bishop after her because he loves her or so he could control her?
I enjoyed reading a romance novel between a couple in their middle years. So many books are about young love. It kept me on pins and needles that Miriam might have her heart broken by Ben.
The author wrote of the trials and tribulations of family and community when their leader strays from the old ways. Protectiveness of the church family for one of their widows was touching.
I highly recommend this book.
I rated this book a 5 out of 5.
Disclosure
I received a free copy of this book from the author for review. I was in no way compensated for this review/ It is my own opinion.
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