Fresh Pick for Friday, January 29th, 2016 is AMISH HOMECOMING by Jo Ann Brown #InspirationalFriday About AMISH HOMECOMING Ten years ago, Amish quiltmaker Leah Beiler and her twin brother left their community and family without a word. Now she’s finally come home—with her orphaned young niece. Leah has much to explain to so many, including Ezra Stoltzfus. Before she left, she dreamed of marrying the handsome dairy farmer. But now that she’s lived among the English and is raising a child who knows nothing of Amish ways, Ezra worries she’ll leave again. Leah will have to prove to Ezra that her future is in Paradise Springs—and with him—forever. Buy AMISH HOMECOMING: Amazon.com | Kindle| BN.com| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR About Jo Ann Brown Jo Ann Brown has been creating characters and stories for as long as she can remember. Her first stories were populated with her friends and sisters. She wrote her first novel in high school, and it happily resides in the very back of her file cabinet. Fast forward through college, serving in the Army as a…

For Scarlett Parker, part of the fun of living in London is celebrating the British holidays, and she’s excited to share her first Bonfire Night with her cousin Vivian Tremont. Invited to a posh party by their friend Harrison Wentworth, Scarlett and Viv decide to promote their hat shop, Mim’s Whims, by donning a few of their more outrageous creations. The hats prove to be quite the conversation starters as the girls mix and mingle with the guests—never suspecting that one of them is a killer. It’s a cold, clear night, perfect for the British tradition of tossing a straw stuffed effigy of Guy Fawkes, traitor to the crown, onto the bonfire. But instead of a straw man, they realize in the heat of the moment that the would-be Guy Fawkes is actually Harrison’s office rival and he’s been murdered. Before the smoke has cleared, Harrison is the Metropolitan police’s prime suspect, and Scarlett and Vivian must find the real homicidal hothead before their dear friend’s life goes up in flames. Frequently, I am asked if my characters are me. Is Mel Cooper, who runs the bakery in the Cupcake Bakery series and has a severe sweet tooth, me? Is…

Who was the greatest influence in my life? I can only answer my mother. For me, the stars were aligned perfectly when I was born to a successful writer. A preemie, I debuted six weeks early at four pounds two ounces, forcing me to spend time in an incubator at Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis. My mother, Marguerite McClain, a sophisticated Barbara Stanwych look-a-like, visited me every other day, calling the hospital alternate days to ask what I’d gained in fractions of an ounce. Once I’d reached a hefty five pounds, I was released to my glamorous mother and handsome dark-haired father who brought me home to my two-year-old brother Mickey who called me his little hitta. Soon after the toddler stage, I discovered that all mothers didn’t write stories. They didn’t sit in the attic two hours a day, sweltering in summer and freezing in winter, tapping on the keys of a black standard typewriter. “I’m going upstairs to write” my mother would announce to my brother and me, and off she’d go, armed with cigarettes, a Coke and a Hershey bar. Mickey and I never touched her stash of goodies, intuitively realizing it was what kept her going. At…

Breathless, Emma dragged her disheveled self from the water’s edge. Her hair dripped sand into her eyes. She clawed herself away from the drag of the next wave that crashed on the rocks. It broke into softer splashes over her. She stared into the water’s foam and listened to the sounds of waves crashing and… Read more…. About Gail Ingis Gail Ingis writes historical romance, loves history and romance of course, has taught history, and her weekly blog frequently covers historical content. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Ingis’s early days began and ended with writing, drawing and music. Her inspiration to write came from books gifted to her by an aunt. But life had other ideas. After graduating from the New York School of Interior Design with a BFA in Interior Architecture and Design and masters’ studies in Architecture and Design Criticism at The New School (Parsons). Her career in interior design and architecture led her to the other arts. Ingis founded the Interior Design Institute, a school of interior design, that she eventually sold, but during her tenure, she was twice asked by publishers to write a textbook, her efforts were thwarted by a heavy schedule. Ingis resides…