Linda Byler
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Honoring Christmas : An Amish Romance
$16.99Add to cartAmish novelist Linda Byler spins a heartwarming tale set in the early 1800s at Christmastime.
It’s 1823 and life is not easy for fifteen-year-old Henry. With an alcoholic father and three younger siblings, much of the work of the farm and family life falls on Henry’s shoulders. His mother tries her best to provide for them all, but there never seems to be enough food to go around and their home beside the Juniata River in Pennsylvania is hardly up to the task of sheltering them through the cold winter months.
As Christmas approaches, Henry feels nothing but bitterness. He is keenly aware of how unfair his lot in life is. When a local Amish family tries to befriend him, he pushes them away, not wanting anyone to know how bad off his family really is. But he can’t help being intrigued by their lives. Though not as poor as his own family, they live very simply, and yet the peace and joy they seem to feel is like nothing Henry has ever experienced. And he can’t deny that kind and funny Sarah is the prettiest young woman he’s ever met. Will he allow his heart to soften? Can love find it’s way through his pain and pride?
Author Linda Byler is an active member of the Amish church and writes all her novels by hand with a pen and notebook. She offers a unique and fascinating look into Amish history and culture.
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Who Is Mary
$16.99Add to cartThe first book in a new Amish romance series by beloved novelist Linda Byler, an active member of the Amish church.
With her flaming red hair and inquisitive personality, Mary is a bit of an anomaly in her Amish community in western New York. She tries to join in the fun with the other youth as they gather for hymn singings and games, but she finds it all rather dull. None of the young men are interested in her and she’s even less interested in them. With each passing year, she feels more and more out of place and stifled by life as a misfit in a rural Amish community.
When her aunt comes for a visit and suggests she return to Lancaster with her to help manage her bakery, Mary sees her opportunity for the change she’s desperately craving. But her parents forbid her to go, her father convinced that leaving the family for the busy life of Lancaster will lead her down a path of destruction. Mary is deeply distressed, wanting to honor her parents’ wishes and also knowing she can’t stay trapped in their isolated community forever. At twenty-one, she’s old enough to decide for herself, and yet it’s painful to be at odds with her father. Will she go, despite her father’s dire warnings? If she stays, will she just continue to disappoint her parents, asking too many questions and never finding a man to marry?
One thing is sure. Before she can even think about dating, she needs to figure out who she is and where she belongs. And that might require a boldness she didn’t know she possessed.
Author Linda Byler is an active member of the Amish church and writes all her novels by hand with a pen and notebook. She offers a unique and fascinating look into Amish history and culture.
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Garment Of Praise
$16.99Add to cartThe final book in the New Directions series delves into the complexities of a blended Amish family. Are love and faith enough to navigate through relationship tensions, homesickness, and tragedy?
Susan has been in Wyoming long enough to feel at home, but instead she finds herself still struggling to adapt to the dusty landscape, the different customs, and life so far from family. She knows she should be appreciating the big, beautiful log home that Isaac built, but sometimes even that feels like a burden–so much of it to clean, and Isaac always traipsing in with his muddy boots and clothes smelling of diesel. But those were just the surface problems. The real struggle was the same as it had been since the day she married Isaac–the long hours he spent away at his logging job and the way his son Titus seemed to loathe her presence in their lives.
Titus is growing quickly, coming closer to manhood every day. He’s working with his father finally, always torn between wanting to impress him and being repulsed by the entire logging industry. He struggles with pent-up anger from his mother’s death, Susan swooping in as if she could take her place, and never feeling like he’s enough for his dad. But hardship like he’s never known is just around the corner. Will the difficult turn of events permanently harden his heart? Or could a meeting with a young woman full of her own struggles change everything?
Author Linda Byler is an active member of the Amish church and writes all her novels by hand with a pen and notebook. She offers a unique and fascinating look into Amish history and culture.
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Tapestry Of Love
$16.99Add to cartThe second book in the New Directions series following Weaving of Life, this Amish romance will keep you guessing until the end!
Susan Lapp is back in Lancaster and ready to begin a serious relationship with Levi Yoder. After all the ups and downs of her time out west, it’s good to be back in the familiar routines of church, family, and working at the market and housecleaning. Nothing stays simple for long, though, and Susan finds herself trying to help her sister Kate navigate her complicated and painful marriage that is taking a toll on their entire family.
As Susan and Levi continue to court and wedding season comes into full swing, Susan wonders whether a proposal is imminent. Each wedding the two attend together makes her think more and more about her future with Levi. He’s charming, kind, and familiar by now, but is he the man God wants for her to marry?
When Susan hears that a child she nannied for in Wyoming goes missing, she is desperate to help find him. What follows is a wild ride of adventures, emotions, and new discoveries.
Author Linda Byler is an active member of the Amish church and writes all her novels by hand with a pen and notebook. She offers a unique and fascinating look into Amish history and culture. -
Weaving Of Life
$16.99Add to cartThe first in a new series about an independent Amish woman and her struggles in career and romance.
Susan Lapp is a hardworking Amish woman in her early twenties. She enjoys the financial independence that working two jobs–as a housecleaner and at the local deli in Lancaster–affords her. And based on her sisters’ tumultuous experiences with their husbands, she has no interest in dating or marriage. She’s perfectly content with her life as it is, thank you very much.
When Susan’s best friend Beth begins to date Susan’s brother Mark, the couple is determined to play matchmaker for Susan. Susan begrudgingly agrees to humor them and soon finds herself caught between an undeniable attraction for one of Mark’s coworkers and her unflinching commitment to staying single. Soon, her complicated feelings take her in directions she once couldn’t have imagined. She experiences hardship like she never has before–homesickness, miserable weather in a place that feels so foreign, and an incredibly challenging job. And despite her attempts to escape romantic entanglements, she finds herself longing for the stability and familiarity of a committed relationship back home. Still, she wrestles with fear and uncertainty. How is she to know God’s will for her life?
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Love Conquers All
$14.99Add to cartAmish novelist Linda Byler spins a heartwarming tale about an Amish widow trying to survive in colonial America.
Paula has been cursed since birth–or so her mother told her for as long as she could remember. Her life is plagued by bad omens and disaster waits at every turn. Still, nothing could prepare her for the loss of three of her children, and then her husband. A recent immigrant to America, now a single mother of two, and dealing with severe anxiety, Paula faces a long winter of trials and heartache. When Paula’s younger daughter becomes seriously ill, Paula sets out on foot through the deep snow to get help. Along the way, she encounters another recent immigrant from Germany–a man who quickly becomes a great help and comfort.
But Paula’s fears of more tragedy threaten to derail their budding relationship. Besides that, the floundering couple find themselves in trouble with the church. And Paula’s headstrong eight-year-old daughter is determined that no man will try to take her late father’s place.
Will Christmas bring more heartache, or the hope of a brighter future?Author Linda Byler is an active member of the Amish church and writes all her novels by hand with a pen and notebook. She offers a unique and fascinating look into Amish history and culture.
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All In Good Time
$14.99Add to cartThis final book in The Long Road Home trilogy is full of unexpected twists. The redemptive ending will leave you smiling for days.
As May settles into family life, she has so much to be grateful for. Yes, there are plenty of challenges as she continues to heal from the demons of her past, but her loving husband and sweet children are the greatest earthly gift she could ask for. And having Oba in their home is almost more precious than she could have imagined . . . at least, if it weren’t for his ongoing anger and hardness of heart.
May’s children are steadily growing older, and eventually they begin to face relationship struggles of their own. Can May help them navigate the turbulent waters of young love? And will Oba’s heart ever soften enough to find love, or will he always face loneliness and despair?
This is the final volume in a unique Amish romance that tackles heavy issues of abuse, racism, and the damage done when a community puts reputation over faith. But ultimately there is also hope, love, and the unflinching faithfulness of a good God.
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Beacon Of Light
$14.99Add to cartThe second book in The Long Road Home series, a unique and gripping Amish romance trilogy set in the South at the turn of the century.
At the end of Banished, Clinton has died and May is left to fend for herself in a city where she knows almost no one and has no way of earning a living. Not knowing where Oba had wound up and realizing she can’t return to her uncle’s home after all he’d put her through, she decides to journey to the Amish community where she spent her first years, before her parents’ died. Perhaps the relatives who once turned her away had had a change of heart and would be willing to take her in or help her get settled on her own.
After being shuffled from home to home, May finds a welcoming friend in Clara. Clara is single, having long since sworn off romantic relationships. She doesn’t trust men, and it doesn’t take her long to realize May had her own painful past, though for some time she doesn’t know the full extent of what May suffered. Clara helps May to reintegrate into the Amish community, but May sinks deeper and deeper into depression as she tries to keep her dark past concealed.
What will it take for May to finally face her past and begin to heal? Will she and her brother Oba ever see each other again? And could May ever open her heart to another man? In the midst of great darkness, May discovers a beacon of light.
This unique Amish romance tackles heavy issues of abuse, racism, and the damage done when a community puts reputation over faith, but ultimately there is also hope, love, and the unflinching faithfulness of a good God.
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Christmas Engagement : An Amish Romance
$14.99Add to cartBestselling Amish novelist Linda Byler spins a sweet tale of heartache, disappointment, and ultimately hopes fulfilled at Christmastime.
Liz had been in love once, had even been engaged. In fact, the wedding had been planned, the barn cleaned, and the celery was set to be harvested to make the traditional wedding soup. Just two weeks before the day she was to exchange vows with her beloved, he changed his mind, and that was that.
The humiliation was almost as bad as the heartbreak. The whole community had celebrated her engagement, had participated in the wedding planning, had started giving her advice on keeping a home and raising children. When the wedding was canceled, no one knew what to say. She had to bear the pitying looks and awkward glances for many months. She vowed never to be such a fool again, never to trust her heart to a man who could just up and leave her with hardly an explanation. She’d rather be an old maid than go through that again.
Years pass, and Liz has made peace with her life as a single woman, a “leftover blessing” as the Amish say. She can admit to herself that Matthew, the owner of the Amish restaurant at the market where she works, is handsome. And she is aware that he is single. But she reminds herself over and over that it’s not worth feeling anything for the man. He’s her boss and that’s it. So why does she look forward to work so much every day? And why can’t she make her heart beat at a normal pace when he comes near?
Linda Byler is beloved for her skillful story telling and true-to-life descriptions of Amish food, faith, and culture. As an Amish woman herself, she can share details of Amish life that few can replicate. In this charming novel, Byler shares intimate details of day-to-day life in an Amish community while spinning a sweet tale of love and hopes fulfilled at Christmastime.
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Love In Unlikely Places
$14.99Add to cartWhen Emma leaves the security of her Amish community for a job in North Carolina, she finds herself navigating choices, circumstances, and a relationship that she never could have imagined. Follow as she struggles to reconcile her faith and her complicated feelings in this romance by bestselling Amish writer Linda Byler.
Plenty of young men had noticed Emma’s smooth auburn hair and her quick intellect, but at twenty-six years of age, she was still single, much to the bewilderment of her Amish community. “She’s just too picky,” they said, and she supposed they were right. Most did not know that she had been in love once, and had wound up brokenhearted.
When she becomes a nanny for an English (non-Amish) family along the coast of North Carolina, her world opens up in exciting–and confusing–ways. Not only is she getting used to life outside the safety of her Amish culture in Pennsylvania, but she finds herself spending time with Ben, the handsome Amish man who is working as a contractor on the house next door to where she’s staying. He is charming, outgoing, strong, and so bold in his affection for her!
When Emma is forced to leave North Carolina suddenly, she doesn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Ben or to exchange phone numbers or addresses. She trusts that he will find her eventually, but as months go by with no word from him, she doesn’t know what to make of the romance they had shared.
Emma’s best friend Eva invites her to go on a camping trip and she agrees, only to discover Eva has schemed to set Emma up with Matt, a cousin who had long since left the Amish community and was living a faithless, wordly life. Annoyed and longing for Ben, she is relieved when Matt assures her he has no interest in dating her. He’s nice enough, but he’s not Ben, and besides, Emma would never date a man who had chosen to leave his parents, their faith, and their deeply held traditions.
When eventually Emma returns to North Carolina to reunite with Ben, her world is shattered in a way she couldn’t have imagined, and she is left to grapple with her faith, her future, and her complicated feelings. Why did God keep stringing her along, only to leave her broken again and again?
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Lizzie Searches For Love Trilogy
$16.99Add to cartSkyhorse Publishing
Discover the bestselling “Lizzie Searches for Love” series from Amish author Linda Byler, available in one value-priced book. Lizzie has a hot temper. She hates housework and dislikes babies. She loves driving fast horses. Can Lizzie find her place in the Amish church? Will she find the right man? Join Lizzie as she searches for love and adventure while trying to stay true to herself and her community.Now, bestselling Amish romance novelist, Linda Byler, has her beloved first series available in a single volume! Lizzie Searches for Love books are based on true experiences and include:
Running Around (and Such), Book 1. It isn’t that Lizzie doesn’t want to stay Amish. It’s just that there is so much for her to figure out. She has a hot temper. She hates housework and dislikes babies. She loves driving fast horses. Now that Lizzie is running around, will she scare off the Amish boys with her hi-jinks manners? What will become of Lizzie?
When Strawberries Bloom, Book 2. A new love and even more questions enter Lizzie Glick’s life as she becomes a schoolteacher. She loves the independence of running her own schoolroom. But at home things are in turmoil again. Her sisters have found their perfect matches, but Lizzie doesn’t know what to think about Stephen and how he might fit into her life.
Big Decisions, Book 3. Everything seems to have led up to this moment in Lizzie’s life. Her curiosity, concern, and dreams have brought her to the verge of some very big decisions. Will she join the church? Will she continue teaching? Will she marry Stephen? Does she really want to get married anyway? No need to wait for the next book in Linda Byler’s series about a spirited young Amish woman! They’re all here in this attractive bind-up.
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Hope Deferred : An Amish Romance
$14.99Add to cartWill Daniel and Anna be able to reconcile their faith struggles and their love for each other? Beloved Amish novelist Linda Byler once again writes a compelling and surprising love story, showing that even the Plain People struggle with complex feelings, questions, and relationships.
David Stolzfus and Anna Fisher have been best friends as long as they can remember. Sure, it was a bit unusual in the Amish community for a boy and a girl to be so close, but nobody questions it with David and Anna–it has just always been that way. They live on neighboring farms in Lancaster County, they walk to school together (with all their siblings) every day, and when David learns to drive a pony, Anna is the first one to ride with him. Their lives are intertwined, the way the borders of their properties are joined by the Pequea Creek.
As they approach their teen years, David and Anna’s friendship turns quickly to deep love and attraction. But David is headstrong and full of an insatiable hunger for knowledge and new experiences. When Anna’s conservative parents require that he join the church before the two can begin dating, he rebels, eventually taking off to Australia for the adventure of a lifetime, leaving Anna to sort through her feelings alone.
When Anna receives a letter from Leon Beiler, a young man she can’t deny she has feelings for, everything changes again. How can she reconcile a lifetime of love for David with this new potential romance? And what will happen when David returns home?
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Amish Christmas Romance Collection
$22.99Add to cartBestselling Amish novelist Linda Byler’s three heartwarming Christmas romances–in one book!
Linda Byler is Amish herself, and so brings to life in charming detail Amish communities and the complex individuals who live in them. Here are three of her beloved Christmas novellas–in one value-priced edition.
Mary’s Christmas Goodbye Mary Stoltzfus is thirty years old, splashed with freckles, and unmarried. In her Amish world, that qualifies her to be called an old maid. When she travels from Lancaster to Montana to accept a position as a schoolteacher, she faces new questions about herself and the mysterious Arthur there to greet her. Who is the young woman in the photo at Arthur’s house? And why does she suddenly care? Does she really belong back in Lancaster?
The Christmas Visitor Devastated by the sudden loss of her husband, Ruth isn’t sure how she’ll make ends meet or restore order to a house full of rambunctious kids. Preoccupied with the effort to create a new life and manage her shrinking bank account, Ruth barely notices John King, the handsome newcomer to her community. Besides, how could she–if she had a chance–replace Ben? Does one ever replace a husband?
The Little Amish Matchmaker Simon can’t stop thinking about the pretty Amish teacher at the local one-room school. But he’s ignored the sparks between them because he’s so shy. So Simon’s little brother, Isaac, takes matters into his own hands. He’s determined to give his brother the best Christmas present ever–a date with his favorite teacher. Amish novelist Byler brings her tender humor and skillful observation of family relationships to this holiday story.
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2nd Chance : An Amish Romance
$14.99Add to cartHow long will Edna have to wait for the love of her life?
For years, Edna Miller has found herself drawn to Emery Hoschtettler with an attraction she can explain no better than she can put a stop to it. Other suitors come and go, but none make her feel the way she feels around Emery–that incredible floating feeling, as if she was walking on air, mixed with a painful desperation to be ever nearer to him. Despite the fact that Emery seldom seems to pay her much attention, she decides it would be unfair to marry anyone else when her heart longs only for him. He hasn’t seriously dated anyone else either, so perhaps he’s just waiting for the right time to ask her . . .
By the time Edna is twenty-nine, most of her family and friends have given up hope of her ever marrying. Why she didn’t give that nice man Jonathan more of a chance was beyond them. Sure, he had a bit of a limp from the tractor accident, but he was kind as could be, not to mention wealthy. Was she so vain that she could only judge based on outward appearances? Well then, she could go ahead and be a maud for the rest of her life, cooking and cleaning for other families.
When Emery finally asks Edna out, she can hardly contain her joy. Everything is coming together–God is rewarding her patience! Her family will understand why she could never settle for anyone else.
But what if Emery isn’t the man Edna was so sure he was? Is there something he’s hiding, or is Edna simply unable to accept true love after so many years of waiting? Would God really lead her all this way, just to leave her alone again?
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Horse For Elsie
$14.99Add to cartA heartwarming tale of longing and hope in Lancaster by bestselling author Linda Byler
Elsie is desperate for a horse of her own, but her family barely has enough money to get by as it is–she knows they can’t afford to buy a horse, never mind pay for the grain and hay to keep it fed through the winter. With her father injured, it’s up to Elsie to help earn money for the family–while going to school and helping Mam with the other kids. So she buries herself in the daily tasks at hand and tries to forget her longing. But when her classmate Elam invites her to visit his family’s horse farm one afternoon, she willfully forgets her responsibilities at home and follows him. Exhilarated by the strong, sleek Morgans and the musty smell of the barn, her passion for horses is reignited.
As Elsie spends more time at Elam’s farm, it becomes harder and harder to be the responsible young woman her parents expect her to be. Why should she have to work as a maud to earn money for her family when Elam gets to spend every afternoon riding? It isn’t fair, and to make matters worse, now she’s expected to go to singings and play games with the other youth who are old enough to start dating, when all she wants is to be out riding. It’s a waste of time, she figures–it’s not like any of the boys will want a poor, rebellious girl like her anyway.
As she struggles to reconcile her anger and frustration with the obedience her Amish faith requires, she also starts to have confusing feelings for Elam. She’s determined not to like him in that way. After all, he only sees her as free labor, someone to muck out stalls and work the horses. Doesn’t he?
When tragedy strikes in the Amish community, Elsie is forced to let go of her teenage angst and grow up quickly. But sometimes letting go of one’s desires has a way of allowing one to accept something even better. A tale of longing, desperation, and finally hope, this is a heartwarming Christmas tale to be remembered.
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Lizzie And Emma
$8.99Add to cartIn Little Amish Lizzie, the first book in the Buggy Spoke series, five-year-old Lizzie moves to a new home with her family and must adjust to a new school, new house, and lots of new people. But some things stay the same, including her spunky, sensitive, and mischievous personality. It feels like her big sister Emma is just the opposite-she is sweet, respectful, and good at just about everything that Lizzie isn’t. When Lizzie and Emma begins, Lizzie is eight years old and it’s not that she wishes she weren’t the kind of girl who loves hiding for hours to read a good book or racing down too-steep hills on her sled or eating lots of doughnuts. But she does wish she could make herself walk instead of running once in awhile so she wouldn’t get in trouble at school, and she knows no one thinks she’s as pretty or as good as Emma is.
Times are hard for the Glick family-Dat’s business is still not doing well and his cheerful optimism is beginning to wear thin. Lizzie and Emma are young, but they begin to understand that Dat and Mam don’t have enough money and their family might be in trouble. Will the sisters be able to put aside their differences to support each other through their family’s financial struggles, tragedy in their community, and yet more changes?
This is the second book in the Buggy Spoke series, which follows Lizzie through her tumultuous teenage years as she struggles to mesh her hot temper and willful ways with her Amish faith. These books are the prequels to Linda Byler’s bestselling Lizzie Searches for Love Trilogy, geared to a younger audience (ages 8-10). Reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series, these books are delightful accounts of another way of life; each chapter is filled with vivid descriptions of Amish food, farms, and traditions. The series explores themes of respecting parents, not fitting in, sibling rivalry, recognizing your own shortcomings and gifts, and reconciling a strong personality with an abiding faith.
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Little Amish Lizzie
$8.99Add to cartLizzie is a five-year-old Amish girl in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is spunky, sensitive, and not nearly as pious as her older sister Emma. Lizzie sometimes daydreams instead of praying when she bows her head before meals . . . but she figures God knows she’s grateful for the good food Mam puts on the table every night. Her wild spirit often gets her in trouble, though, and she wonders why she can’t be as sweet and kind as her goody-two-shoes big sister. Will she always be at odds with her own fiery spirit?
Although Lizzie loves adventure, when her father’s business begins to struggle and she learns they’re moving to a new house in a different town, all she wants is to stay in the beloved home she knows with the little picket fence, the bubbling creek, and her favorite climbing trees. Through Linda Byler’s vivid descriptions of Amish life, you can walk with Lizzie as she adjusts to a new school, experience the terror of their awful buggy accident, laugh at her misadventures, and feel her struggle as she begins to question who she is as an individual in the midst of her tight knit Amish community.
This is the first book in the Buggy Spoke series, which follows Lizzie through her tumultuous teenage years as she struggles to mesh her hot temper and willful ways with her Amish faith. These books are the prequels to Linda Byler’s bestselling Lizzie Searches for Love Trilogy, geared to a younger audience (ages 8-10). Reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series, these books are delightful accounts of another way of life; each chapter is filled with vivid descriptions of Amish food, farms, and traditions. The series explores themes of respecting parents, not fitting in, sibling rivalry, recognizing your own shortcomings and gifts, and reconciling a strong personality with an abiding faith.
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Lancaster Burning Trilogy
$20.99Add to cartThe Amish community of Lancaster is being terrorized by barn fires. David and Malinda Beiler s barn was the first to go. When a second Amish barn burns for suspicious reasons, the Amish grow more restless. Can Sarah, David and Malinda s daughter, end the terror that is pulling apart their community, even as her own heart is pulled between two young men?
Fire in the Night, Book 1: Sarah observes her parents agony after their barn burns to the ground, apparently by an arsonist. Not only is she afraid, and wishing she could protect her parents, she s entranced by the flirtatious Matthew Stoltzfus. He s dating her friend Rose, but when he tenderly bandages Sarah s hand after she burned it at the barn raising, she wonders whom he s really interested in.
Davey s Daughter, Book 2: Sarah thinks Ashley, whom she’s met at the local farmers market, knows more about the fires than she will admit. But Sarah can’t convince her to share her secrets. Should the Amish finally resort to police protection? Matthew is asking if the Amish church is the right fit for him. Will Sarah follow him if he decides to leave the community? Sarah s mother urges her to pay more attention to handsome newcomer Lee, the hardworking Amish man who helps anyone in the community in need. How will Sarah respond to all of the forces that are pulling her in different directions?
The Witnesses, Book 3: When Sarah spots flames late one night in the widow Lydia s barn, she refuses to let the fire win. She gets the horses out just in time, but not before a beam explodes overhead, knocking her to the ground as the barn rages in flames all around her. Gone were her lovely good looks, her life as a teacher, and perhaps the attention of the two young men who had been so drawn to her.
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Daveys Daughter : A Suspenseful Romance By The Bestselling Amish Author
$13.99Add to cartSkyhorse Publishing
Barns are burning in Amish author, Linda Byler’s, second book in the ‘Lancaster Burning’ series, and no one knows who’s doing it or why. Can Sarah Beiler end the terror that is pulling apart her community, even as her own heart is pulled between two young men?Barns are burning in the Lancaster County’s Amish community, and no one knows who’s doing it or why. Sarah Beiler’s barn was the first to burn and it was quickly followed by two other barn fires. The entire Amish community is on edge and wrestling with how they should respond to these seemingly random crimes. Sarah thinks Ashley, whom she’s learned to know at the local farmers market, knows more about the fires than she will admit. But Sarah can’t convince her to share her secrets. Should the Amish consider police protection as Sarah’s cousin, Melvin, insists, or should the community continue to follow their traditional peaceful approach to violence as Sarah’s father, Davey, the local minister, counsels? Then another barn burns, this one more devastating than any other, and the community again rallies around the distressed family.
Even in the midst of this chaos, life must go on for Sarah and her family. But now it feels as if nothing is normal. The local Amish school board asks Sarah to take over teaching a school where the students are out of control. How will she handle obstinate Amish kids and their defensive parents? Matthew is asking if the Amish church is the right fit for him. Will Sarah follow him if he decides to leave the community? Sarah’s mother can’t stay out of it and keeps urging Sarah to pay more attention to Lee, the well behaved Amish man, who helps anyone in the community in need. How will Sarah respond to all of the forces that are pulling her in different directions? She is Davey’s daughter, after all, raised to love and respect the long-held traditions of her people. But will the outside forces become so great that she gives up her parents’ ways and decides to leave her community? Will her father agree to police protection for the vulnerable Amish farmers especially for those who are widowed-or continue to insist that God will provide?
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Little Amish Matchmaker
$14.95Add to cartSkyhorse Publishing
Isaac thinks his pretty Amish teacher, Catherine, and his big brother, Simon, would be a perfect fit. Isaac takes matters into his own hands, determined to give his brother the best Christmas present ever-a date with his favorite schoolteacher.Simon can’t stop thinking about the pretty Amish teacher at the local one-room school. But he’s ignored the sparks between them because he’s so shy. So Simon’s little brother, Isaac, takes matters into his own hands. He’s determined to give his brother the best Christmas present ever-a date with his favorite teacher.
Amish novelist Byler brings her tender humor and skillful observation of family relationships to this holiday story. “I love Isaac’s self-confidence and scheming as he prods his reluctant older brother,” she smiles knowingly about the characters she’s created.
Byler takes her reader straight into the Amish world as Isaac is both charmed and annoyed by his too talkative, but quite bright, Mam. He can barely tolerate his little nieces and nephews, who substantially outnumber the grown-ups when the whole family gets together. And he loves his humble circumspect Dat, although he isn’t always pleased by how well Isaac sweeps the forebay in the barn. As anticipation for the Christmas program at the schoolhouse builds, Isaac cares for troubled Ruthie who stutters miserably when she practices her poem. And he wonders how much he’ll have to help his brother Sim act on his growing affection for Teacher Catherine!
