Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #24

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all 33 stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 3 grand prizes!



• The hunt BEGINS with Stop #1 at Lisa Bergren’s site.
• The hunt is BEST VIEWED using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer)

• It is open to INTERNATIONAL entrants.

• PRIZES include 3 sets of all 32 books, $500 in Amazon gift cards and many authors are offering additional prizes!
• There is NO RUSH to complete this hunt—you have ALL WEEKEND. So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books you might want to learn more about!
• Submit your ENTRY for the GRAND PRIZE at Stop #33 (back on Lisa’s site) by Monday night (4/25) at midnight mountain time.

Hillary here: My guest today is my friend Leslie Gould, a lovely author I've had the pleasure of knowing for years through Oregon Christian Writers. She's a top notch writer and teacher; we also occasionally run into each other at Target. Her latest release is Amish Sweethearts - isn't that cover adorable? Makes me miss autumn! 

Here's a brief summary - For years Zane Beck and his Amish neighbor Lila Lehman were the best of friends. But just as Zane gathered the courage to discover if their friendship could develop into something more, her controlling father arranged for her to be courted by their bishop's son. Zane, heartbroken and frustrated, joined the Army, running away from his shattered dreams.

The passing of time and the distance between Zane and Lila haven't been enough to halt their--now completely hidden--feelings for each other. Any hope for their love grows even more impossible though as Zane's service takes a dangerous turn when he's deployed to Afghanistan. Being on the frontline, confronted with the hard choices of war, has him questioning everything, including whether he can continue to serve or not. But all choices have consequences, and with Lila preparing to marry another, will these one-time sweethearts ever find the life together that they both still long for?
Today Leslie is sharing about the inspiration behind the book. Read on to find out more!

Three very different experiences that helped shape Amish Sweethearts

1. Several years ago I was in a shop in Nappanee, Indiana talking with an Englisch clerk about the Amish community in the area. She shared that when she was first married and then a young mom, her best friend was the Amish woman who lived next door. She went on to share details about the back-and-forth between the two families and how sad she was to move away after a few years. Oh, my goodness! Her story resonated with me, and my story generator started spinning!

2. That same year my husband, Peter, was in Afghanistan, commanding a field hospital. It was pretty surreal that I spent my days writing about non-resistant and pacifist people while he treated American, NATO, and Afghan soldiers, along with insurgents. (I also spent my days single parenting our teenage and young adult children!)

Almost every morning (for me, evening for him) Peter and I would SKYPE. On several occasions I could hear rockets exploding in the background. A couple of times he quickly said goodbye and ran out the door of his hooch, headed back to the hospital. I would spend the rest of my day imagining my story in Lancaster County and trying not to worry.

Overtime, I started thinking: what it would it be like if a military family moved next door to an Amish family? What if the women became best friends? And what would be the impact on the children from both families?

3. Sometime later, I was at a book signing in a mall in Vancouver, Washington when two sisters came in. One wore a Mennonite head covering. They chatted with me and soon revealed that they’d grown up Amish in Indiana, near Nappanee, close to where I’d visited. The sister who was Mennonite was visiting from Colorado, but the other one, Marietta Couch, lived nearby. Besides my fascination with the Amish, lol, we are both adoptive moms and also kindred spirits. Through the last few years, we’ve become close friends, and Marietta has definitely influenced my stories!

All three experiences came together and helped create the Neighbors of Lancaster County, a series about a military family who moves next door to an Amish family. Amish Sweethearts is the second of the three novels in the series. The story starts when the oldest boy from the military family and the oldest girl from the Amish family are grown. They won’t admit that they’ve fallen in love, but they have. Both try to deny it, leading Zane to join the Army and Lila to court the bishop’s son. You’ll have to read Amish Sweethearts to find out how their love is resolved!

Leslie Gould is the #1 bestselling and Christy Award winning author of twenty-two novels. She and her husband, Peter, are the revolving-door parents of four children and three cats. Visit her at her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Hillary again: I love how seemingly disparate personal experiences can come together to form compelling stories. Thanks for stopping by, dear readers! 

Here’s the Stop #24 Skinny:

You can order Leslie’s book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, Powell's Books, or at your local bookstore!

Clue to Write Down: to the person 

To continue, head to Stop #25, on Leslie Gould's site! 

But, wait, there's more!

I'm giving away copies of all three books in the Two Blue Doors series, including the almost-but-not-quite-on-shelves Together at the Table! I'm so excited to finally have the whole series out and about in the world, and trust me when I say they make for excellent (and delicious) binge-reading! Enter below to be eligible for the drawing. 

Entry-Form