Pump Up Your Book Publicity Tour & Giveaway for Breath of Spring by Charlotte Hubbard

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Publicity Tour presented by Pump Up Your Book for Breath of Spring by Charlotte Hubbard.  Please leave a comment or question for Ms. Hubbard to let her know you stopped by.  You can enter the giveaway at my stop by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.

Title: Breath of Spring
Author: Charlotte Hubbard
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 352
Genre: Amish Romance/Inspirational

ISBN:  978-1-420133-07-3

ASIN: B00G9ABZOA

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Book Depository

Add to Goodreads

About the book: 

As a bright season brings a fresh start to Willow Ridge, Annie Mae Knepp feels she can never make peace with the past. Her disgraced ex-bishop father is furious that she’s has taken her five siblings to live with her. She’s never been truly at home in her faith…or believing in herself. And Annie Mae fears no man will want to take on the responsibilities she’s gladly shouldered.

True, her quiet neighbor Adam Wagler has been steadfast and unshakable, helping her through her trials, but he surely couldn’t think of someone so lost as more than a friend. Believing she is unworthy because of her doubts, Annie Mae will find, in a moment of surprising revelation, that God can work impossible miracles—and that love makes all things new.

I’ve called Missouri home for most of my life, and most folks don’t realize that several Old Older Amish and Mennonite communities make their home here, as well. The rolling pastureland, woods, and small towns along county highways make a wonderful setting for Plain populations—and for stories about them, too! While Jamesport, Missouri is the largest Old Order Amish settlement west of the Mississippi River, other communities have also found the affordable farm land ideal for raising crops, livestock, and running the small family-owned businesses that support their families.

Like my heroine, Miriam Lantz, of my Seasons of the Heart series, I love to feed people—to share my hearth and home. I bake bread and goodies and I love to try new recipes. I put up jars and jars of green beans, tomatoes, beets and other veggies every summer. All my adult life, I’ve been a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and we hosted a potluck group in our home for more than twenty years.

Like Abby Lambright, heroine of my Home at Cedar Creek series, I consider it a personal mission to be a listener and a peacemaker—to heal broken hearts and wounded souls. Faith and family, farming and frugality matter to me: like Abby, I sew and enjoy fabric arts—I made my wedding dress and the one Mom wore, too, when I married into an Iowa farm family more than thirty-five years ago! When I’m not writing, I crochet and sew, and I love to travel.

I recently moved to Minnesota when my husband got a wonderful new job, so now he and I and our border collie, Ramona, are exploring our new state and making new friends.

Social Links:

Website:  http://www.naomikingauthor.com/

Blog: http://www.naomikingauthor.com/blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NaomiC.King

Newsletter:  http://naomikingauthor.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1ff13c0d30a790af30a198960&id=ee6ef029a9

When we last left Willow Springs, Missouri, the Amish community in Charlotte Hubbard’s Seasons of the Heart series, was dealing with the fallout of excommunicating one of their former bishops, Hiram Knepp, for his wayward behavior.  In Breath of Spring, Ms. Hubbard gives us the story of Annie Mae Knepp, Hiram’s oldest daughter, a young woman determined not to follow her father’s footsteps, who searches for peace while supporting herself.  Transporting us into the rich and colorful world she’s created, Ms. Hubbard easily drew me back into Willow Ridge and gave me characters I could fall in love with.

Refusing to follow their father and his duplicitous ways, Annie Mae and Nellie Knepp are in need of a new home and a source of income.  Accepting a job at Miriam Hooley’s Sweet Seasons Café, Annie Mae intends to support herself and Nellie, who still attends school.  Never having worked outside of the home, Annie Mae is not sure she’s cut out to be a waitress, but she can’t help being grateful for the acceptance and generosity she receives from the customers and the Amish community.  Hoping to find peace, and eventually reunite with her younger siblings, Annie Mae never planned on having to deal with more of her father’s outrageous behavior or on falling in love with someone from her past.

Ms. Hubbard does a wonderful job taking Annie Mae, previously a supporting character, and turning her into a star in this book.  I found myself connecting with Annie Mae in ways I never expected; the loss of her mother at a young age and her father’s lack of real love for his children left lasting emotional scars Annie Mae will have to address.  While Annie Mae makes several mistakes, mostly from her lack of experience in dealing with worldly and untrustworthy people; she’s intelligent, a hard worker and willing to do whatever it takes to help and protect the people she loves.  I especially liked how devoted she was to her younger siblings and how she worried about them because her father had moved them out of town.

While most of the secondary characters are people in the community we’ve met before, Ms. Hubbard introduces us to Adam Wagler, a home remodeler who lives with his widowed brother.  Adam, a fellow member of the Amish community,  is Annie Mae’s former neighbor and a young man with emotional scars of his own.  While they’ve known each other almost all of their lives, Adam and Annie Mae have never thought of each other as more than acquaintances, however, as they get to know each other at the café, Adam realizes there’s more to Annie than meets the eye and can’t help becoming attracted to her.

Ms. Hubbard does a good job developing Adam; he’s honest, fair and is a hard worker undergoing his own spiritual battle.  Having completed his “Rumspringa”, and surviving a tragic event, Adam has sworn off all thoughts of marriage. Of course he never planned on falling in love with Annie Mae, who thinks she will remain a maidel (spinster) in order to take care of her younger siblings.  Soon Adam finds himself going to Annie Mae’s rescue, whether she thinks she needs him to or not, and realizing they were meant for each other. 

Will Annie Mae’s father create more problems for his daughter? Will Willow Springs ever be done dealing with Hiram Knepp and his outrageous and unscrupulous behavior?  And will Adam and Annie’s feelings give them a chance at something neither dared hope for? You’ll have to read Breath of Spring to find out.  I loved it and can’t wait to see what happens in this community next.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Crowns

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review via NetGalley

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR SCHEDULE

May 5

Book reviewed at Shhh…Not While I’m Reading

Book reviewed at Literary R&R

May 6

Book reviewed at In Our Spare Time

Book featured at I Heart Reading

May 7

Book featured at Talking Books Blog

May 8

Book reviewed at Harlie’s Books

Book featured at 3 Partners in Shopping

May 9

Interviewed at Manga Maniac Cafe

Book featured at A Book Addict’s Delight

May 12

Book featured at Reading Rendezvous Reviewz

May 13

Interviewed at Becky on Books…and Quilts

May 14

Book reviewed at Blooming with Books

May 16

Book featured at Paulette’s Papers

May 26

Book reviewed at Splashes of Joy

May 28

Guest blogging at My Book Addiction and More

May 29

Book reviewed at Griperang’s Bookmark

June 2

Book reviewed at Lighthouse-Academy

June 4

Book reviewed at My Devotional Thoughts

June 5

Book reviewed at Bookishly Devoted

June 9

Book reviewed at Confessions of a Reader

June 10

Book reviewed at Maureen’s Musings

June 12

Book featured at Icefairy’s Treasure Chest

June 17

Book featured at Margay Leah Justice

June 19

Book reviewed at Reviews by Molly

Guest blogging at Authors and Readers Book Corner

June 20

Book reviewed and Guest blogging at Melina’s Book Blog

June 23

Book featured at Bookalicious Travel Addict

June 24

Book reviewed and Guest blogging at The Book Connection

June 26

Book reviewed at Reviews from the Heart

Book reviewed at A Room Without Books is Empty

Book reviewed at Melina’s Book Blog

June 27

Book reviewed at Eccentric Eclectic Woman