BooksChatter: ☀ A Simple Vow: Simple Gifts [1]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for A Simple Vow, a Inspirational Amish Romance by Charlotte Hubbard (31 May 2016, Zebra, 368 pages).

This is the first book in the Simple Gifts series.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and our Exclusive Excerpt below. Read the first two chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Charlotte Hubbard will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other exclusive excerpts (☀), and reviews (✍).

Synopsis | Teaser | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

Housed in a rustic red barn, the Simple Gifts crafts shop celebrates the talents of the Amish of Willow Ridge—and the faith that inspires them. For the acceptance of simplicity opens the path to love.

As far as Edith Riehl is concerned, the baby twins thrust suddenly into her arms are a heaven-sent gift. Unable to conceive, she longs to be a mother with a home of her own. She’s going to abide by her promise to handsome Asa Detweiler to take care of them while he looks for their real father. And even if her domineering dat Cornelius refuses to countenance Asa’s suit, she can only pray the bachelor’s honesty and persistence will uncover the truth—even as he’s kindled an impossible hope for a love of her own…

Asa can’t understand why anyone would think he would be so dishonorable as to father babies and then abandon them. He’s determined to clear his name—but Edith’s caring ways also inspire him to help heal her wounded spirit and earn her trust. In the face of heartbreaking deception, he and Edith must find the strength to understand, forgive…and claim their own hearts’ joy.

Teaser: Excerpt

     “You know how it’ll be, Edith,” Dat said softly. “Every day you allow these babies to stay will make it that much harder for you to give them up. They belong with their family. Surely Will’s wife’s mother will wonder where her grandchildren have gone—”
     “She’s not speaking to him!” Edith blurted, knowing it was the wrong thing to say. “She was there when Molly passed from cancer, breathing another man’s name. The shock of it sent Molly’s grandmother to the hospital with a heart attack, so the whole family’s in an uproar. I can’t just—”
     “Once again, we see that Will has alienated those who might’ve helped him in his time of need,” her father pointed out. “Any man worth his salt would look after these helpless babies rather than dumping them on someone else. But he knew you’d relieve him of his parental responsibilities, didn’t he? Knew you were too kind-hearted for your own gut.”
     “Is it really such a sin, being kind-hearted?” Edith protested. “Had we three girls been wee little when Mamm passed, you would’ve found another wife—”
     “That’s a lie and you know it!” he blustered, grasping her shoulders. “Your mother was the only woman in this world for me. Don’t you dare presume to understand the depth of my love—and my grief—for her!”
     Edith swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I—”
     “I’m leaving this room because I can’t stand the racket—or the smell—any longer,” he muttered beneath the babies’ wailing. “Find a way to quiet them. When your sisters get home, we’re packing up these detestable dirty diapers and supplies, and we’re returning the whole kit and caboodle to Gingerich. I don’t want to hear another word to the contrary.”
     Edith held her breath until her father’s heavy footfalls had gone down the hallway and stairs. As she burst into tears, she held the babies tenderly, still swaying with them, wondering how they would survive without a stand-in mother to care for them. Will was caught up in his own troubles, understandably wounded by his wife’s final words—by her betrayal of his trust—not to mention being overwhelmed by the cancer that had claimed her when she should’ve been experiencing the joy of motherhood.
     She had to convince Rosalyn and Loretta to help her with the twins while they sought wisdom and help from the women of Willow Ridge. When the three of them put their heads together, surely they could find a way to change Dat’s attitude. Surely they could keep the twins quiet enough that Dat could work on his clocks undisturbed in his basement workshop during the day and sleep uninterrupted at night

A Simple Vow
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About the Author

Many moons ago—like, in 1983 while she was still a school librarian—Charlotte Hubbard sold her first story to True Story. This launched her into writing around seventy of those “true confessions” stories over the years, and she’s been a slave to her overactive imagination ever since.

Over the course of her writing career, she has sold nearly 50 books—most recently, Amish romance series she’s written as Charlotte Hubbard or Naomi King.

Charlotte lived in Missouri for most of her life, so her Amish stories are set in imaginary Missouri towns. These days she lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband of 40+ years and their Border collie, Ramona.

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