Welcome to 2016, y’all!!
As 2015 wound to a close this week, I have been talking about the books I’m most anticipating for the first half of 2016.
Monday – contemporary
Tuesday – historical
Wednesday – mystery/suspense
I took a break on Thursday for Pepper Day 🙂
Today I’m going to talk about the Amish Fiction I’m most looking forward to from January-June 2016!
Three months ago, everything changed for Darla Kurtz and her family. Darla’s father was responsible for a terrible fire at Charm’s lumber mill which killed five Amish men. And though he, too, lost his life, the quaint Amish village of Charm, Ohio, hasn’t looked at her family the same since. Even Lukas Kinsinger—with whom Darla used to have a close friendship. Now her brother’s anger at the town is spilling over onto Darla, and she has the bruises to prove it. The accident already cost five lives, but if something doesn’t change soon, Darla fears it will cost her—and her family—even more.
Lukas Kinsinger wants to mourn the loss of his father, but he can hardly find the time to breathe. Suddenly the head of his father’s lumber mill and responsible for taking care of his three siblings, he’s feeling the pressure. He has also never felt more alone—especially with the new tension between he and Darla. But when he learns of her troubles at home, Lukas knows he can’t simply stand by and watch. Someone has to help her before another tragedy occurs.
As Lukas and Darla attempt to repair their families, they discover something deeper than friendship growing between them. But will Lukas and Darla’s love be accepted after so much loss? Or will the pain of the past overcome any chance of future happiness?
Joshua Kline travels from his farm in Oklahoma to offer aid to an Englisch town on the gulf coast of Texas after a category 4 hurricane has ravaged the area. He brings his brother with him, who needs a change of environment. The last thing he wants for Alton is another brush with the law. He is pleasantly surprised when he hears that Becca Troyer, the bishop’s granddaughter, plans on joining their team.
What will Joshua find when he arrives in Texas? A lack of electricity, certainly, which poses little problem for the Amish volunteers as they help restore order from destruction. But a budding romance? A call from God? And a possible healing of his relationship with Alton?
Joshua’s Mission is a story of love, forgiveness, and the grace of God that carries us through even the worst situations.
They’ve been best friends for years, but as high school ends, Zane Beck can’t help but look at his Amish neighbor, Lila Lehman, with different eyes. Her controlling father sees only one future for Lila, though, and arranges for her to be courted by an upstanding young Amish man. When Zane sees the two together, his plans for the future crumble, and he impulsively enlists in the Army, following in his father’s footsteps.
However, the passing of years and the distance between them isn’t enough to halt their now hidden feelings for each other. If being together used to be difficult, it’s now impossible, especially with the Amish opposed to war. Zane’s service takes a dramatic turn when he’s sent to Afghanistan. Being on the front line and the reality of taking a life has him questioning whether he can continue to serve or not. But all choices have consequences–both his and hers. With Lila preparing to marry another, will these one-time sweethearts ever find the life together that they both still long for?
Carly Blosser may not match the typical description of a conservative Mennonite woman—unmarried at 27, living alone, and careening around her Oregon neighborhood on a pink bicycle—but she has a soft heart for the elderly Mennonite residents at Sweet Life Assisted Living Facility, where she works as a caregiver.
When Carly’s plans for a new volunteer program go awry, she shifts her focus to one lonely resident named Martha.
Adam Lapp, a wood shop instructor at Sweet Life, joins with Carly to reunite Martha with an old flame before her 85th birthday.
Carly and Adam’s hunt involves carved initials on covered bridges, digging up the past, and the appearance of a newcomer, who hinders the budding romance between the two. Soon, new clues sweep them all in a harried race to the finish line where love is sure to be the ultimate prize.
One minute, Joanna Schrock was arguing with her parents, and the next, her parents lives were claimed in a hit-and-run buggy accident. Her body is broken, but her heart is in even deeper pain after all, how do you cope with your parents deaths when your last words were spoken in anger? After an extended stint in a physical rehabilitation center, she re-enters her Amish life. But nothing is the same not even her feelings for Andrew Beiler.
Joanna has loved Andrew since the age of twelve, and her feelings have not changed throughout the years. She is thrilled when Andrew wants to get married, but she wonders whether it s love he s feeling, or pity. As the couple s wedding date approaches, Joanna isn t overcome with the deep joy she was hoping to find; instead, she s wracked with anxiety and guilt.
Joanna hears God whispering to her, Be strong and courageous, but she s afraid that courage looks a lot like walking away from her dreams and into the plan of her Heavenly Father. If Joanna takes the first step toward healing, will it cost her everything she s ever wanted? Or could God be changing the desires of her heart?
When Henry Edison turns up in Lancaster County to survey farm women about their domestic contributions during the 1930s, the last thing Amish housewife Gloria Grabill has time for is the government agent’s unending questions.
Gloria’s hands are already full with a farm to run alongside her husband, a houseful of children, and an English neighbor, Minerva Swain, who has been trying Gloria’s patience for forty years.
Gloria’s oldest daughter, Polly, wants nothing more than the traditional path of an Amish farmer’s wife, but everything she does seems to push Thomas Coblentz further away. While the Great Depression shadows the country in gloom, can Amish and English neighbors in Lancaster County grasp the goodness that will sustain hope?
Smart, kind, and good-hearted, the three Christner girls are affectionately known as The Honeybee Sisters in the beloved Wisconsin Amish community where, under the care of their aunt, they’ve grown into skilled beekeepers–and lovely, sought-after young women. . .
Though she has blossomed into a beauty, Lily Christner doesn’t really believe it. Deep down, she still feels like a lonely, gawky teenager. Maybe that’s why she’s all but promised herself to Paul Glick, the one boy who never teased her in her awkward girlhood–unlike Dan Kanagy, whose creative name-calling left her in tears many a time.
Now he’s back in town after two years away–and being surprisingly sweet, suspiciously attentive–and making Lily unsettlingly yet deliciously nervous. It seems Dan wants Lily’s forgiveness–and her heart. But can he convince her–not to mention her protective schwesters and aendi–that despite the past, her future lies with him?…
Since the Amish fiction genre is fairly new to me and one I’m pretty picky about, I’m sure I’ve left out some books that are releasing in the first half of 2016! Which ones do I need to know about? Let me know!
Don’t forget to enter to win a digital copy of Pepper Basham’s April contemporary release – A Twist of Faith, a modern day & Appalachian twist on My Fair Lady.
You can enter at any/all of these posts until Saturday January 2nd at 10pm:
A Few Of Pepper Basham’s Favorite Things
Great list, Carrie. I’d definitely add Hannah’s Choice by Jan Drexler onto your list. It’s Historical Amish published by Bethany House and due out in January. She has three books published by Love Inspired Historical — two Amish Historicals and one Western Historical. A fantastic writer and gifted storyteller. I’m really excited about her debut with Bethany House.
oooo thanks!! 😀
Return to Paradise by Barbara Cameron Abingdon Press — coming out in Feburary. Promises to be an angsty read.
I haven’t heard of this one – will check it out – thanks!