1. I devised one of the best heroes I could conceive to fit the story…(Forget
that he’s modeled after Chris Pine) Looks are important, yes, but Jude Lyons
needed to be complicated from a psychological perspective—He comes from money
but doesn’t have a driving need to pursue it. He’s gentle and loving but
suffered extreme emotional abuse as a child and young adult. He’s so
intellectual at times that his body needs to remind him of the blessings of
living in the physical world—including being married to a stunning nineteen year
old Amisch girl. And he’s determined to remain celibate with her but doesn’t
count on the simmering desire that mounts against his innate practicality.
2. Mary Lyons, the heroine and bride, is genuinely innocent in an otherwise
tricked out world. When she has to leave her beloved home on Ice Mountain to
live in Metro-Atlanta, she faces Jude’s devious and manipulating ex-fiancée’ but
finds the internal strength to counter the other girl through her faith and
plain wanting of her handsome husband. Mary’s gentle tenderness is tinder to
Jude’s masculinity and she can turn heads without even giving it a second
thought. She longs to love her at-times unlovable in-laws and cherishes the
small things in life—wolves, snow globes, and licking red, rd cherries from her
husband’s fingers.
3. I kept the proverbial bedroom door open….Yep, even the Amisch have sex and
enjoy it. Some might argue that this is counter to the “standards” of the
subgenre, while I am reminded of a sacred call by an Amisch reader and friend,
Dan, who once chided me about his having thirteen children. “Where so you think
I got them?” he asked. I laughed a bit but was met with silence. Then he said:
“Don’t neuter my people.” I’ve never forgotten that and I imbue my writing with
sexuality, not to be gratuitous, but because it is a natural and healthy part of
life. It also adds dimension and tension to the story and if some readers are
offended, I can honestly say that I try to forewarn on social media that my
books are from the “usual Amisch.”
4. The setting---Ahhh, one of my favorite parts of this story. A natural ice
mine or a cavernous vault of summer icicles as thick in some parts as a man’s
thigh. Ice in the summer but no ice in the winter—a geologist’s dream and one
that’s been studied by PSU and others. But for a writer, the Ice Mine is central
to providing a spiritual vitality to both the Amisch community and the
individual characters themselves. As the series progresses, pregnancies are
announced in the palatial display of ice, justice is served by its cold fingers
and new hope is discovered, even during the dry time, making the Ice Mine super hot!
5. Children or kinner add awkward questions, force dangerous choices, and are
central to the heart of the community. There is sometimes no one who makes us
see the true heart of who and what we are as does a child. And, whether children
are a part of your life now or not, at some point, we all were children.
Rosy-cheeked, tear-stained, or flash flood angry, we can all remember what it is
to want, to need, and to hope. Children drive storylines but echo parts of who
we all are as readers and who we’ve become. And this novel hopefully teaches
that the regrets of childhood do not have to remain into adult life if love is
allowed full sway.
6. Can you say ‘french kiss?’ Maybe…but there’s a certain amount of heat in
watching Jude teach Mary the particular meaning of this Englisch expression. In
fact, I tried to craft each kiss this couple shares, each touch—whether in the
dust motes of a college classroom, or the half asleep meeting of mouths on the
bishop’s couch—Mary and Jude present each other with grand opportunities to kiss
with abandon, expression and heated awareness….Very hot indeed!
7. Mary’s bruders are more than they appear….Joseph and Edward King may be
Mary’s watchful older brothers but they each have their own, sprawling secret
story as well. Handsome, dark-haired, green-gold eyed Joseph goes on to become
the protagonist of Book Two of the series—AN AMISH MAN OF ICE
MOUNTAIN—due out in April of 2015. And lithe, bad-boy, good-man, Edward
will lead in the third book as he must battle the most difficult
enemy—himself—if he wants to keep the love of his young wife for all time, in
THE AMISH HEART OF ICE MOUNTAIN. More men—more ice—more heat!!!
I wish you all happy reading!!!!
Buy THE AMISH BRIDE OF ICE
MOUNTAIN today!
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