HOME TO PARADISE - Barbara Cameron - One Free Book, Plus More

Welcome back, Barbara. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

I’m excited to report that I’m writing another Amish series for a new publisher – it’s my fifth Amish series and it’s titled HARVEST OF HOPE. The series is set in Paradise, Pennsylvania—my favorite Amish community. I’m also working on a contemporary romance series around those books. There’s nothing better than being busy doing what you love. I am really grateful to God for leading me on this path.

How exciting. I’ll want to feature both of those series here on the blog. Tell us a little about your family.

My children are grown. I have a son and a daughter and altogether four grandchildren—two girls, two boys. It’s so interesting the way that worked out. My daughter says my children are now my three fur kids, all female Chihuahuas. Sometimes it’s like having a bunch of two year olds but they are great company and as I write this they are sleeping in little beds in my home office just a few feet from me.

Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

No, I have always been a voracious reader. I had a bunk bed when I was a kid sharing a bedroom with my brother. I used to love hiding from my family and reading in the top bunk. It felt like having my own treehouse.

What are you working on right now?

My new Amish series.  I admire the Amish because they truly live their faith on a daily basis—not just a couple hours in church each week. I’ve really enjoyed learning about them and knowing several special Amish women who have helped me understand them.  

What outside interests do you have?

I love spending time with my kids and grandkids. I recently took painting classes. I’d been wanting to do this for many years but never found the time. I have a lot more respect for artists now! It’s harder than I thought and I had a pretty good idea of the time and effort since my dad was a wonderful artist who won art shows and sold his work.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

The setting for my Amish books kind of chose me … another reason I feel God led me down this path. I went to a writer’s conference in Pennsylvania and my cousin took me through Paradise and surrounding towns. I started getting ideas for stories while I was there and not long afterward sold them.

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

 I’d love to meet Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre. I fell in love with that book in my early teens and loved Jane for her independent spirit. This election year also made me think I’d like to meet the women who fought for the right for women to vote.

Jane Eyre is a longtime favorite of mine, too. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

I worked for a newspaper right out of high school so I had a pretty good idea of what writing was like—especially on a deadline. The main thing I wish I’d known was how to more easily find an editor interested in my work. When I started going to conferences, I got the help I needed. Today there is so much help on the Internet for writers.

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now? 

Patience. His timing and mine are often at odds. I tend to be a little impatient and want things to run on my time.

I so resemble that. What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

First, writers need to read books in the genre they’re writing. If you don’t read, you will never be a successful writer. Second, get another writer to read your work and critique it. Better yet, get more than one person to read it. But be careful to trust your own instincts about what sounds right for your story. Third, be someone an editor wants to work with. It’s a partnership.

Tell us about the featured book.

Home to Paradise is book three of the Coming Home series (Abingdon Press). From the back blurb: Rose Anna Zook has watched her two older sisters marry two Stoltzfus men and has always thought she and John, the third Stoltzfus brother, would marry, make a home together, and have children. But John has other ideas. He’s enjoying his Rumschpringe in the Englisch world a little too much and isn’t interested in returning to the Amish community – especially to marry.

Rose Anna is determined to bring her man back into the Amish fold. John is equally determined to live his life free and unencumbered. Who will win this battle of wills? Will love prevail?

Please give us the first page of the book.

Snow fell quietly, cold and white. Inside the big old farmhouse where Rose Anna had lived all her life it was warm. A fire crackled in the hearth, the only sound in the room.

Rose Anna glanced around the sewing room. Usually she and her three schweschders sat chatting and sewing with their mudder, sometimes singing a hymn as they worked. Today it was just her and her mudder.

She sighed. “So here you sit with your old maedel dochder, Mamm.”

Linda laughed. “I hardly think you’re an old maedel at twenty-three, Rose Anna.”

She knotted a thread, clipped it with scissors, and squinted as she rethreaded her needle. “I feel like one,” she said, pouting a little. “Both of my schweschders are married and so are lots of my friends. I have been a newehocker at so many weddings!” She made a face as she began stitching on her quilt again.

“Guder mariye!”

Rose Anna glanced up. “Ach, here comes my newly married schweschder.”

The three Zook schweschders were often confused for each other because they looked so much alike with oval faces, big blue eyes, and hair a honey blonde. They’d been born just a year apart

so they’d grown up close. Rose Anna was the youngest—something her two older schweschders never let her forget.

“Mary Elizabeth, it’s gut to see you. Kumm, sit by the fire and get warm. You look cold.”

She leaned down and kissed her mudder’s cheek. “Lavina’s on her way up.”

Linda brightened and turned to look in the direction of the door. When Lavina walked in a moment later, her face fell. “Where’s Mark?”

Lavina laughed and shook her head. “You’re not glad to see me?”

“Well, schur,” Linda said quickly. “But I thought you were bringing my grosssohn.”

“He was fussy and stayed up most of the night, so now he’s sleeping.” Lavina sank into a chair. “Waneta said she’d mind him so I could get out for a bit. She told me she wouldn’t let him sleep all day so he’d keep us up again.”

“You look like you need a nap,” Rose Anna told her.

“It’s tempting, but I need to stay to my goal of finishing this quilt,” she said as she threaded a needle.

“Could he be teething already?”

Lavina shuddered. “I hope not. He’s not three months old yet. I’ve heard about teething from my friends.”

Soon it was like it had been for so long, everyone chattering and sewing, the mood as bright and cheerful as the fire. But Rose Anna felt a growing restlessness. She put her quilt aside, went downstairs to make tea for their break, and found herself staring out the kitchen window. The trees were bare and black against the gray sky. Snow had stopped falling, coating everything with a white blanket that lay undisturbed. She found herself pacing the kitchen as she waited for the kettle to boil. Finally, she knew she had to get out and burn off her restless energy.

“I’m going for a walk,” she announced when her mudder and schweschders came downstairs.  She pulled on rubber boots and her bonnet, then shrugged on her coat. “I won’t be long.”

“But, kind, it’s cold out there,” her mudder protested.

“I need to walk. ’Bye.”

“She’ll be fine, Mamm,” she heard Lavina say behind her before she closed the back door.

Funny, her older schweschder reassuring their mudder.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I’m on Facebook. My website is  www.BarbaraCameron.com

Thank you, Barbara, for sharing this book with us.

Home to Paradise, the final book in author Barbara Cameron's The Coming Home series, is not to be missed! Rose Anna Zook always thought she and John, one of Stoltzfus brothers, would marry, make a home together, and have children. But John, enjoying his Rumschpringe in the Englisch world, has other ideas. Rose Anna is determined to bring her man back into the Amish fold. John is equally determined to live his life free and unencumbered. Who will win this battle of wills? Will love prevail?

Join Barbara on Thursday, March 9, for a live author chat party on her Facebook page with fun prizes to be won! Click the graphic below for more details and to RSVP. Hope to see you there—bring a friend or two who loves Amish fiction!

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.

Home to Paradise: The Coming Home Series _ Book 3 - Paperback
Home to Paradise: The Coming Home Series - Book 3 - Kindle

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