Fresh Fiction Blog | Amy Lillard | Amish Romance: Beyond WITNESS

I am a romance writer first and foremost. I love the accidental touches, the stolen glances, the chaste kisses. So when I was given the opportunity to write an Amish romance, the first thing I did was read one. Well, eight or ten. But in most, the awareness was absent. The stories themselves were more centered on the Amish culture and the romance itself took a backseat.

These books were fun to read, interesting and filled with so many fabulous details of the Amish life. But that's not what I wanted to write. I wanted the sweet, farm-fresh country charm, but why couldn't it have romance as well?

Have you ever seen Witness, the movie that came out in the 80s starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis? It's a fabulous film and one of the first glimpses I ever got into the world of the Amish. Quick recap—it's the story of a young Amish boy who witnesses a murder in a train station bathroom. Unfortunately the murderer is a crooked cop. Once our honorable cop, Booker, realizes that the boy is in danger, he goes into Lancaster County to help protect him and his mother. In the process, he gets shot. So he recovers at the farm, starts to learn a little about the Amish life, and falls in love with Rachel, the young boy's widowed mother. There's this scene at the end (*spoiler alert* sorry if you've never seen it) where John Booker, Harrison Ford's character, is driving away from Rachel's farm and back to the world of the English. As he drives down the road, he passes Daniel, the man who had been courting Rachel at the beginning of the movie. So Booker is leaving, Daniel is coming back, and life is reverting to the way it had been before the murder.

Every time I watch this film, I want Booker to stay. I mean, why not? It's not romantic for him to leave. It's marginally romantic that Daniel is coming back, but not really when you consider the scene with Rachel and Daniel sitting on the front porch not even talking to each other.

Why can't Booker stay? He's a hardened cop and his world has crumbled. The people that he has been working with are either dead or corrupt. He's learned how to milk a cow and how to get water into the house. And he loves Rachel.

There's this bath scene. Rachel is washing, a full blown sponge bath, wearing only a pair of home-sewn underwear. John comes to the door and watches her. Knowing he's there, she turns toward him, unashamed, unapologetically. He drops his gaze, raises it back to hers, swallows hard, then moves away. Swoon! Such a romantic scene, sizzling with sexual tension and awareness. The forbidden.

*That's* what I wanted to bring to my books. Why can't Amish romance be romantic? Maybe even a little sexy (in a "sweet" way). Especially if the hero is English (non-Amish). He wouldn't be a ‘Daniel'; he would be a ‘Booker'. Such is the case with my latest hero, Zane Carson. He is a well-traveled, world-weary, war reporter who wants to settle down but doesn't really know how. He's the son of hippies, raised in a commune, then he moved to Chicago with his bachelor uncle after his parents are killed in an accident. As far as steady and true, he's not had much experience.

After being shot in the field, Zane's back in the States to recover and is sent to the Oklahoma Amish community of Clover Ridge as his first post-injury assignment. And there he meets Katie Rose Fisher.

There are accidental touches, stolen looks across the room, and almost-kisses. But that's all I can say for now. No spoilers for this book. But rest assured: it is a romantic romance, through and through!

What do you like about Amish romance? One commenter (US / Canada addresses only) will win a mug, candy and copy of KATIE'S CHOICE.

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