Summer of Secrets by Charlotte Hubbard ~ PUYB tour with review

Summer of Secrets: The first book in the Seasons of the Heart Series

SUMMER OF SECRETS introduces Miriam Lantz, Amish owner of the Sweet Seasons bakery café, along with her twin daughters Rachel and Rhoda—but wait! When a tattooed, spiky-haired Goth girl turns out to be their long-lost sister, Plain lives get changed in a hurry.

Miriam explains the way Rebecca—now known as Tiffany—got washed away in the flood of 1993 and why the bishop at that time insisted Miriam and her husband keep it quiet. Now a widow, Miriam is realizing her dream—her mission—of feeding people, yet the current bishop, Hiram Knepp, insists she sell her bakery…and marry him. As more secrets surface the Lantz triplets and their mother stand united as a family “fer gut and forever” as Rachel plans her wedding (for Book 2, AUTUMN WINDS, due out in September, 2012).

My take on this book:

Amish fiction is one of my favorite genres to read, so I always become excited whenever I can find a new to me Amish storyteller who puts a fresh spin on Amish fiction and that's just what I found with Charlotte Hubbard. 

"Summer of Secrets" a contemporary Amish fiction novel easily transported me to Willow Ridge Missouri. Rachel Lantz spends her days working in the Sweet Season's Cafe with her twin  sister and her mother. She has been dating her childhood sweetheart Micah Brenneman and it seems if marriage might be in the near future. While waiting on tables one afternoon she meets an Englisher customer named Tiffany  that could easily pass for her twin sister Rhoda. What she learns about this girl will certainly change their lives forever. Not only that Rachel's beau Micah was in the cafe when Tiffany was there and now she seems to be the only thing he wants to talk about. How will things work out for Rachel and Micah? 

I must admit it took me a couple of chapters to get into this novel because there were so many characters to learn, but the interesting story line drew me in immediately. The author provided a few twists that really kept me reading. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and while I was quite interested in reading about the relationship between Rachel and Micah the secondary stories were just as appealing. I also loved that the women in this story were portrayed as strong. Another thing that I found quite appealing was the dialect used in the book, it was a bit twangy and fit right in to the feel of the story.

Amish fiction fans are going to love this story, but anyone looking for a good story with easy to connect to characters, an interesting plot, a sweet clean romance along with a family based drama will certainly enjoy this story as well. Since this story is revolves around a bakery/cafe there is plenty of mouth watering descriptions of food mentioned, and the author even includes some of the recipes for the food at the end of the book which is a great bonus! I am totally hooked on this series and will certainly be watching for the next book in the series titled "Autumn Winds" due out in Sept.

To read an excerpt of this book or to follow along on the Pump Up Your Book Tour click here.

About Charlotte Hubbard

Drawing upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community west of the Mississippi, longtime Missourian Charlotte Hubbard writes of simpler times and a faith-based lifestyle in her new Seasons of the Heart series. Like her heroine, Miriam Lantz, Charlotte considers it her personal mission to feed people—to share hearth and home. Faith and family, farming and food preservation are hallmarks of her lifestyle, and the foundation of her earlier Angels of Mercy series. She’s a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and when she’s not writing, she loves to try new recipes, crochet, and sew. Charlotte now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their border collie.

To find out more about Charlotte or her work please visithttp://www.CharlotteHubbardAuthor.com