Love is in the Air by Marie Bast

As a romance writer, I’m always on the look-out for a good story, subject matter, theme, or setting to inspire me. Everywhere we go, my eyes and ears are always peeled for something to arouse my interest for my next novel. And summer is a great time to go on a vacation or a hike, take a walk through the park, go to the many festivals that are all around like our Rhubarb Festival or Hog Fest, maybe attend an outside art and craft show or visit a historical site to glean ideas.

Last weekend, we enjoyed a concert in the park. Besides a terrific 

band, we saw young couples sharing a blanket on the ground or 

sitting side-by-side in lawn chairs holding hands. Many had 

playful interactions with the band.

                                                              

     

Sometimes just the lying on the warm sand in the Bahamas, Mexico, or Myrtle Beach can inspire the creative juices. One year, we visited the dunes in Michigan. Went on a canoe ride on lake Michigan and enjoyed the sunsets.

My husband and I love to go on cruises. The picture at the right is 

a replica of a nineteenth century paddle-boat dinner cruise on

the Mississippi River.        

The picture at the right is the Brilliance of the Sea Gulf Cruise we took to Cozumel, Mexico, in 2016. A cruise lends itself to romance in exotic, romantic, and historical places the ships visit. We’ve gone on several Bahama cruises to enjoy the beautiful beaches and warm water.

The below pictures are of my grandson and his girlfriend who was crowned South Carolina's 2016 Rodeo Queen. Now who doesn’t love a good rodeo or fair in the summer. They also like to enjoy a relaxing horseback ride.

So what is your favorite place or thing to do in the summer? And if you’re a writer, do you have a special place or event that gets you inspired for that next story?

Marie Bast is a Publishers Weekly bestselling author of romance     

that whispers words of hope and healing through complex 

characters and twisting plots. She enjoys writing Amish, 

contemporary and historical stories. Marie's latest release, The Amish Baker, is a Publisher Weekly best seller. Her next novel, 

The Amish Marriage Bargain releases January 2020. Married for 

twenty-seven years, Marie and her husband have two grown sons 

and one daughter. When she’s not writing, she’s walking, golfing, 

gardening or spending time with her family.

The Amish Baker purchase links:

AMAZON         BarnesandNoble            BooksAMillion               Christianbook

Visit Marie's website or follower her on social media:

mariebastauthor.com        Facebook        Twitter        Pinterest        blogspot

We All Need a Valley of Hope

This month, Harlequin released my novel, Valley of Hope. Well, technically, it’s a re-release since I originally wrote this novel in 2013 and self-published it.

Sarah Price's Amish romance, Valley of Hope, at Walmart

For over 35 years, I’ve been writing romance novels. Seeing a novel published and sitting on the bookshelves of a store, especially Walmart, is always a thrill.

But especially for this book, Valley of Hope.

You see, in most Amish romances, the Amish are depicted as living idyllic lives. They smile as they do chores, they fall in love by fence posts, and they live happily ever after.

Having grown up in a Mennonite family, I’m very familiar with the culture of conservative Mennonites as well as Amish. When I was nineteen, I found an Amish family who took me in and let me stay with them. For years I would spend summers and spring breaks at their farm. Later, an older Amish woman let me rent a room from her and I spent several years with her, going back and forth to Pennsylvania from my life in New Jersey.

And I know that not all Amish romances begin with the sweet meeting by the fence post.

In Valley of Hope, the fourth book in my Amish of Lancaster series, Samuel Lapp is a headstrong young man who, while on rumpschpringe—that period of freedom before Amish youth take their kneeling vow—prefers to hang out with Englischers. He loves Mary Ruth, but he’s wrong when he thinks she will wait for him forever.

What I loved about writing this novel was how it depicts the inner turmoil some of the youth go through when involving the process of making that final commitment to join the Amish church. Not a lot of people realize that there are two types of Amish: those who are born into the community and those who join the church. Not all of those who are born Amish actually become Amish.

An Amish Farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Photo Credit: Sarah Price

Samuel Lapp isn’t certain that he wants to become Amish and give up the good life. Only he comes to learn that what he believed was exciting and fun isn’t as ‘good’ as he originally thought. Isn’t that something we can all relate to? How many times have we thought we wanted something, worked hard to achieve it, and when we obtain those goals, we realize that we aren’t as happy as we thought we’d be.

Does Valley of Hope have a happy ending? Well, most of my novels do. But surprises happen along the way because…well…that’s life. It’s full of surprises, just like the real world of romance and life. And just like the real world, sometimes we all need a valley of hope in times of indecision. 

Sarah Price is the author of over 40 novels, several of which were on the ECPA Bestseller Fiction List. She runs the Amish Fiction Authors blog at http://www.amishfictionauthors.com. Her own website is http://www.sarahpriceauthor.com.   

Ditch Lilies and Other Thoughts on Summer

For me, Memorial Day is the unofficial launch of summer. Summertime is—as one songwriter put it—"when the living is easy," or at least, easier. And life seems full of possibilities.

Summer means long, lazy days with as little routine as possible. The kids are out of school and in my current season of motherhood, home from a year at school. There's more time to catch up on my TBR pile of books, more time for fun and more time to simply enjoy life with those I love the most. Summer is also when one of my favorite flowers burst into bloom. Nothing says summer like tiger lilies.

I'm aware that these particular tiger lilies—aka ditch lilies because they often grow roadside—are considered common and invasive by professional gardeners.
 
Yet ditch lilies remind me of the carefree, childhood summers. Except for October, I'm not a big fan of orange—but I can't begin to tell you how exquisite these tiger lilies look next to blue hydrangeas. Yes, they may be old-fashioned. But then again, so am I when it comes to the garden.

It's hard to find these exact species in garden catalogs—because so many "experts" turn up their noses at the lily's ditch water roots. The lilies grow wild along the ditch banks of many country roads throughout the United States.
 
Ditch lilies also remind me of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, a place dear to my heart. I visited the Shore for the first time at the age of twenty-one. The summer I lived there getting to know the wonderful people and unique culture of the Shore was transformational. 

For me, it was an incredible place of fun, nature's beauty and firsts. It was here this city girl first went fishing; first went clamming in a mucky tidal marsh; first learned to eat crab—a labor-intensive endeavor; and fell in love with life attuned to the rhythmic cycle of the moon and tide.

Even after all these years—I’m not going to tell you how many—I revisit this splendid and unique Tidewater destination as often as I can with my family. In the Eastern Shore sanctuary of life, there is truly peace, tranquility and safe harbor.

After writing six romantic suspense books, a contemporary Hawaiian romance and four historical novellas, my Shore friends asked me why I didn't write a book about them. So I did—Coast Guard Courtship, which evolved into a series of seaside romances with Love Inspired, set in a fictional fishing village on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. My fifth ESVA romance, The Bachelor's Unexpected Family releases in August. 

I always find it bittersweet to return home after a visit to the Eastern Shore. But one summer day a few years ago, a beloved Shore friend/father figure dug up a patch of wild ditch lilies so I could take something of the Shore's essence home with me.
 

And now every summer when they bloom, I can imagine that once again I'm there on the Shore with cherished friends and the hint of the sea on the breeze. 

Here's to beautiful flowers—like the wonderful people who grace our lives. Wishing you dragonfly days and firefly evenings. Have a wonderful summer and happy reading.


What's your favorite thing about summer?