Forever Home Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour & Giveaway for Forever Home by Amy Grochowski, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: Forever Home
Series: Amish Dreams on Prince Edward Island #1
Author: Amy Grochowski
Publisher: Ambassador International
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Genre: Inspirational Amish Romance

A Canadian Amish farmer
A Lancaster Amish businesswoman
A Prince Edward Island foster child 

Providence brings together a mismatched family, giving all three a second chance for love. Only love may never have had such a tough job.

Lydia Miller is an anomaly among her Amish people-a single woman in her 30s, running her own store, determined to forge a life on her own. But when Joel Yoder comes into town to sell his property, Lydia suddenly finds all of her hopes and dreams crumbling around her and a new opportunity placed in her lap.

Joel has his own problems. Recently jilted by his fiancée, Joel has seen his own dreams of moving to a newly established Amish community begin to falter. The new community welcomes married couples only. With his dreams quickly slipping from his fingers, Joel suddenly sees the only option he thinks he has--a marriage of convenience for both of them.

 As the new couple begins life in a new settlement, they are even more surprised when a foster child in need of a home finds her way to them. Yet what will happen when the English world and the Amish world collide?

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Christianbook  

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Amy Grochowski's deep appreciation for the Amish faith and way of life stems from six years of living and working with a Beachy Amish family, as well as her own Anabaptist roots. Her debut novel, Forever Home, was a pre-published winner of Romance Writers of America's Maggie Award and a semi-finalist in ACFW's Genesis Contest. She is a member of ACFW and Word Weavers Int'l. 

Amy spent her childhood in Melbourne, Australia, where her parents worked as church planters. After returning to the States, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia became home. Her real-life romance began on a travel nursing assignment to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she met her husband, David.

After a nursing career of more than twenty years, Amy is now fulfilling her long-awaited dream career as an author of inspirational romance. She is also a full-time homeschool mom for her two boys, one of whom has Autism Spectrum Disorder, and lives with her family in the bustling foothills of North Carolina.

CONNECT WITH AMY: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram  

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Hi Amy! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your novel- Forever Home- a little bit better. I always like to begin these interviews the same way with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!

I’m a terrible typist. I still have to look at the keyboard 90% of the time to hit the right keys. Not what you’d expect from an author, I know. Somehow, I manage. Backspace is my friend. 😊

I love cheese and ice cream, but neither one loves me back anymore. Giving up dairy is hard!

I don’t have a sister or a daughter, but I do pray for whomever my future daughters-in-love may one day be.

I love to garden but am terrible with plants. This year, I asked God to help me grow a huge vegetable garden. As of this moment, God’s garden is growing beautifully!

When I was twelve years old, my family had moved thirteen times—including four back and forth shifts to the land down under. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I also love staying put and growing roots where I am now.

You spent more than 20 years in a nursing career. During this time, did you always know that writing was something you wanted to pursue?

Yes, but I forgot for a number of those years. Nursing was a career choice of necessity. It paid the bills—at first while I was single and then while my husband and I settled into married life. One day, my husband asked me if I wanted to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. Something awoke inside me as I pondered that question. I still wanted to be an author as much as ever. The time had come to go for it, and my dear David has supported me every step of the way.

What advice or encouragement would you offer an aspiring writer who is likewise getting a later start at it?

Don’t quit. It will take longer than you think and is sure to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. Join an organization like ACFW (Christian fiction) or Word Weavers International (both Christian fiction and non-fiction) and be willing to learn from critiques and even rejections. If you can do that, you will rise with the cream of the crop.

Forever Home is your debut novel, congratulations! Can you share how you reacted when you first learned that your book was being published and when you saw your words in print for the first time?

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? I captured the moment my print books arrived and I held them in my hand for the first time. The video is on my Facebook page.

Can you tell us a little bit about Forever Home?

Lydia Miller is an anomaly among her Amish people-a single woman in her thirties, running her own store, determined to forge a life on her own. But when Joel Yoder comes into town to sell his property, Lydia suddenly finds all of her hopes and dreams crumbling around her and a new opportunity placed in her lap.

Joel has his own problems. Recently jilted by his fiancée, Joel has seen his own dreams of moving to a newly-established Amish community begin to falter. The new community welcomes married couples only. With his dreams quickly slipping from his fingers, Joel suddenly sees the only option he thinks he has—a marriage of convenience for both of them.

What happens next is the rest of the story. 😊

What do you hope readers will take away from the book? 

As I wrote and edited Forever Home, my prayer was for the reader to find encouragement in the unfailing love offered to us in God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. I really want readers to be satisfied with an enjoyable book experience but also strengthened in faith through Lydia’s story.

Amish fiction is a popular genre among Christian fiction writers, but you actually have a personal connection. Can you share a little bit about that experience?

As a young single woman, I worked my way through nursing school in a ministry to the elderly owned by a Beachy Amish family. I lived between two of their campuses for six years. During that time, I was befriended by many in the Mennonite and Amish community—from the more conservative New Order Amish to mainstream Mennonite. Lessons I learned from their way of life and faith helped shape me into the person I am now.

I have found that writers are so often some of the best readers too. If we were to take a look at your own TBR, what might we find there? 

Ah! The never-ending TBR pile, much more fun and much less neglected than the unending laundry pile…

Ladies of Intrigue by Michelle Griep

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

Unconditional by Eva Marie Everson

Softly Blows the Bugle by Jan Drexler

The Spice King by Elizabeth Camden

Where I was Planted by Heather Norman Smith

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, can you give us an idea on what we can look forward to next? Any other projects you are currently working on that you can share?

Next month, The Christmas Visitor releases on Amazon for an early Christmas in July treat. I had a blast writing this sweet, first-love novella which is also part of the Amish of Prince Edward Island series. Currently, I am finishing the first draft of the second full-length book in the series, Runaway Home, and plotting another novella for 2021. There’s so much in store for this fictional New Hope Amish community on Prince Edward Island. 

Thank you to you and your readers for allowing me to share with you today. If you choose to read Forever Home, I’d love to hear from you. I hope you all have a blessed Summer.

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(1) winner will receive a signed author copy of Forever Home, a classic 200 recipe Mennonite Family Cookbook, a Magic Amish cloth (it really does clean like magic with no chemicals), and a $25 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway will begin at midnight June 22, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on June 29, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

 

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