Tag Archives: amish romance

The Amish bad boys

28 Monday Dec 2020

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Starting in February 2021, I have a brand new miniseries kicking off—The Infamous Amish!

These Amish stories are about the Amish bad boys.

The miniseries starts with the story of Isaiah Yoder, the son of an Amish criminal. Abe Yoder’s fraud has rocked the community, and no one knows who they can trust anymore. Now that Abe is in prison doing his time, the community has to move on, and so does Abe’s son, Isaiah.

But how do you move on when no one will trust you?

How do you find your place again when your name has been ruined?

You do what you have to…

The Preacher’s Son will be hitting the shelves in Walmart and bookstores everywhere in February 2021, but I hope you’ll preorder your copy!

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In this poignant new series, Patricia Johns introduces an Amish family striving to reclaim the promise of love, marriage, and community after a shocking change in circumstance. Her sensitive storytelling and realistically flawed, yet endearing characters bring depth and heart to this tender story about faith and second chances, as a young man and woman.

The Amish residents of Bountiful, Pennsylvania, are stunned when preacher Abe Yoder is imprisoned for fraud. For Abe’s son, Isaiah, the news cuts doubly deep. His daet’s misdeeds have cost Isaiah his family’s land and their good name. To support his sisters, he takes a job in the Glick family’s book-binding shop, though it means working alongside a woman who has every reason to resent him. Yet, his attraction to Bethany Glick’s beauty and warmth is undimmed…

Isaiah’s daet’s actions helped drive Bethany’s fiancé to the Englischer world, and cost her own father his savings. Their shop is in need of Isaiah’s brawn and skill, but if she’s to start over after heartbreak, she needs a man she can trust. Not a Yoder. But Isaiah isn’t giving up so easily. And when Bethany faces a dilemma, there may be a way for each to find not just redemption, but a joyful new love…

Dollhouse chess!

21 Monday Dec 2020

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As you might know by now, I absolutely adore dollhouse miniatures, and the newest addition to my little collection is a complete set of 1:12 chess. It’s so cute!

It has all the pieces, and the stand is metal, and it has a magnetized surface so that the pieces stick to it, which is a huge relief, because you don’t want to lose a piece that small! It would be next to impossible to find again, and I would probably cry.

My son and I tried a game of tweezer chess, and it IS a playable board!

It’s the perfect addition to my little book nook reading room I have set up, and I couldn’t love it more!

These are the teeny tiny things that make me ever so happy! I am endlessly entertained with miniatures, when I’m not writing books, that is. 😉

I do hope you’ll pick up a copy of my newest release that’s still on the shelves! A Precious Christmas Gift won’t be on the shelves for much longer, so pick it up now, while you can! It’s an emotional Christmas read about a mother’s love. ❤

And after this… I suppose you’ll just have to grab a copy online! 🙂

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New ornaments

17 Thursday Dec 2020

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The Johns family Christmas tree is the kind that is filled with memories. I don’t do color coordination or anything fancy, but every year we buy a new ornament or two that reflects the year before.

This year, I found a couple of new ornaments that I just love! The first one is for my husband–an avocado. He loves avocados, and I bring them home as a treat for him when I grocery shop, so I got a smile out of him when I came home with this one.

The Star Trek shuttle craft is one I found a couple of years ago, and I snapped it up. I’m the Trekkie of the family, still doing my best to win my husband over to Star Trek fandom. It’s been fifteen years, but I haven’t give up yet. 😉

For my son, I found a Minecraft figurine. I was informed when I brought it home that it was cute, and he did like Minecraft a lot LAST year, but this year it was Roblox. So… oops.

And peeking out behind the Minecraft pig is Spiderman from a couple of years ago. 🙂

I love having ornaments that remind us of the things we enjoyed over the years. One of these Christmases, my son will be all grown up, and Mr. Johns and I will be a little plumper and a little grayer, and these will be even more precious.

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I hope you’ll pick up a copy of my newest release, A PRECIOUS CHRISTMAS GIFT. It’s on the shelves now!

Publishers Weekly Bestseller!

14 Monday Dec 2020

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I am just thrilled to let you know that I’m on the Publishers Weekly Bestseller’s list again! This time it’s for A PRECIOUS CHRISTMAS GIFT, and it came in at #15!

I couldn’t be happier. My author buddy, Jocelyn McClay, was the one who let me know. What would I do without good friends? 🙂

There it is–the proof! With my fellow Love Inspired author Emma Miller coming in at #16.

If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, definitely do! It’s on the shelves everywhere Harlequins are sold, so grab yours! 🙂 You can also pick it up online, if you’re laying low these days. This story is guaranteed to make you cry… but don’t worry, it all comes out well in the end. That’s a romance novel guarantee.

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https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335488541_a-precious-christmas-gift.html

Our Christmas wreath

07 Monday Dec 2020

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For the longest time, I wanted a wreath for our front door, but spending $100 per wreath, per season, just seemed so expensive. And then there the was the question of where you’d store all those wreaths when not in use! So I didn’t get around to it.

But then I visited a craft store, and realized that if you get a grapevine wreath and decorate it differently each season, you can do it at a fraction of the price! Plus, you don’t have to store 4-5 wreaths in your home–it’s the just the one on the door, and you swap out the decorations on it.

So I present to you, our Christmas wreath!

The leaves are leftover from the fall decoration, and I liked them, so I kept them. And I added in the red berries and pinecones.

I like it! It makes the apartment feel so much more welcoming… to no one but the Amazon delivery people and Mr. Johns, but still… It’s the thought, right?

So if you’ve ever pined for a wreath, this is an economic/storage-friendly way to do it!

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy this holiday season. Take care of each other out there! ❤

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Don’t forget about my newest release, A Precious Christmas Gift. It’s on the shelves!

Cabbage Rolls

30 Monday Nov 2020

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Cabbage rolls are the kind of food that doesn’t have an official recipe. And I’ll stand by that! Every family has their own version of cabbage rolls, because every family likes something a little bit different.

For example, my cabbage rolls are vegetarian. (Gasp!) My Russian Mennonite ancestors just rolled over in their graves. 😉 But my parents raised me vegetarian, so my dad made his without meat. And they were delicious! Mine are like his, but different because I have allergies now that I didn’t have before. So we tweak them for our family’s taste.

It all starts with boiled a head of cabbage.

You boil until the leaves come off the cabbage head, and aren’t too soft, because you need to use the leaves to wrap up your filling.

The filling is a mix of things you like! Some people do ground beef with rice and spices, and a very few others, like me, do a vegetarian mix.

My filling uses:

  • rice
  • spinach
  • blended chick peas
  • garlic
  • diced onion
  • salt
  • oil
  • paprika
  • lemon juice (just as dash)

Then you wrap a large spoonful of filling in a boiled cabbage leaf, and put it in a pan. You put tomato sauce on top, and bake the life out of it for about 1.5 hours. I also add a layer of cabbage leaves on top, just to make sure that the actual cabbage rolls stay moist and don’t burn.

And there you go!

Cabbage rolls!

My family loves them, and since we can’t have my parents over to eat because of Covid, I made these so that I could bring them some cabbage rolls, too. They are a lot of work, so they’re a treat.

So, for those of you who have cabbage rolls in their family repertoire, what do you use in your filling? Cabbage roll filling tells so much about a family! 🙂

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Don’t forget about my newest release!
A Precious Christmas Gift is on the shelves now!

A dollhouse addition!

19 Thursday Nov 2020

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As you may know, I have a “thing” for dollhouse miniatures, and recently, I started a modest little collection. I’m outfitting a single little room–a small study. Well, I got my latest addition to the room, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you all!

It’s a radiator!

I had the choice of buying this radiator or a fireplace, and while the fireplace was the obvious choice, I just couldn’t get my mind off the radiator. I mean, who has a dollhouse radiator? It was too cool to pass up!

Don’t you just want to drag that chair over and stick your socked feet up on that radiator to keep them toasty while you read?

These are the things that make me excited these days! I’ve told myself that I can’t get a whole dollhouse because I just don’t have the space, but I’m steadily working my way toward it, I have to say. 😉

This is my stress release, and I hope you’re finding your own ways to relax, too. Maybe my books are a part of that…

My newest release, A Precious Christmas Gift, is on the shelves now, and I do hope you’ll pick it up when you spot it!

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The food that fuels it all!

16 Monday Nov 2020

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I’ve posted before that writing Amish romance makes me hungry… it also makes me snacky! All that thinking about food and cooking gets me into the kitchen pretty often. Mr. Johns has absolutely no complaints. 😉

Apple Crisp is a favorite in our home. We love it, and it’s just great snacking food for our growing pre-teen. I make it quite often.

Apple Crisp

One day when I was feeling like snacking, I whipped up these breaded, fried zucchini pieces. I love zucchini, but my family doesn’t, so this one was for me. It must be my DNA, but everything is better breaded and fried. 😉

Breaded Zucchini

Now, all of this cooking isn’t exactly virtue. We have allergies in this home. Well, my son and I do. Mr. Johns just has to eat what we can eat. 😉 But without gluten, dairy or soy, our options are limited, and I can’t get pre-cooked options, or just order in. So it’s cook, or bust. This is our version of pizza with no cheese. I put so many toppings and herbs in top that I don’t even miss it! It’s delicious! That one strip that looks rather bare is for our pre-teen son who just wants bacon on his. *Shrug.*

Pizza

And, then there are the French fries. I love these–an excellent snack! In fact, before the pandemic, friends used to pop by for my fries quite often. 🙂

Fries

So this is the food that fuels all the writing! These are also the pictures that I text to Mr. Johns throughout the day, just to lure him home again with the promise of cooking. Don’t judge–it’s how our marriage works. 😉 I love to eat, and it probably shows in my books, too!

My newest release, A Precious Christmas Gift, should be on the shelves this week! So I hope you’ll keep an eye out for it and pick up a copy!

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#30!

12 Thursday Nov 2020

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A Precious Christmas Gift is my thirtieth book published with Harlequin Books! I hadn’t realized the big 3-0 had crept up on me, and it was an author friend of mine who saw the milestones email from Harlequin and congratulated me.

What a great feeling! Harlequin is an amazing publisher to work with. They produce quality books and they are just a pleasure to work with. My fellow authors who publish with them are an amazing group of professionals, and I’m honoured to be in their ranks. I have more books coming with Harlequin and with Kensington Books, and I’m looking forward to what the future holds. 🙂

A Precious Christmas Gift is hitting the shelves next week, and I can’t wait to start spotting it on the shelves! That really never gets old, I have to say! Every single time, I stop and stare at it, take a selfie with it… It’s the best feeling!

I hope you’ll pick up a copy when you spot it. Or better yet, I hope you pre-order a copy!

Don’t forget to pop by my Facebook page and give it a “like” if you’re interested in winning copies of my books paired up with other authors’ books as well. 🙂 We have a lot of fun over there–it’s worth it!

Pickles are comforting

26 Monday Oct 2020

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I love a good dill pickle. I blame my Russian Mennonite heritage for that. I even make my own refrigerator pickles that are absolutely delicious. And they’re strong. I believe in lots of garlic and salt.

So I’ve been writing hard the last while, and I just sent a completed manuscript off to my agent. While I was finishing it up and taking some of those incredibly necessary brain breaks, I whipped up a nice big batch of new pickles.

They’re actually really quick! You know, before you’re overly impressed with me. 😉 I’ve posted my recipe for pickles before right here, if you’re interested in trying your own. My family will work through those at a pretty steady rate.

And now, I’m starting a new Amish manuscript–this one for Love Inspired. And can I just say… writing Amish makes me hungry! All that food, all those desserts, all that time for cooking… It brings out my appetite! 🙂

I hope you’ll pick up my newest release, A PRECIOUS CHRISTMAS GIFT, that will be hitting the shelves in a matter of weeks here! By mid-November, you should be able to find it everywhere Harlequin novels are sold!

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