Bio: Award
winning author, Laura Hilton, her husband, Steve, and their five children make
their home in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas. She is a pastor’s wife, a stay-at-home
mom and home-schools three of her children. Her two oldest children are
homeschool graduates and are in college. Laura is also a breast cancer
survivor.
Her publishing credits include three books in the Amish
of Seymour series from Whitaker House: Patchwork Dreams, A Harvest of Hearts (winner of the 2012
Clash of the Titles Award in two categories), and Promised to Another. The Amish
of Webster County series, Healing
Love (finalist for the 2013 Christian Retail Awards). Surrendered Love and Awakened Love. A nonAmish book Swept Away released November 2014
from Abingdon Press. She is contracted for another three book Amish series with
Whitaker House, The Amish of Jamesport series, begins in November
2014 with The Snow Globe, The Postcard in June 2015, and The Bird House in September 2015, and A
White Christmas in Webster County (Amish) released in September 2014.
Laura is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and a professional book
reviewer for the Christian market, with over a thousand book reviews published
at various online review sites.
Welcome back, Laura. Why
do you write the kind of books you do?
I love writing about the Amish. A mix of contemporary and
historical in the same book, a study of my family history, a platform for clear
faith message, and romance.
Besides when you came
to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?
The day that I knew my second son wouldn’t die from the
weird disease almost claimed his life as a baby and was misdiagnosed multiple
times before treated correctly.
How has being
published changed your life?
It introduced deadlines. And interviews.
What are you reading
right now?
At this very moment, I’m reading The Tidewater Sisters by Lisa Wingate. I’ll finish that tonight.
Next up is Child of Mine by David and
Beverly Lewis.
What is your current
work in progress?
The Birdhouse.
It’s the third book in the Amish of Jamesport series, releasing in September 2015.
What would be your
dream vacation?
Unlimited time and resources to travel across the Midwestern
Amish communities and end at a cabin on Lake Superior .
How do you choose
your settings for each book?
Ease of getting to them for research.
If you could spend an
evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?
My husband. We don’t have much alone time to date.
What are your
hobbies, besides writing and reading?
I have five kids still at home, homeschool, and am a
pastor’s wife. No time for other hobbies. J
What is your most
difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
Quiet time! I
overcome it by attempting to zone other noise out.
What advice would you
give to a beginning author?
Sit and stay. You won’t get published if you don’t sit down
and write.
Tell us about the
featured book.
A White Christmas in Webster
County
Wanting to relocate from Shipshewana to somewhere new, Mercy
Lapp answered an ad in The Budget to
work as a mother’s helper for Matthew and Shanna Yoder in Seymour , Missouri Lake Michigan .
Abner Hilty fled Shipshewana to Montana to work on a ranch after he and his
twin brother witnessed a murder. Now that the killer is safely behind bars,
Abner decides to visit his brother Abram in Missouri where he’d settled with his bride
of one month. Mercy is surprised to see Abner there, and equally surprised by
how much he’d changed physically since she’d last seen him. Even though the two
live in different districts they occasionally see each other in town and form a
fledging friendship.
As Christmas approaches, an unexpected heavy snow lets Abner
and Mercy spend a lot of time together in wintertime fun. Abner hopes to
interest Mercy in a more permanent relationship. But then Mercy has a
potentially life changing discovery. Will she return to Shipshewana to answer
the summons of the past? Or settle in a new place?
Please give us the
first page of the book.
“Would you kiss me?”
Mercy Lapp stumbled to a halt. She looked up from the list
she’d been perusing and into a pair of beautiful, twinkling blue eyes. They
belonged to a clean-shaven Amish man who held out a pair of plastic vampire
teeth on a Halloween clearance rack. They were brown, crooked, and ugly. He
moved them closer to her.
Her stomach lurched. “Ewww. Nein!”
He chuckled, then glanced around.
She followed his gaze. They were alone in the aisle. She
turned her attention back to him, surprised to find him falling to his knees in
front of her, his hands clasped together as if in prayer, the package of teeth dangling
from his fingertips.
“Have mercy!” He puckered up in an exaggerated kiss.
She blinked. None of the Amish men back home acted like
this. So bold. So…tempting.
“Please? I’ll never get kissed by a pretty girl if I have
teeth like these.” He lifted his hand and shook the package.
She wrinkled her nose. “Enough already, jah?” She tried to
look away from those yucky teeth but got distracted by a dimple in the bu’s
cheek.
He reached forward and fingered the hem of her dress—a bold
move—then gazed up at her with an inquisitive expression as she stepped away.
“An Amish-style dress. Pink. Camouflage. You aren’t from around here, are you?”
Mercy’s face heated. “Uh, nein. But…well, I just got here. I
took a job advertised in The Budget
for a mother’s helper, and I haven’t had time to make any new dresses. And
Shanna, the woman I’m staying with, just laughed and said it’d probably be a
gut thing to add some color around here anyway. I’m from Shipshewana
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
visit my blogs: http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/ and http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/
twitter: @Laura_V_Hilton
Purchase links to my books:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/laura-hilton?store=allproducts&keyword=laura+hilton
Thank you, Laura, for sharing this Christmas book with us today.
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