Spotlight & Giveaway: Pine Creek Matchmaker by Amity Hope

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Amity Hope to HJ!

Hi Amity and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Pine Creek Matchmaker!

 
Hello, book loving friends!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

When Caleb Weaver returns to Pine Creek to help out his family, he doesn’t intend to stay in a town where he feels he isn’t wanted. Sadie Ziegler isn’t too happy about her best friend’s brother, her childhood nemesis, returning to their Amish community. But when the two of them are coerced into working on a fundraiser, then team up to do a little bit of matchmaking, the realize they have a knack for working well together. When everyone around them falls in love, will they succumb to their growing feelings too? Or will the secret Caleb’s keeping tear them apart forever?
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Sadie Ziegler warily eyed the dark sky looming up ahead. She pedaled faster, doubting very much that she’d beat the storm, but knowing she had to try. She loved riding her bike this time of year. The leaves were just beginning to change, making the landscape breathtaking with a myriad of hues. Unfortunately, the weather in autumn was often fickle.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• One is not considered Amish until they choose to be baptized and become part of the community, usually in their teenage years.
• Church services are in high German and typically last three hours.
• Most Amish communities have two wedding seasons. One in the fall and one in the spring.
• Amish weddings begin in the morning and typically entail an all-day celebration, often lasting into the evening.
• Amish do not believe in any type of insurance and therefore, the close-knot communities come together to help those in need.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Sadie and Caleb have a rocky history as they’ve known each other since childhood. Caleb is Sadie’s best friend’s older brother and she does not have fond memories of him, nor he of her.

However, their mutual adoration for the cat they have rescued brings out the sweeter side of the pair.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Childhood nemeses to matchmaking sweethearts.
 

The First Kiss…

Sadie and Caleb are on their first date, making their way through a corn maze. A snake slithers out, startling Sadie into Caleb’s arms.

Having Caleb’s arms around her, his body so close, seemed to be wreaking havoc on her common sense. At the very least, it sent her senses swirling.
“Sadie?”
He slid his fingers under her chin, lifting her face so he was gazing directly into her eyes. “Did that snake scare you that badly? Your cheeks are flushed, and you look sort of dazed.”
Dazed? Maybe because she was staring into the depths of his chocolaty eyes. Staring at his lips.
Suddenly, she was pressing up on her toes and kissing those lips. Not a wild, abandoning-all-her-senses sort of kiss. But the kind of kiss that was soft, gentle, that she felt down to her very soul.
It was an astounding kiss—though she had no others to compare it to—she was sure of it.
A moment later she heard the high, excited voice of a child approaching. She lurched away from Caleb, horrified at the thought someone would see them. She would be mortified if she gave Englischers the wrong idea about young Amish couples.
She could hardly believe she had been so bold. It was true Caleb had helped her become more daring, but this, well, perhaps it was going a bit far.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped, her eyes widening, now that she realized what she had done. She tugged away from him and took off as fast as she could without actually running.
With Caleb’s long legs, he was easily able to keep up.
“Sadie, you should stop for a minute. We should talk,” Caleb said.
She flashed a forced smile over her shoulder. “There’s no time. Silas and Eleanor will be expecting us. Besides, after all this walking, I’m thirsty. I need to try the caramel cider.”
What she needed was to get out of this corn maze, get away from Caleb, and put as much space between herself and this embarrassing situation as she could.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

Sadie and Caleb are at a group gathering, enjoying friends and a bonfire. For the first time they subtly admit that their feelings toward each other are changing from merely tolerating each other, to not wanting to see the other with anyone else.

Though there was a crowd of young people milling around them, enjoying the fire, laughing, eating s’mores, Caleb held the entirety of Sadie’s attention.
“You look very pretty tonight,” he said. Then ducked his head, as if embarrassed he’d made the admission.
“Danki,” Sadie replied, her cheeks warming under his praise. Because she felt so flustered, to take the attention off herself she said, “There are so many pretty girls in our community. So many single girls. Maybe you’ll fall in love and decide to stay. I could name a few.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, frowning.
“But—”
“No.”
“Not even—”
“No.”
“What about—”
“Sadie,” Caleb said, his tone firm, “I want to be your partner in your matchmaking escapades, not your project.”
“Project?” Sadie asked, all wide-eyed innocence. Yet on the inside, her heart was soaring. His refusal to be matched brought her more relief than it should.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

She marched back up to him, pulled in a breath, then said, “I wasn’t completely honest before.”
He frowned. “About what? Your apology? You’re not sorry? I understand if you’re not. I was out of line. I already said that. You had every right to be mad and—”
She put up her hand and said, “Please stop talking.”
His eyes narrowed and he sealed his lips.
“I didn’t lie,” she said. “I just wasn’t completely honest. See, if I was completely honest, I would have told you the real reason that your words rattled me so.”
“The real—”
“Hush,” she ordered, knowing if he kept interrupting, it would be all too easy to let her resolve slip away. “The reason you rattle me,” she said, barely able to believe the words were about to leave her mouth, “is because I have feelings for you.” She paused, noticing the way his eyes widened and he clutched the cat a little tighter.
“Romantic feelings,” she clarified, just in case he was in doubt.

Readers should read this book …

…for an escape into a unique community full of charm. Pine Creek Matchmakers delves into the Amish lifestyle while telling a story of faith, forgiveness, and ultimately love.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Line under Amity Steffen. I have a few books out already, but over the next year I’ll be releasing a three-book series that I’m pretty excited about. It revolves around the Montgomery siblings whose family owns Big Sky Ranch in Montana. Writing suspense is relatively new for me but so much fun!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 2 paperback copes of Pine Creek Matchmaker, US only.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you ever consider touring an Amish community?

 
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Excerpt from Pine Creek Matchmaker:

Sadie and Caleb begin reminiscing about their childhood after they choose a name—Sugar—for the cat they rescued.
“Sugar is fitting for her,” he agreed. “Besides, I practically grew up in a candy shop. Sugar is my favorite ingredient.”
To his surprise, this brought a smile to her lips.
“I can still picture you in your mamm’s apron.” Then she giggled.
For just a moment, he was startled by the sound. It was such a change to hearing only the sound of the tires on asphalt. He shot her a look of mock indignation.
“There is nothing wrong with a man in an apron.”
Sadie’s eyes opened comically wide. “Did I say there was?”
“Yet you seem to have some sort of issue with me,” Caleb said, trying to keep his tone light. Of course, he knew it had nothing to do with an apron and likely everything to do with the accident, so he wasn’t sure why he’d blurted that out, opening this particular can of worms.
“To be honest, I don’t have a single fond memory of you,” she announced, then pressed a hand over her mouth as if appalled the words had slipped out.
Instead of feeling offended, Caleb simply smirked and said, “Can’t say I remember you too fondly either.” He said the words without malice and hoped they weren’t too harsh.
“Me?” Sadie scoffed. “You were the one who was wretched when we were growing up.”
Caleb laughed at that, though the words did sting just a little. “How so?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
He gripped the steering wheel and shot her a look that implied he sure did. She was the one who had been a pain in his backside his whole childhood.
She let out an indignant huff.
“When I won the spelling bee in third grade, I returned to my chair only to drop down on a whoopie cushion you had placed there. The entire class laughed at me.”
“I was only ten,” Caleb said, feeling slightly chagrined. “I didn’t have good manners then.”
“Then?” Sadie growled. “When I was in sixth grade, you put a chocolate bar on my seat. It was hot in the schoolhouse, so it had melted. When I sat on it, it looked like”—she waved her hands in the air, scowling—“you know.”
He winced, because he did know. At the time he really had thought it would be funny. But after the fact, after seeing how truly mortified Sadie had been, he’d felt awful. He was two years older than Sadie and Grace, and really, he’d been old enough to know better. It was no surprise that Grace had taken matters into her own hands. She’d whopped him good alongside the head—never mind the peaceful, forgiving Amish way—she’d been livid, then had made sure everyone knew it had been a cruelly placed chocolate bar. His mamm had made him rise before dawn and scrub the already spotless kitchen floor every day for a week.
“You were no treasure to be around either,” he countered. “You were always tattling. Or threatening to tattle.” In a voice meant to mimic he said, “I’m going to tell your mamm. I’m going to tell the teacher. I’m going to tell your daed.”
“I did not,” Sadie exclaimed.
He laughed wryly. “Oh, for sure you did.”
She scowled at him.
He flashed her a knowing grin. “You know what I think? I think you were always in my business because you had a crush on me. I think you wanted me to notice you. It’s common, you know, having a crush on your best friend’s brother.”
She made a strangled sound, and he wasn’t sure if it was a sound of horror or if the very thought made her ill. The way her face scrunched in disgust didn’t boost his ego any. He’d been teasing, of course he had been, but it bothered him a bit that Sadie looked so utterly appalled by the idea.
He might not be a prize, but was he really that bad?
“I absolutely did not, do not, and never will have a crush on you,” she said firmly. Still grimacing, she said, “Caleb Weaver, you put a mouse in my lunchbox.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Love can lead anyone to redemption—in this unforgettable and heartwarming Pine Creek romance from author Amity Hope…

After leaving Pine Creek—along with his family and the rest of their Amish community—four years ago, Caleb Weaver has returned. He’s come back to help his parents with their struggling candy shop, and everyone in their small town is buzzing with the news. But no sooner does he return than he’s flagged down by the last person he wanted to see…with a helpless, abandoned kitten.

Sadie Ziegler will do almost anything to save an animal, including accepting a ride from her best friend’s older brother, her childhood nemesis. Only, the troublesome boy she remembers has been replaced by a serious, kind, and hardworking man. But not everyone is ready to accept someone who’s been shunned…

Now Sadie and Caleb find themselves organizing the town’s community fundraiser, working together to help his family, and even matchmaking along the way. For the first time, redemption—and a chance at love—seems almost within reach. But there’s no escaping the secret that drove Caleb from Pine Creek…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Amity lives in beautiful northern Minnesota with her two sons and a couple of cats.

She has a degree in elementary education and worked in that field for ten years before deciding to chase her dream of becoming an author.

Her first self-published novel, Twisted, was listed by Amazon as a Top 100 Kids & Teens Kindle Book of 2012. It hit Amazon’s Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance Best Sellers List in several countries. Truths and Dares held the #1 position on Amazon’s Best Sellers in Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks in the UK.

If she’s not writing, or spending time with her boys, she’s most likely reading.
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