The Keeper by Suzanne Woods Fisher*A Review

IPad giveaway link and Facebook Party link


ABOUT THE KEEPER
Julia Lapp has planned on marrying Paul Fisher since she was a girl. Now twenty-one, she looks forward to their wedding with giddy anticipation. When Paul tells her he wants to postpone the wedding--again--she knows who is to blame. Perpetual bachelor and spreader of cold feet, Roman Troyer, the Bee Man.


Roamin' Roman travels through the Amish communities of Ohio and Pennsylvania with his hives full of bees, renting them out to farmers in need of pollinators. He relishes his nomadic life, which keeps him from thinking about all he has lost. He especially enjoys bringing his bees to Stoney Ridge each year. But with Julia on a mission to punish him for inspiring Paul's cold feet, the Lapp farm is looking decidedly less pleasant.
Can Julia secure the future she's always dreamed of? Or does God have something else in mind?


Full of the plot twists and surprises her fans love, The Keeper is the first in a new series by bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher. Through touching family relationships and trials of the heart, Fisher's vivid characters grapple with yielding to God's will when it doesn't match their own.


Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Revell (January 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800719875
ISBN-13: 978-0800719876
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of The Choice, The Waiting, The Search, and A Lancaster County Christmas, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, W. D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Benedict eventually became publisher of Christianity Today magazine. Suzanne is the host of an internet radio show called Amish Wisdom, and her work has appeared in many magazines. She lives in California.

MY REVIEW

  The Keeper is a book that is excellent and worth reading. I really loved it and parts of it surprised me. I love books where I am surprised at things that happen. No one likes a book that is just like every other book. Then a book comes along that just takes your breathe away and The Keeper is one of those.

  Suzanne Woods Fisher is an wonderful author of Amish fiction and I don’t read a lot of Amish stories. 

  Reading the above information about the book makes you wonder why Roman keeps moving around? What makes him not want a home and family? What past things are bothering him? I also wondered why Paul wants to postpone their wedding so many times. Julia she is just 

a sweetheart and really loves life.

  This book has really got me interested in the Lapp family and what they will do in the next book. Some books just make you fall in love with the characters. I love all of these characters from Julia, Roman, Sadie, M.K., Amos, Uncle Hank and the sweet Menno. 

  You don’t want to miss this book. It will be a favorite of yours.  Suzanne Woods Fisher has done it again. Another winning book. I highly recommend this book. I really loved it.

The iPad giveaway:  Running now until January 17th

The Facebook Party:      Party is on January 17th, and the winner of the prize package will be announced there.

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I received my free copy from Donna Hausler from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 

Winner of The Search by Suzanne Woods Fisher

to all of my many friends and followers
Just wanted to say come back often for more giveaways.
Jesus is our real Valentine.
Now on to our winner of the book The Search by Suzanne Woods Fisher

go to Jolee
joleehamlin [at] comcast [dot] net

you are our winner.

I will be sending you an email soon.

Happy Valentine's Day to all and

Congrats to Jolee!

Suzanne Woods Fisher-author interview & book giveaway

Today I welcome Suzanne Woods Fisher.
Here are the questions she answered so graciously.
I LOVE the cover of this book.

Giveaway guidelines below!

Tell us about “The Search,” the featured book.
The Search is the third in the ‘Lancaster County Secrets” series. It’s set in Stoney Ridge, Pennsylvania, in 1972. The story begins as Bess Riehl is arriving in town to help her grandmother for the summer. Unbeknownst to Bess, her grandmother has a few plans for the summer up her sleeve!

Who influenced your writing?
I remember a moment in a college library when I looked up old Christianity Today magazines that had my grandfather’s name in the masthead. It gave me that bone-tingling chill to see his name…to realize how the written word carries forward. I had a great respect for my grandfather’s work—I think it was the inspiring moment for me to write for a career.

Your hobbies, interests?
Raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind! Love it! Love the people, love the pups.

Where do you like to vacation?
On the beach (any beach) on a perfect, sunny day. With a good book and a glass of iced tea.

What are some of your likes and dislikes?
Huge mortifying dislike: my last name is Fisher and I hate fish.

Tell us a little-known fact about yourself that readers may not know.
(See previous question!)

How do you spend your writing days? Do you set goals to reach a certain number of words per day?
When I have the luxury of time, I try to have a writing goal of about 1500 words a day (good, solid writing). And then I like to spend time each day on promotion (answering e-mails, Facebook, planning for speaking engagements, working on my weekly program). But life is seldom filled with a luxury of time!

Can you give us a general idea of how long it takes you to write a novel?
Six months would be awesome…but it’s usually been about a three-month turnaround. In a good way, it’s fun to be thoroughly immersed in a story. But I never want to rush a book out. My goal is that each book is better than the one before it. I want to keep improving my craft.

What are you currently reading?
A book by Jamie Langston Turner. She is a master of detail! I think I read that she’s a professor at a Christian college…you can just see her mind, collecting all kinds of trivia to weave into her books!

Do you grow flowers or vegetables? What are your favorite flowers?
I have a very large vegetable garden—love to grow summer tomatoes, zucchini, basil, pumpkins, strawberries, etc. I do love growing flowers, too—I have zinnias and marigolds in each garden bed. Right now, as I write, I have flowering narcissus bulbs on my desk. Hints of Heaven’s perfume!

What are you writing now?
Working on the second in a new series—I just turned in the first one on January 1st, so my mind is still stuck in that novel. I haven’t heard back from my editor yet…and she will probably have edits. I can’t quite let go of that story yet…but I am trying to get my mind wrapped around this new story. I have the basic idea mapped out…now, for the details and character development!

How can readers find you on the Internet?
www.suzannewoodsfisher.com I love to hear from readers! Means so much to me to connect with booklovers.

And thanks for spending this time with us, Suzanne.
We wish you much success.

Suzanne has offered to giveaway her wonderful book "The Search" to one of you my followers.


Leave a comment with your name and email address. You will not be entered unless you leave a comment AND your email address.Contest is only open in the U.S. and void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on the number of entries and winner is draw from a non-biased third party- Random.org. ENTRY DEADLINE February 13, 2011

A fantastic gift to one of you for Valentine's Day!
I would love for you to be my follower and get my email updates.

The Search by Suzanne Woods Fisher-A Review

ABOUT "THE SEARCH"

As a child caught up in a crisis, Lainey O'Toole made a split-second decision with far-reaching effects. Fifteen years later, when her car breaks down in Stoney Ridge--the very town in which that decision was made--she is forced to face the past and discover how her decision has impacted so many.
Bess Reihl is less than thrilled to be spending the summer at Rose Hill Farm helping her intimidating grandmother Bertha recover from surgery. It doesn't take long for Bess to realize that her grandmother coaxed her to Stoney Ridge for an entirely different reason. But once Bess meets hired hand Billy Lapp, the summer starts to hold some promise.
Lainey's and Bess's worlds are about to collide and the secrets that come to light will shock them both.
Beautifully written, The Search is a skillfully woven story that takes you through unexpected twists and turns on the long country road toward truth. Immerse yourself in this heartwarming--and surprising--tale of young love, forgiveness, and healing.



Paperback: 298 pages
Publisher: Revell (January 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800733878
ISBN-13: 978-0800733872
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces



ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In no particular order, Suzanne Woods Fisher is a wife, mother, writer, lifelong student of the Bible, raiser of puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, a gardener and a cook...the latter two with sporadic results.
Suzanne has loved to write since she was a young teen. After college, she started to write for magazines and became a contributing editor for Christian Parenting Today magazine. Her family moved to Hong Kong for four years, just as the internet was developing, and she continued to write articles in a 44-story high-rise apartment, sending manuscripts 7,000 miles away with a click of a key.
After returning from Hong Kong, Suzanne decided to give her first novel a try. For four and a half months, she worked on an antediluvian computer in a cramped laundry room. She didn't even tell her husband what she was up to. When the novel was completed, she told her family at dinner one night that she had written a book. "That's why there's no food in this house!" said her slightly insensitive sons.
Undaunted...Suzanne found a small royalty publisher for that book and wrote three more (all earned multiple). With help from an agent, she has five books currently under contract with Revell. On September 1st, Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, a non-fiction book of stories and examples about the Old Order Amish, will be released by Revell. The Choice, a novel about the Amish, will follow on January 1st.
Writing, for Suzanne, is a way to express a love of God and His word. With every book or article, she hopes readers get a sense of what faith really looks like in the daily grind. She hopes they realize that life can be hard, but God is good, and never to confuse the two.
Suzanne can be found on-line at: www.suzannewoodsfisher.com



MY REVIEW
This is the first book I’ve read written by Suzanne Woods Fisher. So glad I found a new author that writes so wonderfully. “The Search” is the third book in the series Lancaster County Secrets. Even through it is the third in the series it was still very easy to follow along. So you can read this alone or with the other two. I believe it would be so neat to read the other two first. They are called “The Choice” and “The Waiting.”
It seems so many people write about Amish stories. I’m not a fan of many of them, because of the attitude of the Amish that only Amish can be right about their life and faith. In “The Search” I don’t feel that opinion at all. Matter of fact one of the main characters is a Christian outside of the Amish community. She is a stronger Christian than some Amish in the book.
I love the mother/grandmother who is harsh/brisk on the outside, but has a most tender heart. She puts many people together to change their lives for the better.
The setting of the book is just so beautiful. The cover of the book shows a picture of one main character {Lainey O'Toole } who is holding a rose, and it’s just beautiful. I like hearing the description of the rose farm and the beautiful country side. I would love to live on a rose farm.
The whole book really revolves around the decision made by a very young girl. Then years later all of these people are back together in the same place. You will see how one decision can change life for all of those involved.
In “The Search” you will find love, heartaches, illnesses, death, peace, forgiveness.
It is a book that I highly recommend for many days of reading pleasure and a book you will want to reread.
Also in a few days I will have a giveaway for this book.



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I received my free copy from Donna Hausler from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255