Monday, April 9, 2018

Straight Chatting from the Library: Charlotte Hubbard


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

My High-Fashion Life


You might think novelists lead glamorous, high-fashion lives, but your assumptions might be all wrong when it comes to my life! For example:

**I don’t hang around all day in silk pajamas and kitten-heeled slippers, sipping wine. When you have a dog in Minnesota, spending all day in any sort of jammies doesn’t make sense—unless you enjoy being cold, or you want your neighbors to talk while you’re out for all those potty walks.

**I don’t have long, beautifully painted nails. A lifetime of playing the piano/organ, playing Frisbee with the dog, typing for hours at a time, gardening, and washing a lot of dishes make long, polished nails out of the question for me. Too high maintenance. My nails are always clipped short and out of my way. During sandal season, however, I love to get pedicures and show off my toes—because I don’t type with my toes.

**I don’t have pierced ears. Besides having a bit of a needle phobia, I’ve never understood the glory of having someone punch a hole in your earlobe and then warn you against infection. I do, however, enjoy wearing wire “cuff” earrings and vintage clip-on earrings I find in antique stores.

**I don’t have any tattoos. See the needle phobia thing, above—and again, the allure of having ink injected into your skin escapes me. Also, I tend to tire of things, and unless you want to remove several layers of skin to erase it, a tattoo is forever.

**I dislike the bare-legged look with skirts. I know, I know—modern women prefer to skip the panty hose. When we were in Paris last spring, I was really happy to see so many French women wearing hosiery of some sort, plain or patterned. Their legs looked so chic instead of, well—naked.

**I don’t wear high heels. Back in the day, I rocked some fairly tall wedges or stacked heels, but not anymore—and never stilettos. I can twist or break an ankle just looking at those things. I’m only 5’1”, and I’m good with staying close to the ground!

**I don’t dress entirely in black—unless concert black is required for a choral performance. Black drains the color from my already pale face, and I find it depressing. Sure, black pants are a wardrobe staple, but I wear them with bright colored tops, jackets, and accessories. Color makes me feel happier and more alert.

There you have it, the low-down on my high-fashion lifestyle!

READ THE BLURB


For Leah Otto, marrying Jude Shetler is a long-held dream come true. As a young girl, she was captivated by his good looks and talent as an auctioneer. When Jude, now a widower with three children, begins to court her, Leah doesn’t hesitate. Other men may not appreciate her tomboy ways, but Jude values Leah’s practical nature and her skill with the animals she tends, and both enter the marriage with joy and optimism.

Three months later, Leah feels as if her world is coming down around her. Her twin teenage step-daughters, Alice and Adeline, are pushing boundaries and taking far too many risks, while five-year-old Stevie deeply misses his mother. Leah, more at ease in a barn tending her goats and chickens than in a kitchen, struggles with her housekeeping duties.

Then a baby is abandoned on their doorstep, and Leah must search her soul. Caring for little Betsy fills her with renewed purpose and the strength to begin pulling her family together. With Jude’s steadfast support, Leah finds that what she once thought of as a happy ending may be something even better—the beginning of a life rich in love, faith, and unexpected blessings.

READ AN EXCERPT


Jeremiah Shetler leaned his elbows on his kitchen table, gazing earnestly at his younger brother—who, at thirty-three, was surely old enough to know better about what he was getting into. “Last chance to see reason, Jude,” he stated bluntly. “If you go through with this wedding tomorrow, you’ll be signing on for a lifetime of sorrow and regret.”

Jude’s dark eyes flashed with resentment. “Sounds more like my marriage to Frieda—God rest her soul,” he added quickly. “Why can’t you let me find my happiness with a woman who won’t keep secrets? A woman who adores me and makes me laugh?”

“Leah’s a nice girl, jah,” Jeremiah said with a shake of his head, “but she’s clueless about such basic activities as putting a gut meal on the table—”

“Why are you telling me this?” Jude demanded.

Jeremiah exhaled forcefully. He’d never understood what Jude saw in Leah. He could only assume that his widowed brother was so desperate for affection and companionship that he was willing to settle for a woman who’d never progressed beyond being the tomboy daughter Raymond and Lenore Otto hadn’t taught much about a wife’s responsibilities.

“Have you ever eaten a meal Leah cooked?” he challenged. “Vernon Gingerich has told me that any time he’s visited the Otto home, Lenore’s been bustling around in the kitchen and Leah’s been in the front room chatting with him and her dat. And at our family dinners these past months, Leah’s cleaned up the dishes, but I’ve not seen any signs that she knows how to operate a stove.”

“Lenore does the cooking when Vernon visits because he’s her bishop, and she enjoys cooking for a man now that Raymond’s gone,” Jude explained impatiently. He raked his hand through his disheveled dark waves, glancing downward with an anguished sigh. “Come on, man. You know how it is to lose a wife—and you don’t even have kids to look after. Doesn’t the loneliness—the need for adult conversation—eat you alive at times?”

Jeremiah looked away, his heart pierced by the blatant reminder of Priscilla’s absence. After three years of living without her, he did indeed know how the silence of nights alone clawed at a man’s heart like a relentless beast. But he needed to pursue his present purpose before Jude made the biggest mistake of his life.

MEET THE AUTHOR


Charlotte Hubbard is the acclaimed author of Amish romance and fiction that evokes simpler times and draws upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community west of the Mississippi. Faith and family, farming, and food preservation are hallmarks of her lifestyle—and the foundation of all her novels. A deacon, dedicated church musician and choir member, she loves to travel, read, try new recipes, and crochet. A longtime Missourian, Charlotte now lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and their border collie, Vera.

http://www.CharlotteHubbard.com
http://www.Facebook.com/Charlotte.Hubbard1

Order Ebook

Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073NPM8G8/
Kindle UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073NPM8G8
Kindle Canada http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073NPM8G8
Kindle Australia http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B073NPM8G8/
iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-mothers-gift/id1254897917?mt=11
iBooks UK https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-mothers-gift/id1254897917?mt=11
iBooks Canada https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/a-mothers-gift/id1254897917?mt=11
iBooks Australia https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/a-mothers-gift/id1254897917?mt=11
iBooks New Zealand https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/a-mothers-gift/id1254897917?mt=11
Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-mothers-gift-charlotte-hubbard/1126683560?ean=9781496712196
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-mother-s-gift-8
Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Charlotte_Hubbard_A_Mother_s_Gift?id=MI0qDwAAQBAJ

Order Print Book:

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1496712188/
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ISBN=1496712188,br> Amazon Canada http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ISBN=1496712188
Barnes & Noble http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781496712189
Books-A-Million http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9781496712189
Chapters Indigo http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a/9781496712189-item.html
IndieBound http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781496712189

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY


a Rafflecopter giveaway

27 comments:

  1. Shared on G+ to help spread the word, have a great day! 🦋

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  2. I enjoyed getting to know your book; congrats on the tour, I hope it is a fun one for you, and thanks for the chance to win :)

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  3. THANKS for featuring my book and post on your blog today!

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  4. I love all your books and would love to win a copy of A Mother's Gift. You were one of my first favorite authors for Amish books.

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    1. What a wonderful thing to say, Andrea! Thank you!

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  5. I can't wait to read A Mother's Gift! It looks so good!

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    1. Thanks Vickie--and thanks for joining my tour later in the month!

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  6. Looking forward to reading this book.

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  7. Sounds like such a great book ty for the chance to know more about it and you alsp the chance to win!

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  8. Love your books Charlotte and this one is on my wish list!

    wfnren at aol dot com

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  9. I have really enjoyed the books of yours I have read but the smaller books like yours are so hard for me to hold due to my rheumatoid arthritis and I hate reading on the kindle or tablet. Just something about the feel puff the physical book in your hands as you read

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    1. If it helps, Ellen, A MOTHER'S GIFT is one of the larger-format paperbacks--and all of my books are available in audio versions, too. Thanks for your comment!

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  10. If your book is as good as the write up on yourself, I will love reading it. Thanks again for allowing me to enter this giveaway.

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  11. Your book looks very good and I would love to read it. Thanks for the chance at the giveaway.

    faithdcreech at gmail dot com

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  12. I enjoyed getting to know you and agree with you on a lot of things. But my ears are pierced and I hate panty hose, LOL. The new books sounds amazing! Congrats on the new book!
    perrianne(DOT]askew(AT)me(DOT)com
    Perrianne

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  13. What a fun interview!!! Thanx for the giveaway!!!!

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