1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE HEART’S BIDDING
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Auctioneer Toby Miller is a notorious bachelor. Rachelle Lapp refuses to give up teaching children with disabilities. Together they face their hardest battle yet: trusting God’s plan for their uncertain future.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
It was a little selfish, I admit. Each of my Amish romance series takes place in a different Amish community in states across the country. I decide on Virginia for The Amish Calling series because my daughter’s family, which includes three grandkids, lives there. I stayed with them, and Erin and my granddaughter Brooklyn accompanied me on a road trip to Farmville, which served as a basis for my fictional town of Lee’s Gulch, Virginia.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I’d love to spend time with Rachelle. She’s such a good friend, sister, daughter, and teacher. She works hard, but she also knows how to have fun. You can count on her. I don’t know how she’d feel about hanging out with an Englisher who’s older than dust, lol.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Compassionate, smart, thoughtful
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I watched YouTube videos and practiced auctioneering! If I listen closely, I can actually figure out what an auctioneer is saying when he’s calling an item.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do quite a bit of editing as I go. I start each day by reading through what I wrote the previous day, adding to it, cleaning it up, and that jump starts the creative process so I can start writing the next scene.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Oh, so many. Lol. I love my husband’s homemade pizza. He makes the crust and the sauce from scratch, and he has a pizza oven. He makes them to order so I get a thin crust, easy on the cheese, with lots of black olives, mushrooms, green peppers, and tomatoes. It’s amazing. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I’m so blessed. We turned a bedroom into an office. It has two floor-to-ceiling windows so I can look out at the open field across the road and see a stand of trees. I have a birdfeeder outside my window and the birds entertain me. Occasionally a deer stops by. My office is full of bookshelves crammed with books and family photos. Most of the time it’s a mess, but I spend every day in it, and I love it!
10--Who is an author you admire?
Just one? Yikes, that’s hard. Charles Martin would be one. I love his male characters and how he exposes their vulnerabilities and delves into their often-hidden pain. He also explores difficult topics such as human trafficking in suspenseful, thought-provoking stories.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
By “accident” I checked out Dee Henderson’s O’Malley series book The Healer from the public library. I didn’t realize Christian fiction existed. I read the entire series, and I knew that this was the kind of fiction I wanted to write. Not only that, but I also found the confidence to believe I could write it. I was 45 years old when I started writing my first novel. Twenty years later I’ve published more than 30 books and numerous novellas. All because I checked out that first book at the library. There are no accidents!
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My agent at the time, Mary Sue Seymour, had been shopping my romantic suspense novels for three years. One publisher kept a manuscript for an entire year before turning it down. I was working full time, raising two middle-schoolers, trying to be a wife, and a writer. I was ready to give up. I sat in the church pew on Sunday and told God I needed a sign—should I lay aside this lifelong dream or persevere because I was so tired. Three days later Mary Sue called to tell me a small imprint that specialized in library quality hardbacks sold specifically to libraries had offered a contract. The advance was tiny, and what they were offering in terms of marketing almost nil, but I was so thrilled. My books would be in libraries! A lifelong dream indeed. I said yes, of course. Then I called my mom. And my critique partners. And I cried.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mystery/romantic suspense
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Again, just one? Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams (My husband would say Twister based on the number of times I’ve watched it, which is every time it comes on TV!)
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer. It has to be summer to live in South Texas because spring and fall are almost non-existent. I don’t like cold.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Getting together with my family, especially my grandkids.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m working my way through Priscilla Shirer’s bible study The Armor of God with my Sunday school class. It is the best bible study I’ve done in recent years, maybe ever. She emphasizes how to apply the principles behind the armor of God described in Ephesians 6:10-18 to how we pray. It’s been incredibly helpful. It comes with detachable prayer cards so we can write prayers and carry them around or post them around the house. And with access to her videos, which I love. I can’t recommend it enough.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mexican. San Antonio has the best authentic Mexican food (and my husband is a fabulous cook!).
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read, read, read!
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m thrilled to share that I’m venturing into a new genre for a story that is special to me. The Year of Goodbyes and Hellos, a women’s fiction novel, releases on December 5. This story is based on my own experiences as a woman living with Stage 4 ovarian cancer for the past seven and a half years. I look forward to talking with readers about it.
Amish Calling #1
Together, schoolteacher Rachelle Lapp and auctioneer Toby Miller must face their hardest battle yet: trusting God’s plan for their uncertain future.
At twenty-nine, auctioneer Toby Miller is a notorious bachelor. But his job keeps him on the road for months out of the year, and he knows no Plain woman could want a marriage that would force her to live and raise children alone. Thankfully, Toby’s content to dedicate his life to the family business, especially now that his grandfather is retiring. So why does his heart keep longing for something—or more specifically, someone—he can’t have?
Rachelle Lapp has already turned down two marriage proposals. Neither promised a future that would bring her more joy than her job as a teacher to Amish children with developmental disabilities, including her brother, Jonah, and Toby’s sister, Sadie. But when the parents’ committee votes to send her students to the English schools, where they will have access to many more resources, Rachelle finds herself out of a job. She’s forced to decide between pursuing her calling far from home and staying near to the man she can’t get off her mind.
As their families matchmake, Toby and Rachelle realize their jobs may not be all that’s holding them back from a future together. They both must learn not only to trust each other, but also trust God’s plans for them. But do those plans involve a lifetime together or them going their separate ways?
Amish [Zondervan, On Sale: August 1, 2023, e-Book, / eISBN: 9780840709240]
Best-selling author Kelly Irvin’s latest Amish romance is A Long Bridge Home, the second book in the series, Amish of Big Sky Country. She is the author of the Every Amish Season series from Zondervan/ HarperCollins, including Upon a Spring Breeze, winner of the 2018 Readers’ Choice Award in the long romance category. That series follows the Amish of Bee County Series, which included The Beekeeper’s Son, subject of a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, calling it “an intricately woven masterpiece.” Among her other works are novellas in six collections. She is also the author of the Bliss Creek Amish series and the New Hope Amish series, both from Harvest House Publishing.
She has also penned four inspirational romantic suspense novels, Over the Line, Tell Her No Lies, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine.
Kelly’s novels, The Beekeeper’s Son and Love Redeemed, were finalists in the 2015 and 2016 contemporary romance category of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Carol Awards Contest.
Kelly and her husband photographer Tim Irvin live in San Antonio, Texas.
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