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HAUNTED HULA-WEEN
📚 New Books This Week 📰 Latest News 🎪 Reader Games 👻 🎃 Halloween Contest Giveaways 🎃

October Reads Worth Falling For

Danger, desire, second chances, and unexpected romanceβ€”discover this month’s Fresh Fiction Featured Books.

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A poisoned cousin, a five-year-old's life, and a family with too many secrets.


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Supernatural sparks fly
between a bookseller
& her hard-boiled ghost.


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If Her Highness thinks I’ll let another man claim her and my child, she’s lost her royal mind. Sophaya’s mine.


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She found a body. Then she started asking the wrong questions.


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He ghosted her ten years ago. Now she’s stuck with him for Christmas.


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She’s the lady everyone overlooks. He’s the prince who can’t look away.

BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN

Beneath the Summer Sun, January 2018
Every Amish Season #2
by Kelly Irvin

Zondervan
Featuring: Jennie; Nathan Walker; Leo Graber
336 pages
ISBN: 0310348080
EAN: 9780310348085
Kindle: B06XFPMTPL
Paperback / e-Book
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"A charming tale of challenges in love, lost opportunities, and faith!"

Fresh Fiction Review

BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN
Kelly Irvin

Reviewed by Audrey Lawrence
Posted May 11, 2018

Inspirational Romance | Amish

Jennie Troyer has always handed over her problems to God and trusts in his protective care, even with all she experienced in her marriage and the death of her husband in a farming accident. She knows life would be so much easier if she remarries, but she would rather put up with her hardships than experience marriage again. Why are people so anxious to have her move on?

For his part, Nathan Walker, so enjoys stopping by Jennie's farm, enjoying a delicious home cooked meal, playing games with the children and enjoying the warmth and friendliness of Jennie's smile. Is he willing to give up his job and Mennonite faith to become Amish? Could Jenny give up her home and faith for him?

Meanwhile, shy Leo Graber could have won Jenny's heart in the past, but he didn't ask her and Atlee had quickly made his move. Leo's heart is filled with kindness but words do not come easy to him. Could he ever find the words to ask her again for a second chance?

BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN is the second book in Every Amish Seasons, a new series by the highly regarded Kelly Irvin, author of The Amish of Bee County novels and other books. I found BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN to be quite complete as a stand alone Amish romance and I am sure Irvin fans will delight in this latest heart and sun warming story about a widow with seven children who is rightfully worried about what marriage might bring.

Irwin has crafted a tender story about a widow being able to trust again and the choices she would need to make between two men, one skilled with words and one with few words. I particularly appreciated the way Irvin integrates in tough issues such as mental and physical abuse, teenage rebellion, and the children's experiences of loss and misunderstanding along with the ongoing effects they have on them and others.

With a background in journalism and public relations, Irvin's writing style is clear and flows so well, one just wants to read on and find out who, if any man, wins Jennie's heart and hand. I also found the discussion questions at the end of the book to be very thoughtful and I wished for a good discussion on them. Irvin has also threaded interesting dialogues on the religious split between the Amish and Mennischt on the issue of shunning or Meidung through the plotline in BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN.

Fans who enjoy Christian or Amish fiction, as well as those who believe in the power of love and God's plans for people, are sure to enjoy the interactions between the characters as they seek to find lost love and faith in God's plan. Check out what awaits you in BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN and look forward to see what Irvin has in store for you in the next season in this series!

Learn more about BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN

SUMMARY

It’s been four years since Jennie’s husband died in a farming accident. Long enough that the elders in her Amish community think it’s time to marry again for the sake of her seven children. What they don’t know is that grief isn’t holding her back from a new relationship. Fear is. A terrible secret in her past keeps her from moving forward. Mennonite book salesman Nathan Walker stops by Jennie’s farm whenever he’s in the area. Despite years of conversation and dinners together, she never seems to relax around him. He knows he should move on, but something about her keeps drawing him back. Meanwhile, Leo Graber nurtures a decades-long love for Jennie, but guilt plagues himβ€”guilt for letting Jennie marry someone else and guilt for his father’s death on a hunting trip many years ago. How could anyone love him againβ€”and how could he ever take a chance to love in return? In this second book in the Every Amish Season series, three hearts try to discern God’s plan for the futureβ€”and find peace beneath the summer sun.

EXCERPT

Jennie stopped breathing. Her lungs protested. She didn’t want to move, not even to let them expand and contract. Silly snake facts spouted by her son Micah when he wanted to make her shiver presented themselves. Snakes can’t sweat so they avoid the afternoon sun. They take naps during the day and come out when it’s cooler and dark. This one would likely stretch at least four feet long, not including its rattle. Its skin glowed brown and golden with a darker stripe down the back. Jennie’s mouth went dry. Her stomach chose that moment to heave. The hot dog did not want to stay down. Purple spots dotted her vision. β€œCottonmouth?” Nathan whispered. He stood motionless at her side. β€œPoisonous?” β€œRattler.” She tried to speak without moving her mouth. β€œRare here, but you see them. Obviously.” β€œDon’t move.” His voice barely audible, he took one step, stopped. β€œI’ll grab Francis and we can hightail it out of here.” β€œNee. You’ll startle him and he’ll holler.” Her fear of snakes might be big, but her fear of one of her children being hurt was greater. She searched the ground. Not a single rock big enough to dispatch the viper. β€œDon’t. Move.” Leo could help. If anyone could help it would be Leo. He’d know what to do. He was a man who never flinched. He’d been through the worst. Since that terrible day, he’d taken everything in silent stride. She turned slowly, carefully, tiptoeing at first, ridiculous as it must look, and then ran. Her sneakers sank into the rich, dark soil, impeding her progress. The scent of sweat and grass and dirt assailed her nose. She needed to run, faster, faster. Gott, help me. I know we’re not on the best of terms, but please, Gott, help me. Leo had the reins in his hands when she reached the fence. She slammed to a halt. β€œHelp. Snake. Rattler. Francis.” He dropped the reins and reached behind the buggy seat. A long, lean, deadly looking brown rifle emerged. Rifle in hand, he hurtled over the fence like a boy half his age. His straw hat plummeted to the ground. His legs were much longer than Jennie’s, but fear and adrenaline that tasted like metal on her tongue propelled her in his wake. Leo slowed, slowed some more, halted, then stepped forward with a balance and ease that spoke of a much smaller man. He raised the rifle, took aim, and sent the snake on its way in an explosion of sound that made Jennie jump even though she knew it was coming. The acrid smell of gunpowder filled the air and burned her nose. With a blood-curdling scream Francis rolled over, hopped to his feet, and ran straight into Jennie’s open arms. She scooped him up and hugged him hard, despite the urge to take him to the woodshed for a β€œtalk.” β€œDanki.” She spoke the single trembling word to Leo but let her gaze encompass Nathan. He was willing to do more. He simply hadn’t known what to do. β€œFrancis thanks you too.” A spark of something indefinable in his amber eyes, Leo nodded and set off across the field, his rifle slung over his shoulder, his gait loose and easy. Taking it in silent stride, just the way she knew he would.

BOOK SERIES

Every Amish Season

Upon A Spring Breeze
UPON A SPRING BREEZE
#1.0 β€’ May 2017
Beneath the Summer Sun
BENEATH THE SUMMER SUN
#2.0 β€’ January 2018
Through the Autumn Air
THROUGH THE AUTUMN AIR
#3.0 β€’ August 2018