Will God deny what brings them such joy?   Musical prodigy Levi Shetler hasn’t touched a piano since he secretly played one years ago. His strict Amish community forbids instruments or the singing of any music not in their approved songbook. Levi asks God often why music tempts him when playing an instrument isn’t allowed in his world. One person knows Levi’s talents: Mary Hershberger, the girl who promised years ago to keep his secret. Mary comes from a more liberal district than Levi, but she’s facing family troubles of her own. The mutual care for an aging Englischer, Adeline, reunites Mary and Levi as young adults. They realize that, despite their differences, they have a shared love of music—and a shared confusion about whether their talents are God-given gifts or temptations luring them into the Englisch world. The couple realizes they must compromise or part ways, but a tragic accident shakes their decision. Both Mary and Levi will need to reconcile what they love with what their hearts say is right—because even as their passion for music brings them together, it could be what tears them apart. The first novel in the new Amish Journeys series by bestselling author Beth Wiseman, Hearts in Harmony explores how far the heart will travel for the melody of love.

    The clues are sparse, but Levi, the Beilers’ oldest son, happened to be awake in the middle of the night and spotted a white vehicle driving past the house with its lights off.Sarah, David and Malinda’s daughter, is in her late teens and old enough to observe her parents’ agony. Not only is she afraid, too, 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 who he’s really interested in.When a second Amish barn burns for suspicious reasons, the Amish grow more restless. “We’re too quiet too much of the time,” a group of Amish men tell David Beiler, their minister. Seriously considering police protection, the increasingly tense community questions their traditional nonresistant approach to violence.Sarah now finds herself at odds with her mother over her choice of boyfriends and uncertain about how to respond to the attention of Lee, a newcomer to Lancaster. Not only that, she wonders if her dad is a wise enough leader as her community reels from within and without.Everyone is on edge as the losses mount and suspicions undo the usual steadiness of these people.

    Katrina’s best friend, Bekka, is convinced Katrina should try out for American Star, a televised singing competition that Bekka has been secretly watching. Katrina resists the temptation until her father’s health worsens. He desperately needs a surgery the family cannot afford. Katrina decides she must go against her parents’ wishes to win the money needed to help her father. But how will she handle herself as an Amish teenager out in the world?Teen girls will be swept into the excitement as Katrina ventures out of her quiet Amish world to become a reality television star. Will she be successful? And will she be accepted back into her community when it’s over?

    As her dat often reminds her, she is too tall for most boys, and with her mousy brown hair and grossly scarred fingers, how can she ever hope to find a husband? With her family dismissing her as an old maid before she even reaches the ripe old age of twenty-four, her most important job is watching out for younger sister, Rachel, and seeing to it that Rachel marries well. That is until Felty and Anna Helmuth introduce Lia to their grandson, Moses, and she can’t ignore her racing pulse when he is near. Will Moses awaken the heart she locked away long ago?At twenty-six, MOSES ZIMMERMAN, is a bit long in the tooth for a single Amish fellow. Three years ago, his fiancé abandoned him and left the Church, and he promised her he’d wait for her return. But, his scheming grandparents make other plans. Moses tries to resist their meddling, but this time, their plans include someone who is tall enough to look him in the eye, someone whose soul is as beautiful as her staggeringly lovely face, and someone who might help him trade the painful past for a hopeful future.

    But a new start and a simpler life aren't the only reasons Liz is setting down roots in the heart of Indiana's Amish community. She is quietly embarking on a quest to find answers about her late mother's secret life growing up Amish.Becoming the town's new innkeeper helps Liz ingrain herself among the townsfolk while searching for the truth about her Amish relatives. That is until she finds herself in the middle of the mysterious murder of one of the inn's guests. Is there a connection between the death of her troublesome lodger and the truth about her long-lost family?

    Each was designed like an old-fashioned quilt square, representing a piece of the Amish traditions Sarah loved. The works of art were intended to draw more tourists to the Home Valley in the struggling economy. But instead, they invited a menace. One by one, each barn is set ablaze and destroyed....The arson fires spread fear through the community— amongst Amish and Englischers alike. Now Sarah wonders if she’s being punished for her pridefulness...or whether there’s a more malevolent will at work.As an outsider, arson investigator Nate MacKenzie struggles to investigate the crime scenes while adhering to Amish ways. With Sarah as his guide, he warms to the Plain People and their simple ways. As the fires rage, beliefs are challenged, a way of life is questioned and family secrets are exposed. In the aftermath of the destruction the people of the Home Valley must join together to raise their barns and their hopes for the future.

    Caleb Bender and his neighbors are arrested for neglect, with the state ordering the children be placed in an institution. Among them are Caleb's teenage daughter, Rachel, and the boy she has her eye on, Jake Weaver. Romance blooms between the two when Rachel helps Jake escape the children's home.Searching for a place to relocate his family where no such laws apply, Caleb learns there's inexpensive land for sale in Mexico, a place called Paradise Valley. Despite rumors of instability in the wake of the Mexican revolution, the Amish community decides this is their answer. Since it was Caleb's idea, he and his family will be the pioneers. They will send for the others once he's established a foothold and assessed the situation. Caleb's daughters are thrown into turmoil. Rachel doesn't want to leave Jake. Her sister, Emma, who has been courting Levi Mullet, fears her dreams of marriage will be dashed. Miriam has never had a beau and is acutely aware there will be no prospects in Mexico. Once there, they meet Domingo, a young man and guide who takes a liking to Miriam, something her father would never approve. While Paradise Valley is everything they'd hoped it would be, it isn't long before the bandits start giving them trouble, threatening to upset the fledgling Amish settlement, even putting their lives in danger. Thankfully no one has been harmed so far, anyway.

    Although she's always longed to see the outside world, Johanna believes her future is rooted in the community. But when she learns a troubling secret, the world she thought she knew is shattered and she is forced to make difficult choices about a new life and the man she left behind.Berta Schumacher has lived a privileged life in Chicago, and when her parents decide they want a simpler life in Amana, Iowa, she resists. Under the strictures of the Amana villages, Berta's rebellion reaches new heights. Will her heart ever be content among the plain people of Amana?

    Anna is on the ship only to ensure the safe arrival of her loved ones to the New World. Hardened by years of living at sea, Bairn resents toting these naive farmers--dubbed "Peculiars" by deckhands--across the ocean. As delays, storms, illness, and diminishing provisions afflict crew and passengers alike, Bairn finds himself drawn to Anna's serene nature. For her part, Anna can't seem to stay below deck and far away from the aloof ship's carpenter, despite warnings. When an act of sacrifice leaves Anna in a perilous situation, Bairn discovers he may not have left his faith as firmly in the past as he thought. But has the revelation come too late? Amish fiction favorite Suzanne Woods Fisher brings her fans back to the beginning of Amish life in America with this fascinating glimpse into the first ocean crossing as seen through the eyes of a devout young woman and an irreverent man. Blending the worlds of Amish and historical fiction, Fisher is sure to delight her longtime fans even as she attracts new ones with her superb and always surprise-filled writing.

    Katie Chupp spends her days at The Sweet Shop, taking care of customers and baking delicious treats . . . not exactly a profession where one expects to be thrown into the midst of mysteries and mayhem.But when the bakery is broken into, someone has to find the thief . . . besides finding another place to do the baking and get the orders to the customers.Is this a random theft, or is the thief trying to ruin the town's Independence Day celebration?Book 1 of the Sweet Shop Mysteries seriesAnd watch for book 2 - Christmas Cookie Mystery - COMING SOON!

    When she returns to her childhood home, strange and frightening events warn that she will soon become a victim of the same fate if she is unsuccessful in solving the crime even the authorities couldn't solve. The secret she uncovers beneath the decaying floorboards of her dilapidated home makes her wish she'd never returned... and her parents are too dead to give her an explanation. This book, like all other books by Samantha Bayarr, is a clean read. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: While this novel is set against the backdrop of an Amish community, the characters and the names of the community are fictional. There is no intended resemblance between the characters in this book or the setting, and any real members of any Amish or Mennonite community. As with any work of fiction, I’ve taken license in some areas of research as a means of creating the necessary circumstances for my characters and setting. It is completely impossible to be accurate in details and descriptions, since every community differs, and such a setting would destroy the fictional quality of entertainment this book serves to present. Any inaccuracies in the Amish and Mennonite lifestyles portrayed in this book are completely due to fictional license. Please keep in mind that this book is meant for fictional, entertainment purposes only, and is not written as a text book on the Amish.

    The women’s only income must come from the family greenhouse, but someone seems to be trying to force them out of business.   Amy King has just lost her father and brother, and her mother needs her to help run the family’s greenhouse. It doesn’t seem fair to ask her to leave a job she loves, when there is still a sister and brother to help. But Sylvia is also grieving for her husband while left to raise three children, and Henry, just out of school, is saddled with all the jobs his father and older brother used to do. As Amy assumes her new role, she also asks Jared Riehl to put their courtship on hold. When things become even more stressful at the greenhouse, will Amy crumble under the pressure?

    Growing up in Seattle without a dad or grandparents, she wonders what it would be like to have a heritage, a place of belonging. Holly is furious when her mother, Esther, reveals a long-kept secret: Holly’s grandmother and uncles are still alive and begging Esther to return. And Holly is shocked when she learns that the family she’s never known lives on a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, farm—as part of an Amish community her mother once abandoned.Guilt-ridden Esther, terrified to see her mother and siblings, begs Holly to accompany her on a visit to Esther’s mother before she dies. But can their journey to a conflicting world heal their emotional wounds and finally bring them home?Set in the heart of contemporary Lancaster County, Leaving Lancaster explores the power of forgiveness, family reconciliation, and love where least expected.

    But their fledgling enterprise promises to reap surprising rewards for each in turn, including the gift of unexpected love . . .     For Regina Miller, the new Morning Star Marketplace is a chance to share her secret work with the world—without revealing herself. Old Order Amish forbid the creation of art without purpose, but without a husband, Regina has been free to explore the joy of painting in her attic. Yet when Gabe Flaud’s curiosity leads him to speculate that Regina herself is the painter, the full weight of their community’s judgement falls on her shoulders.     When Gabe stands up to defend Regina, questioning the Order’s restrictions, he reveals his own guilty secret and is shunned along with her. Forced to turn to each other for companionship, the young couple must learn to balance their own needs with their deep faith . . . and a love that will show them all things are possible.     Praise for the novels of Charlotte Hubbard   “Hubbard firmly grounds the storyline in the principle of Amish grace.” —Publishers Weekly   “Fans of Amish fiction will love Charlotte Hubbard’s series.” —Marta Perry

    Moving from one foster home to another, she’s had two constants in life: knitting and her ragdoll. Now at 24, she works as a social worker in a foster home for boys. To her surprise, Amish families from Cherry Creek, NY apply to be foster parents. She quickly bonds with one Amish woman, Susanna Yoder, a knitter waiting for a kidney transplant. Susanna shows Raven her prayer shawl, and seeing what comfort it brings, Raven eagerly knits prayer shawls and eventually helps start a knitting circle.Over time, Raven discovers her ragdoll is really an Amish doll that unravels the mystery of her birth. This revelation leads her to a new found faith, forgiveness, and an Amish love.Karen Anna Vogel is a trusted English friend to many Amish in Western Pennsylvania and New York. She’s the author of Amish Knitting Circle, Knit Together, and The Amish Doll. She has a worldwide audience at her popular blog, Amish Crossings http://www.karenannavogel.blogspot.com She has a B.A. in psychology and a Masters in Biblical Counseling and loves mentoring young women. Karen and her husband of 31 years, Tim, enjoy living in rural PA and have four grown children. You can visit her at www.karenannavogel.com or Amish Literature Fans on Facebook.