Showing results by publisher "Zondervan" in Small Town & Rural

Sixteen-year-old Eden Hale doesn’t want to be defined by her current circumstances. Her mother is in prison, she doesn’t know her father, and she’s had her own run-ins with the law, but Eden refuses to become what people expect. When she is sent to live with an Amish cousin she’s never met in Montgomery, Indiana, she welcomes the chance to become the person she wants to be without the burden of anyone’s judgment. Her hopes are confirmed when she meets Samuel, a young Amish man who seems to like her for who she really is.

Lydia still can’t believe that she is Mrs. Samuel Bontrager. Or that she is 17 with a six-month-old daughter. As Baby Mattie grows fussier by the day, Lydia wonders how she will survive a lifetime of marriage to a man she doesn’t love - at least not in the way she wants. Samuel knows that he and Lydia did the right thing by marrying when Lydia became pregnant. He has even grown to love Lydia, though he never seems able to say the words out loud. What if she doesn’t love him back? After all, she pushes him away whenever he tries to draw closer.

Christiana Kurtz moves her bake stand to the local market, next to the woodcraft shop, which is run by Jeffrey Stoltzfus. Though their relationship starts off on bad footing, they eventually forge a friendship. When Christiana’s father makes a surprise visit to the market, he is upset to find that Jeffrey uses the building’s electricity to personalize his items. He tells Christiana that Jeffrey is too modern for her, and she’s forbidden from dating him. Christiana is crushed, but she knows she must obey her father.

After fleeing her hometown, Katharine finds peace and anonymity while working at Stoll’s Inn and keeping to herself. As long as her guard is up, she can protect herself and others from her past, with the hope that one day her family will forgive her for leaving.

Emily Fisher is eager to meet the new employee at her father’s shop in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. But when Christopher Hostettler arrives, his cold demeanor freezes her attempts at building a friendship. Longing for a fresh start, Christopher travels from Ohio to Bird-in-Hand. Christopher’s heart is still wounded from memories of home, and making new friends is the last thing on his mind—he knows the pain that comes with losing those you love. When Emily is kind to him, he tries to remain distant, but he soon finds himself stealing glances at her throughout the day.

The mother of 10 and a widow of seven years, Mary Katherine is a bundle of energy, always willing to step in and help her friends around her Amish community. Now that her last child is married, she pours her abundant creative spirit into writing stories, even as she speaks aloud to her late husband every day. Her dream is to open a bookstore with an English friend, but the church elders want her to work in an Amish-owned store instead. When her old school friend Ezekiel offers her a position as a cook in the restaurant he opened after his wife died, she knows she should accept.

When the Mast family is forced to evacuate their home in the West Kootenai region of Montana, Christine chooses not to move with her family to her father’s childhood home in Kansas. Instead, she wants to stay closer to home and to her beau, Andy Lambright, who has yet to ask for her hand in marriage and who seems to be holding tightly to secrets from his past. Now, living with her aunt and uncle in St. Ignatius, Christine is on her own for the first time in her life.

Charity Raber is one of many single women who came to Birch Creek, Ohio, with one goal in mind: secure a husband from among the desperate bachelors a newspaper advertisement claimed inhabited the town. Even though that claim proved to be nothing more than a cruel prank, Charity is still hopeful that her happy ending might be within reach when she’s set up on a date with Jesse Bontrager. That is until Jesse not-so-gently shares that he has no interest in a relationship with anyone—and especially not with her.

Libby Blue has found a refuge from her past in the Idaho wilderness. Leaving her ruthless father and a privileged Eastern girlhood behind, she finally has freedom in the Wild West. There, Libby can run a ranch, make her own choices, and never have to answer to any man. But then Remington Walker rides into her life - and he poses a more serious danger to Libby than she’s ever faced. Despite herself, Libby finds Remington breaking through all her defenses, threatening the fragile safety of her Western refuge. But what she doesn’t know is that Remington has a reason for being there.

At age 73, Laura Kauffman knows she is closer to the end of life than the beginning. If God willed it, she would join her beloved late husband soon. Even so, Laura wonders what purpose God might have for her in this winter of her life - and why this season seems so lonely. Widower Zechariah Stutzman is facing his own barren season, despite the great-grandchildren swirling around him. With his Parkinson’s worsening, he had no choice but to move in with his grandson’s family, though now he feels adrift and useless.

Enjoy four sweet and heartwarming stories about home, heart, and reuniting with the ones you love: Their True Home by Amy Clipston, A Reunion of Hearts by Beth Wiseman, A Chance to Remember by Kathleen Fuller, and Mended Hearts by Kelly Irvin.

It’s been four years since Jennie’s husband died in a farming accident. Long enough that the elders in her Amish community think it’s time to marry again for the sake of her seven children. What they don’t know is that grief isn’t holding her back from a new relationship. Fear is. A terrible secret in her past keeps her from moving forward.

Through all the mix-ups and misunderstandings, amid the chaos and confusion, the true spirit of Christmas begins to emerge in unexpected ways for one woman as God shows her the true meaning of giving.

Unwrapping Christmas is a Christmas story as heartwarming as the season itself.

Christmas. It should be the most anticipated day of the year. Instead, we dread the shopping, baking, spending, and stress. Best-selling author Ace Collins wants to help you rediscover the joy and peace of the holiday season. Discover how this Christmas can be the happy, joy-filled celebration you’ve always dreamed of!

From best-selling author Beth Wiseman come four sweet stories centered around celebrations in the Amish community: rumschpringe, baptism, weddings, and Christmas.

Musical prodigy Levi Shetler hasn’t touched a piano since he secretly played one many years ago. His strict Amish community forbids instruments or the singing of any music not in their approved songbook. Levi asks God often why music tempts him when playing an instrument isn’t allowed in his world. One person knows Levi’s talents: Mary Hershberger, the girl who promised years ago to keep his secret. Mary comes from a more liberal district than Levi, but she’s facing family troubles of her own.

Englischer Natalie Collins looks forward to Friday night suppers at Levi and Mary Shetler’s house every week: delicious food, wonderful conversation with her Amish friends, and, best of all, the presence of Levi’s older brother, Lucas. Natalie and Lucas have become best friends despite their different backgrounds. They share a love of books, and he is teaching her about God in a way that she can understand. But the closer they become, the more opinions everyone seems to have. Levi and Mary, Lucas’s family, and even Natalie’s mother have concerns about their relationship.

Elijah Miller is a quiet and painfully shy man with a talent for carving the handmade toys and furniture that tourists in the Amish shops love. The large, boisterous Miller family is anything but shy. With a thriving auction business, they want him to do what he hates most: taking the stage and calling the auctions. He loves his family and wants to support them, but will they allow room for Elijah to follow his own dream?

For someone so strong-willed and certain, Ella Yoder has never been more unsure of her life. It's been a year since she convinced her father to move with her and her younger sister Junia to Marigold, Ohio, to open E and J Grocery. Ella's got a keen eye for running a business and has big dreams to expand. But her plans are stalled because Junia refuses to lift a finger at the store—or listen to her about anything.