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All I want is my happily-ever-after.
That's all I've wanted since meeting Noah Miller.
From the day we met, the world has tried to keep Noah and me from being together, but now that I'm carrying his child, no one will be able to tear us apart. Or so I hope. But Noah and I have made some mistakes along the way, and the consequences are impacting the people we love. Worse, there's a storm on the horizon, and it's sure to cause serious devastation.
If we can get through this, we'll finally be Rose and Noah; a family, forever.
But first we have to survive the road ahead. And happily-ever-after is a long way off...
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Temptation and Belonging
Temptation - Book 1 on Goodreads | Facebook
Belonging - Book 2 on Goodreads
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A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.
About Karen Ann Hopkins
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What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
* Six years ago I moved from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to a northern Kentucky Amish community. I brought twenty-four horses with me and set up my established horse-back riding business at the new farm. Within a few weeks a stream of Amish teens were coming to the arena to participate in riding activities with the non-Amish kids. Watching the interactions between the two groups, and observing some definite flirting going on, I began to wonder how a relationship between the two vastly different cultures could work out. It seemed impossible and incredibly intriguing at the same time and the seed for Rose and Noah’s story grew in my mind.
I dedicated two years to learning as much as I could about the Amish way of life. Besides my observations at the arena, my life was inundated with the Amish culture as Amish girls babysat my younger children, Amish teens hung out with my own teen sons, as I drove the Amish women to town to shop and even took a Tennessee vacation with an Amish family. I attended five Amish weddings and numerous schoolhouse benefits and private dinners with neighbors. When I’d gained enough experiential knowledge, I began writing and a year later, I had an agent and Harlequin Teen had purchased the forbidden love story.
Who is your favorite character in the book?
*Rose was the easiest character to write and Noah was the most difficult, but I definitely have a soft spot for Sam. He added a kind of rude clarity to every situation that made me laugh and want to strangle him at the same time.
Which came first, the title or the novel?
*Definitely, the novel. Coming up with the title was very stressful. I originally called it THE SOWING with the intention of having each series book name relate to a part of the harvest, i.e. The Reaping, The Bounty, etc. My Agent and editor didn’t think these names would work in the YA market. We brainstormed several groups of names that related to the story and were also recognizable and alluring to young people and came up with Temptation, Belonging and Forever.
What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
*In FOREVER, the most gripping scene I wrote takes place about halfway through the book when a tornado strikes the Meadowview Amish community. All the characters are at risk and I jump between Rose, Noah, Sam and Sarah and their own harrowing experiences during the storm. It’s quite intense and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how I’d end the scene until the wind stopped blowing.
Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
*To be persistent. I was living with an abusive partner while I wrote Temptation and he continually told me that I was wasting my time and that the story was ‘trash.’ I hung in there though and closed my ears to his angry words. When the rejections began coming in from my submissions to agents, I still didn’t give up. Instead, I took their advice and suggestions and continued to improve the manuscript. After almost two years of disappointments, I was bent, but not broken. By the time that I received the phone call from my future agent, Christina Hogrebe from the Jane Rotrosen Agency, with the news that she would be thrilled to represent me, I had completely reworked the story. I learned to write through the process of writing the novel. A month or so after Christina went out with Temptation, two major publishing houses made offers. I chose Harlequin Teen and here I am at the release of the third book in the series. Persistence is the main reason for my success.
What do you like most about the cover of the book?
*Of all three covers, Forever is my favorite! The stormy skies held just the right amount of foreboding and I love the way Noah is holding Rose. The picture is sexy and yet illustrates the continuing struggle for the main characters. Also, I was thrilled to see that the color of Rose’s hair was a deeper brown, true to her character.
What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2014?
*I’m excited to say that I’ve written an adult Amish mystery that will be available on Kindle this year! It’s a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest. Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably shot accidently during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting. Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.
What was your favorite book in 2013?
*I began Follow the River, by James Alexander Thom, at the end of 2013 and am still reading, but enjoying it very much. It’s based on the true story of Mary Draper Ingles who was kidnapped by Indians during a bloody massacre of a Virginia settlement in 1755. After months of captivity, she escapes and follows the Ohio River through untamed wilderness back home again. The trail she took passes right by where I live now and that extra amount of history and realism has added to my interest of the story.
What’s up next for you?
*For the next few months I’ll be traveling regionally to promote Forever and the Temptation series and then I’ll be changing gears to get the word out about my new adult Amish mystery that will be available on Kindle this year. I’m still stressing about the title, but once that’s settled, I’ll be getting the word out.
Is there anything that you would like to add?
* Although, the Temptation series has had many accolades and a growing fan base, there are those people who find the anti-feminist Amish way of life very distasteful. From my own experiences, the lifestyle is definitely not my cup of tea, but I can understand whole heartedly how some women would find a life of raising a family in the country with a strong man alongside her who steps up to take on the responsibilities of his family a tempting thing. In the end, it’s about the freedom of choice. I hope that if a reader takes only one thing away from the Temptation series, it’s that they realize how important it is for every woman to make her own decisions about what makes her life happy. It’s just as honorable and worthwhile to be a mother of ten and homemaker as it is to be a highly educated powerhouse career woman.
I love to hear from my readers! Please contact me on Facebook with your thoughts on the series or any questions about the Amish you may have. Thanks!
Karen Ann Hopkins
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