Bio: Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning, sought-after author with almost twenty Amish, contemporary, and historical romances. When she’s not writing, she reviews books for her blogs, and writes devotionals or blog posts for Seriously Write and Putting on the New.
Laura and her pastor-husband have five children and a hyper dog named Skye and currently live in
Arkansas
. One son is in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is a pastor’s wife and homeschools her two youngest children. When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, and visiting lighthouses and waterfalls. Her favorite season is winter, her favorite holiday is Christmas.
Welcome back, Laura. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?
I don’t generally pick out spiritual themes, but a lot of them are based on trusting God even when you don’t see His hand moving. The theme of The Amish Wanderer is how you react when it seems God doesn’t hear your prayers? The two characters have different views on this.
What other books of yours are coming out soon?
There *might* be an Indie published contemporary romance coming out with some other authors later this month, entitled Love in the Skies. My story is First Class, Wrong Flight. There also *might* be another collection with other authors releasing in April or May (these are not for sure, set in stone dates yet!) I don’t know the title of that collection, but my story is called The Kissing Bridge. In August, I have a novella with Barbour Books in the Second Chance Brides collection called Married by Mistake. In September, Whitaker House releases another Amish Christmas story, The Christmas Challenge and in October another Amish book releases, but I don’t yet know for sure what that title will be.
If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?
A random officer in the Coast Guard so I could ask a ton of questions. Either that or one of my favorite authors so we could talk books.
What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?
Mary and Martha. The main character in The Christmas Challenge is like Martha and she has some interesting questions about Martha’s attitude and how (and if) she ever learned to sit at Jesus’s feet and listen.
How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?
Oh, good question. Keep studying and learning the craft, and don’t be afraid to let your pain into the book. Often that is the key to making the characters come alive – YOU know how it feels when you are rejected, go through a life-threatening illness, a life-altering event, or whatever. Let that passion out.
Tell us about The Amish Wanderer.
Bethany Weiss has been fascinated by Silas Beiler since he spent a couple of years in
Jamesport
,
Missouri
, before he and his family moved to another Amish community. They hadn’t kept in touch, but she hasn’t forgotten the friendly young man who brought her lemonade and took her home once from a Singing years ago. When she finds a man sleeping in her family’s barn, like Jesus sleeping in the hay, she is stunned to recognize Silas. He has left the Amish and is backpacking across the country. She talks him into staying, at least until after Christmas.
Silas’s family has never been happy living in one area for long, and their vagabond ways are wearing on him. He has lived in Amish communities all over the nation, moving whenever his daed became disgruntled with the leaders, and he’s looking for some sense of stability. His intentions are to make it back to
Pennsylvania
and stay with his Englisch onkle and his family—and pursue an education. Will
Bethany
be the one to bring Silas in from the cold? Or will he continue on his way to his extended family and become Englisch?
Please give us the first page of the book.
November
The sky is falling and I’m searching for somewhere to hide. We need someone to help, but all I see are clouds in everyone’s eyes. If my fears could only be forgotten…
If only I could get out of this town.
An unidentified sound, loud in the relative silence, jarred
Bethany
. Her blue pen made a squiggly line across the page in the fat little notebook where she wrote her thoughts. Maybe she should’ve found a more secluded place than the hay pile beside the loft ladder, but she rarely was disturbed. She raised her head and listened.
Nothing, except the squeak of the wood doors in the back of the barn as her younger brother, Timothy, put the cows out to pasture. The soft lowing of cows. The clucking of free-range chickens.
Hopefully, he was too busy to notice she’d left—and wouldn’t look for her.
But there it was again. From somewhere overhead. A sound that didn’t belong. A creak and a thump.
Hopefully, it wasn’t Hen. She’d hear if he were out of jail, ain’t so? A thread of fear ripped through her, unraveling the tiny bit of peace she’d been able to find.
How can readers find you on the Internet?
http://www.amazon.com/Laura-V.-Hilton/e/B004IRSM5Q
visit my blogs: http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/ and http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/
twitter: @Laura_V_Hilton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Laura-V-Hilton/161478847242512
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/vernetlh/
Purchase my books:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Laura-V.-Hilton/e/B004IRSM5Q
Christianbook.com: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=laura+hilton&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/laura-hilton?store=allproducts&keyword=laura+hilton
Deeper Shopping http://www.deepershopping.com/index.php?query=laura+hilton&x=0&y=0&module=productsearch&_logmode=Y&querymodule=SPX
Thank you, Laura, for sharing this book with us today. It sounds like a good read.
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1
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