I write inspirational Amish fiction laced with humor and romance. My newest book, Amish Christmas Miracles, is a collection of 14 Amish Christmas romances by 14 of your favorite Amish romance authors. It’s available for only 99¢ until November 15! To celebrate, I’m giving away three copies of The Amish Christmas Candle to three random commenters below. As you can probably guess, writing Amish romantic fiction requires a lot of research, but you might be surprised at some of the research I’ve done to make my books more authentic. Here are my top five most memorable research adventures. 1. Buying an Amish quilt (or two), an Amish doll, and an Amish-built table. My research trips have taken me to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in search of Amish communities. I love Amish-made furniture, quilts, and handicrafts. Probably my favorite purchase is the kitchen table I bought in Indiana. I ordered the table, the Amish built it, and a few weeks later, a driver (ex-Amish) delivered it to my home and put it together. 2. Baking huckleberry pie, asparagus casserole, and yummasetti. Food plays an important role in Amish life and most definitely in my books. In Huckleberry Hill, the first…

Every day from now through the end of the year, we’ll be sharing our reviewers’ favorite reads of 2018. A different genre will be featured every day! We’ll share why these books were some of our favorites and what made them so special. We hope you’ll share yours in the comments, too! Today, we have our favorite contemporary romances of the year. Let us know what you think of our picks… HOME ON HUCKLEBERRY HILL by Jennifer Beckstrand Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill #9 Reviewer: Clare O’Beara I enjoyed this lighthearted Amish romance greatly, with its points about what a wife can expect from her husband and how she can support herself even in traditional households. Romance | Christian | Amish [Zebra, On Sale: June 26, 2018, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781420144154 / eISBN: 9781420144161] When a marriage breakup is imminent, the matchmakers get to work Buy HOME ON HUCKLEBERRY HILL: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Ripped Bodice | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR  *** JOSH AND HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING by Christina Lauren Reviewer: Svetlana…

Today is release day for THE AMISH CHRISTMAS CANDLE, a collection of three stories from three of your favorite Amish authors, Jennifer Beckstrand, Kelly Long, and Lisa Jones Baker. Aunt Bitsy gets her own love story! Ever since the release of my Honeybee Sisters series in the summer of 2016, many readers have asked me if Aunt Bitsy is going to get her own romance. Yes! In “A Honeybee Christmas,” Bitsy Kiem, the Honeybee Sisters’ eccentric aunt, has met her match. With her trusty shotgun and her troublesome cats, Aunt Bitsy catches the eye of an Amish widower who is determined to turn her into a proper Amish frau. Aunt Bitsy is an excellent cook, and one of her specialties is Bienenstich Cake or Bee Sting Cake. This cake is guaranteed to make any Amish widower fall in love with you. It is made with yeast, so the cake has more of a bread consistency—moist and light. The recipe is quite involved, but the cake is absolutely delicious and worth every minute. Perfect for any Christmas celebration. Aendi Bitsy’s Bienenstich Cake Cake 1 1⁄4 teaspoons active dry yeast 3⁄4 cup whole milk, warmed just over room temperature with 1 tablespoon…

I love being a mom, but I have to admit that motherhood involves many unpleasantries (which according to my spell check, is not a word). My two least favorite things about being a mom are potty training and driver’s training. Potty training was the single biggest test of my patience as a mother. First of all, it’s hard to know when your toddler, who can’t cross the street by herself, is ready to use the toilet. Some of us just hope we can manage it by the time our kids enter kindergarten. Potty training my boys, I often carried the faint scent of urine with me when I went out in public. But don’t get me started on boys and their bathroom habits. What girl would stand on the bathroom counter and try to hit the toilet from three feet up? I always thought I would rather have a root canal than potty train one of my children. Well, I’ve potty-trained six children and have yet to experience a root canal. Even though driver’s training is not usually messy or stinky, it carries the added hazard that YOU COULD DIE. I do not do well under these working conditions. I…