Promise Lodge
by Charlotte Hubbard
GENRE: Amish/Inspirational Romance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The author will award a $15 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Please visit Goddess.com to follow the tour, remember the more you comment better your chances on winning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
Noah focused on drawing his scraper straight across the putty he’d applied, keenly aware of Deborah’s presence. And why wouldn’t he be? The creak of her ladder told him she was climbing down to paint the bottom section of the wall, and then the steady swish swish of her roller made him envision the stretch of her body as she covered the area in front of her with fresh paint, crouching to reach the baseboard.
No need to glance at her. You know exactly what she looks like, he reminded himself. The old crank-out window he was working on had six small panes of glass, each of them with four sides. He would repeat his puttying procedure a total of twenty-three times before he needed to focus on anything other than the window.
Noah kept working, trying to pay more attention to Preacher Amos’s whistled rendition of “The Old Gray Mare” than to Deborah’s creaking ladder . . . her methodical repetitions of painting a section of the upper wall before climbing down to cover the area beneath it. He envied her constant movement, because she seemed to be making more progress than he was as he stood in one spot.
Finish this window and then eat another cinnamon roll. You’ll go nuts trying so hard not to look at her.
Noah worked faster, inspired by the thought of unrolling a sweet, frosted spiral of pastry and raisins. Knead, press, scrape. Repeat. By the time he snapped the lid on his container of putty, he could practically taste the cinnamon and feel the nuts crunching between his teeth. He pivoted, determined to pay no attention to Deborah as he fetched his snack—
“Ach! Oh, phooey!” she cried out.
Noah jumped back just as the roller fell from Deborah’s raised hand, bounced wetly on the top of her head, and then tumbled down the back of her dress.
“Are you all right?” Amos asked as he hurried over to help her.
Noah watched helplessly as Deborah planted a hand on the wet wall to keep from falling. How had she come clear around the room so quickly? Why hadn’t he been aware that she was reaching up to paint the top of the wall, only a few feet away? Had he spun in such a wide circle that he’d bumped the ladder—or had Deborah stretched too far on the wobbly old thing and lost her balance?
“I’m okay. I—I was stretched way out and wasn’t expecting Noah to move,” she replied in a breathy voice. She descended the ladder on shaky legs. “Oh dear, I’ve splattered paint everywhere and made a mess of the floor.”
“If you’re not hurt, there’s no harm done. Latex wipes up with water,” Amos assured her as he shot a questioning glance at Noah.
When Noah saw how the beige paint had saturated Deborah’s kerchief and was about to dribble onto her face, he grabbed his rag. He quickly pressed it against her head to catch the paint—and then realized he was standing close enough to feel her trembling. She was breathing shallowly, her eyes wide and her lips parted as she struggled to recover from her mishap.
Noah almost kissed her—almost hugged Deborah to comfort her—but he caught himself. Such gestures belonged to bygone days when Deborah had loved him as much as he’d adored her. The handprint on her neck was fading from purple to greenish-yellow, yet another reminder of why he shouldn’t succumb to her. He thrust the paint-soaked rag into her hand. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he headed for the door.
Once he was outside in the shade, Noah sucked in air. Now he was shaken, rattled by Deborah’s distress. Her expression had suggested that he’d made her lose her balance, yet he’d truly been unaware that her ladder had been so close behind him. Voices drifted out the cabin’s open windows.
“You’d better wash your hair before that paint dries,” Amos suggested gently.
“Jah, and I’ve made a mess of Phoebe’s dress, too,” Deborah replied. Then she chuckled. “Truth be told, I think Noah was more startled than I was. I’ll be back after I get cleaned up.”
Noah strode to the shed to fetch a can of the white enamel they were using for the cabins’ windowsills and trim. Deborah sounded a lot calmer than he felt. She’d apparently regained her sense of perspective, too—no finger-pointing, and no tears as she set herself to rights again.
You, on the other hand, are skittering away like a whipped pup, Noah thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Review:
Let me start out by saying this was my first read by Charlotte Hubbard & definitely not my last. i really enjoy reading Amish book, since Amish are all around me in the community I live in in Ohio. Promise Lodge was a romance but was also about forgiveness & boy did Deborah have a lot of people to ask for forgiveness, most of Noah all who she was engaged to before breaking it off. After a devastating circumstances & misunderstanding makes Deborah leave her home in Coldstream, she goes to the only place she can think of Promise Lodge to Noah & his family. When she gets to Promise Lodge, a colony Amish & Mennoites that Noah's mother Mattie & her two sisters Christine & Rosetta along with their preacher friend Amos are looking to start after leaving their church community in Coldstream due to how the Bishop & Elders where running it, she has to earn Noah's forgiveness & trust. Deborah struggles to earn his forgiveness but with a little nudge from Amos & the sisters reminding Noah about God will maybe eventually she will. This was such a clean, heartwarming romance I truly enjoyed this read, & can't wait to go back to Promise Lodge to see who is next to find love maybe it will be Rosetta & Truman or Mattie & Amos or maybe someone else. Charlotte Hubbard has earned a new fan!! Thanks you to Goddess Fish for giving me this opportunity to read & review Promise Lodge!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781420139419
IndieBound http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781420139419
Kensington Books http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/32120
Ebook:
Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Charlotte_Hubbard_Promise_Lodge?id=mZOmCQAAQBAJ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
WEBSITE www.CharlotteHubbard.com
Facebook www.Facebook.com/Charlotte.Hubbard1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for featuring and reviewing my book on your blog today!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway! This sounds like a fantastic book!
ReplyDeleteThanks for spending time with us today, Kim! Good luck in the drawing.
DeleteI have one of Charlotte's books on my shelf and have heard many great things about her books! Certainly enjoyed your review about "Promise Lodge" and can't wait to read it for myself. Thanks for the giveaway chance.
ReplyDeleteTrixi, hi! Good to see you again! Thanks for spending time with us today!
DeleteI enjoyed the excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Rita! Glad you stopped by today!
DeleteGreat review - thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Victoria! Thanks for stopping by today!
DeleteAwesome giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Becky! Good luck in the drawing!
DeleteThanks for the giveaway! Loved your bio... my sister and I used to read True Story ALL the time when we were younger!
ReplyDeleteI can hardly wait to find out what happens in this story! I read the excerpts and try to imagine the scenes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteCool. Thanks
ReplyDelete