Virtual Excerpt Tour for Promise Lodge by Charlotte Hubbard

Promise Lodge

by Charlotte Hubbard

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GENRE: Amish/Inspirational Romance

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BLURB:

Energetic widow Mattie Bender Schwartz is working day and night to get Promise Lodge going. She’s also hoping the change will help her son Noah’s heart to heal after his broken engagement. But his former fiancée, Deborah, is looking for a fresh start too. Filled with regret, and cast out by her dat for a reason she can’t yet reveal, Deborah can only pray Noah will forgive her foolishness.

Deborah is the last person Noah expected to show up at Promise Lodge. But with her cruel words still ringing in his head, he’s reluctant to accept her apology—even if the Old Order ways demand he try. If only he could obey Christ’s most important commandment: love one another. But one thing is certain—his mother and aunts, and their beloved Preacher Amos, will do their best to help him get there.

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EXCERPTS (Exclusive Excerpt):

 Deborah awoke with a start to discover that the sunrise was already a bright pink blush on the horizon. The salty-sweet aroma of bacon mingling with the fragrances of coffee and cinnamon told her that breakfast preparations were well underway, so she splashed her face at the sink and dressed quickly. Her body felt heavy from lack of sleep and her eyes stung from crying, but she couldn’t let her worries overwhelm her.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from The Lord, which made Heaven and Earth, she reminded herself. If God be for me, who can be against me?

Deborah arranged her kapp over her freshly wound bun and resolutely smoothed its long strings down the front of her lavender dress. She could do this. She could make herself so useful—could paint so carefully and efficiently—that Preacher Amos and the others would be glad she was here even if Noah wanted nothing more to do with her.

She swung open the cabin door and shrieked, nearly tripping over a body. And then she saw the gun. “Noah! I didn’t know you were—”

Queenie sprang up from Noah’s lap, barking loudly, as though to insist she had not fallen asleep on the job.

“Sorry,” Noah muttered as he rolled away from Deborah, into the grass.

When he stood up, with his hair sticking out in clumps and his shirt half untucked beneath his suspenders, Deborah realized he’d slept in the clothes he’d worn yesterday. But why did Noah have a rifle? Had he thought she might steal away in the night—or steal from the lodge? Had he lost all trust in her?

“Coyotes,” he rasped in a voice heavy with sleep. “Come on, Queenie, let’s go. Enough of your racket.”

Noah hurried toward the lodge with his dog at his side, leaving Deborah at a loss. Of all the places where he could have positioned himself last night, why had he fallen asleep outside her door? Rosetta kept her chickens and goats in a shed on the other side of the lodge, so wouldn’t coyotes have been prowling over there rather than near her cabin?

Deborah started toward the kitchen door at the back of the lodge, wondering if she would ever understand how Noah’s mind worked. She used to think she knew him inside and out, but either he’d changed dramatically since moving to Promise or she had totally misunderstood him when they’d been courting.

Her unsettling thoughts disappeared as she entered the kitchen. Rosetta stood at the stove, turning strips of bacon that sizzled in a cast iron skillet while Christine set a table in the dining room and Mattie pulled a large pan from the oven. Deborah didn’t want to interrupt their snappy rendition of “Simple Gifts”, but she couldn’t help exclaiming over the largest cinnamon rolls she’d ever seen.

“I’d intended to help you make breakfast,” she protested as she gazed at Mattie’s rolls. They were baked to puffy perfection, spiraled around a filling of raisins, cinnamon, and nuts, and they smelled so good. “What’s the occasion, that you’ve made such luscious—surely you haven’t been up since the wee hours to bake these for an everyday breakfast,” Deborah stammered.

Mattie chuckled as she set the pan on a rack. “You are the occasion, Deborah!”

“I was looking for a reason to try this new recipe—testing it for when we have new residents eating with us until their homes are built,” Rosetta explained. “And what better reason could I have than you? We made the dough last night and kept it in the refrigerator, which shortened the process this morning.”

“You can stir up the glaze, if you’d like, ” Mattie said, gesturing toward a bowl of powdered sugar with a measuring cup of milk beside it. “We’d never think you were shirking, Deborah. You’re not made that way.”

Deborah was so stunned that she could only gawk at them. “You—you baked these rolls for me?”

Rosetta grinned as she placed crisp strips of bacon on a platter. “I call it planning for happiness,” she said, her brown eyes sparkling. “We’ve been so busy, working to keep everyone clothed and fed while we’re putting our new settlement together, that it’s time to celebrate our progress—and your visit! All work and no play will make us dull girls.”

“And cranky,” Mattie added with a laugh. “We were all getting a little crisp around the edges, so it’s time to ease up. To count our blessings.”

“Jah, God didn’t create His world without taking a break, and neither should we,” Christine reasoned as she spooned coffee into the percolator basket. “And now we’ve got a head start on tomorrow’s breakfast, too.”

“If you hide some of these rolls where the men won’t find them,” Mattie added with a laugh.

As the three sisters gazed fondly at her, Deborah’s heart swelled with gratitude. “It’s so gut to see you all again,” she murmured. “Things haven’t been the same at home without you and the girls.”

“We’ve missed you, too, dear,” Mattie said wistfully. “While we believe we’ve done the right thing by starting a new colony, it’s been harder than we anticipated to leave our friends behind.”

My Review:
 I do not often read books known to have a religious flair to them, I am more into paranormal and romance. At first I passed this book up, but the more I thought about the blurb the more I wanted to read it. The blurb just made this book intriguing to me. Now that I am finished with the book, I must admit, I am so glad I changed my mind. I will also be looking into other books like this one. 
  I really enjoyed the book and would love this to turn into a series. I would love to know more of the story on how the Promise Lodge turns out once it is really up and running. I made friends with the characters in this book the few days I spent reading it. 
  Contrary to my belief when I first looked at this book, there really was not that much religion in the book. And I have nothing against religion, after all my Father was a ordained minister. I just usually find that religion based books are usually more of a Sunday sermon then a story. This book was a wonderful story.
  In the book 3 Old Order Amish sisters, 2 are widows one is a Maidel, their children and a friend who happens to be a Preacher, all sell their farms and buy property to start their own colony.  Which causes lots of slack with their friends they left behind as well as their religious leaders in their old colony.  The family and friend set out to make their wish for a new colony come true. The property they buy used to be a old church camp. There is a large lodge house, several cabins, barns and more but everything need lots of repairs. As they all work on the place another old friend shows up. Deborah is also one of the boys ex-fiance. 
 As the story goes on, you get to see if Noah and Deborah work out their problems, if they are able to fix up the old camp and make a go of their dreams.  It really is a very good story.
  I really hope Ms. Hubbard decides to make a series out of this book. I would be the first one to read it if she did. 

I was given my copy in exchange for a honest review. And honestly, I really really enjoyed this book.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Many moons ago—like, in 1983 while she was still a school librarian—Charlotte Hubbard sold her first story to True Story. This launched her into writing around seventy of those “true confessions” stories over the years, and she’s been a slave to her overactive imagination ever since. Over the course of her writing career, she has sold nearly 50 books—most recently, Amish romance series she’s written as Charlotte Hubbard or Naomi King.

Charlotte lived in Missouri for most of her life, so her Amish stories are set in imaginary Missouri towns. These days she lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband of 40 years and their Border collie, Ramona.

BUY LINKS

Promise Lodge, Book 1

Zebra (February 26, 2016)

ISBN-13: 9781420139419 •• ISBN-10: 142013941X

Click on these links to buy this book now!

Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=142013941X/

Barnes & Noble http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781420139419

The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781420139419

B-A-M http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9781420139419

Chapters http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a/9781420139419-item.html

IndieBound  http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781420139419

Powell’s  http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781420139419

Kensington Books  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/32120

 Ebook:

Kindle  http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Lodge-Charlotte-Hubbard-ebook/dp/B00Y6RB2PA/

Nook  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/promise-lodge-charlotte-hubbard/1121998591?ean=9781420139426

iBooks  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/promise-lodge/id1013564715?mt=11

Google Play   https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Charlotte_Hubbard_Promise_Lodge?id=mZOmCQAAQBAJ

Kensington  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/32119

Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/promise-lodge

WEBSITE   www.CharlotteHubbard.com

Facebook    www.Facebook.com/Charlotte.Hubbard1

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

Charlotte will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.

a Rafflecopter giveaway