Spotlight & Giveaway: The Wish by Patricia Davids

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Patricia Davids to HJ!

Hi Patricia and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Wish!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This is the story of an Amish widow, Laura Beth, who has never had children but who desperately wants a child. She is willing to give up her friends and her home and travel to an Amish community 1000 miles away in order to find a new husband and hopefully a family. Joshua King is an ex-Amish convict fresh out of jail who has just learned he is the father of a four-month-old. His estranged wife is dying and she wants her child to be raised by her parents, an Amish couple who live near Garnett, Kansas. On his way to fulfill his wife’s last wish, Joshua is stranded at the farm of Laura Beth. He is afraid to get to know his son and Laura Beth is determined that he experienced the joy of being a father before he gives his child up forever. What neither of them expect is to find love in a forbidden relationship.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

THIS WAS SO much harder than she expected it to be.
Laura Beth Yoder glanced at her best friend working beside her. Abigail Troyer was helping bind lavender into bundles for drying. It was a chore they had done together every spring for ten years, but this would be the last time.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The book started out to be The Amish Widow’s Wish, but I thought that seemed too long on a single title cover. I asked them to shorten it to The Wish and I got my wish.
• Research for this book with a blast because I took my sister-in-law Theresa with me when I drove out to Garnett, Kansas to get a feel for the Amish in that community. We were able to buy sausage from an out of the way, way out of the way, Amish butcher shop. A foggy drizzly day, no other customers, just a burly man in a white coat with his beard covered. He didn’t say much. He just stepped into a big walk-in freezer and came out with two packages. As we left my outrageous writer imagination suggested we could have easily ended up being part of the next sausage batch. Talk about scaring ourselves. We had so much fun just gabbing, giggling and enjoying each other’s company that day.
• My main food craving when I’m writing is always ice cream. Usually black walnut ice cream, occasionally butter pecan, but never chocolate.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

I don’t know my characters very well before I start writing so a lot of things surprised me. Laura Beth determination to see that Joshua got to know his son before he gave him up was perhaps the most surprising. I knew she wanted children but I didn’t realize she wanted Joshua to have the emotional experience of being a father before he made his decision.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

If I should ever be so lucky as to have my book made into a movie I would like the actor and actress to reenact the “bathing the baby” scene. I think it reveals a lot about both characters and the conflict that is keeping them apart.

“Now you can rinse off the soap,” she said catching him unaware.
Joshua pointed at his chest. “You want me to do it?”
“There isn’t anyone else. Put your hand behind his neck like so and use your other hand to rinse him.”
Joshua gingerly held his slippery son and squeezed water from the washcloth over his chubby belly and legs. “Like this?”
“Exactly.”
When Joshua was done, Laura Beth lifted the wet and squirming babe out of the water and nodded toward the counter. “Would you get that towel for me, Joshua?”
He picked up the one she wanted and stretched it open. She placed the baby against it and he wrapped it around his son.
“Make sure you get all his creases dry.” She carried the tub to the sink, leaving Joshua holding the baby.
He sat on a chair and awkwardly began to dry Caleb, who decided it was time to squirm like a little worm facing a hook. “Hold still. Laura Beth won’t be my friend anymore if I drop you on your head.”
“That’s right.” She came back and held out her hands. Joshua reluctantly handed Caleb over to her. Would Amy’s parents care for him as carefully and happily as Laura Beth did? The thought hadn’t occurred to him before. He knew nothing about the people who were going to raise his son.
Laura Beth unwrapped the boy, spread the towel on the table and laid him facedown on it. He immediately lifted his head and started squirming with his gaze fixed on the bottle of soap just out of his reach. He was making progress toward it when Laura Beth pulled him back. “Oh no you don’t.”
“Aren’t you supposed to put powder on him or lotion?” Joshua asked.
“A little bit of cornstarch in his creases during this hot weather is fine so his skin doesn’t become chafed.”
“I didn’t notice any scent to the soap you used. Was it fragrance-free?”
“That’s very observant. Some people believe it’s best not to use scented soaps on babies in case they have a reaction to it. This is plain goat milk soap. It’s what I use myself.”
“Because using the scented soap would be seen as worldly, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t you see that as a trivial distinction? Who cares if you smell pretty or not?”
“Plain soap gets me clean, and that is what soap is supposed to do.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I want people to take away the fact that there are many different types of Amish communities. That their acceptance of technology and modern conveniences varies from community to community.

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

I recently finished the second book in the Amish of Cedar Grove series. It’s called The Hope and it will be released in November. I’m just about to start on a new Amish book for Love Inspired. I don’t have a title for that one however my next Love Inspired is called Shelter from the Storm and it will be out in August.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A Paperback copy of THE WISH by Patricia Davids (US – CAN)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you be surprised to learn that the Amish farm with tractors instead of horses in some parts of the country? I’ve been told that makes them less Amish. Is there such a thing? What are your thoughts?

 
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Excerpt from The Wish:

This was so much harder than she expected it to be.
Laura Beth Yoder glanced at her best friend working beside her. Abigail Troyer was helping bind lavender into bundles for drying. It was a chore they had done together every spring for ten years, but this would be the last time.
Laura Beth’s hands shook slightly as she selected the fragrant blooms and snipped their stems to equal lengths before handing the flowers to her friend. “Abigail, I have something to tell you. You aren’t going to like it.”
“That sounds serious.” Abigail wound a blue rubber band around the stems and carefully placed the bundle in a box on the counter beside her.
“I’m going to sell my farm and move to Ohio.”
Abigail spun to stare at her. “What? Leave Kansas? Why would you do that?”
Laura Beth faced her friend, praying she would understand. “I want to find a husband, and there isn’t anyone for me to marry around here.”
“To find a husband?” Abigail pressed a hand to her cheeks. “I can’t believe you’re seriously considering this. You’re joking, right?” Laura Beth wasn’t surprised at Abigail’s disbelief. She knew this would be her reaction. It was the reason she hadn’t mentioned her plans before now. She had wanted to wait until the move was certain, but she was afraid her sister, Sarah, would spill the beans. Laura Beth didn’t want Abigail to hear the news from anyone else.
She plucked more flowers from the bushel basket on the counter, trimmed the ends with her shears and handed the bundle to Abigail. “It’s not as strange as you make it sound.”
Abigail slapped the flowers on the counter, scattering the petals. “Strange? I think you’re ab en kopp.”
Laura Beth flinched. She wasn’t off in the head, but she was getting desperate. It hadn’t been an easy decision, but it was the only one open to her.
The two women had been friends since childhood. Abigail was her nearest neighbor and a member of the same Amish church, but Abigail was also the mother of four healthy, energetic children. She had no idea what it was like to spend years praying for a baby and to still have empty arms.
There was an ache in Laura Beth’s heart that never went away. There was a void only a baby could fill.
The death of her husband two years ago had put an end to any hopes of motherhood she had harbored during the ten years of her marriage. The opportunity to change her life had arrived in a letter from her cousin in Ohio. If she was strong enough to take it.
She looked up from her flowers to stare out the window at the three Troyer boys playing outside. They were enjoying the tire swing their father had hung from the elm tree in the front yard. Melvin, the youngest of the boys at five years old, lay through the center of the tire while his eight-year-old twin brothers, Andy and Peter, turned him round and round. Stepping back, they gave him a shove and watched him spin wildly as the rope unwound. All of them were laughing.
In the roomy kitchen of the Troyer home filled with the scent of lavender and the sounds of children at play coming through the open window, Laura Beth was sure paradise must sound and smell something like this. Why hadn’t God blessed her with children? Why didn’t she deserve this happiness?
Her gaze shifted to her friend. “It has been two years since my Micah passed away. I’m going to be thirty tomorrow, Abigail. Time is running out for me. I want children of my own.”
Abigail snapped the blue rubber band around the flowers in her hand and tossed them in the box. “Thirty isn’t old.”
“It’s old enough. I’m ready to seek a new husband, and my cousin Esther in Ohio knows several men that might suit. She knows one who is eager to meet me.” Laura Beth wanted her friend’s support. It was a frightening prospect to move halfway across the country.
“You make it sound like you’re shopping for a new coat.”
Laura Beth managed a slight smile. “I wish it was that easy. Maybe it will be in Sugarcreek. Esther assures me that there are plenty of marriage-minded men in the church groups around her area. Did you know Ohio has the largest population of Amish in any state? Even more than Pennsylvania.”
“I didn’t, and I don’t care. Please don’t make a rash decision you’ll regret.” “This isn’t a whim, Abigail. I’ve given it a lot of thought. I’m doing it for Sarah, too. There isn’t anyone for her here, either. Ohio may suit us both.” Her younger sister would be twenty in the fall. She deserved a chance to meet more than the handful of Amish boys that lived nearby.
Abigail sighed and reached to cover Laura Beth’s hand with her own. “I understand. I do. I sympathize, but if you go to Ohio I will never see you again. How will I manage without you? Wait another year or two at least.”
“What would I be waiting for? Outside of my three first cousins, there isn’t a single Amish man of marriageable age in our district.”
“What about Ernest Mast?”
“He is fifty-one and a confirmed bachelor.”
“Okay, you’re right, but don’t sell your farm. Go visit your cousin for a few months. Don’t move there. If things don’t work out, you can come back.”
Laura Beth shook her head. “My mind is made up.”
Abigail’s lips pressed into a stern line, and she turned away. “Then I hope it takes you years and years to sell your farm.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Second chances come at the most unexpected times…

Widow Laura Beth Yoder longs for a family of her own. So much so that she’s preparing to leave the sleepy Amish town she calls home to find love. But a terrible storm washes out the creek, forcing her to wade in and save the life of an Englisch man and his adorable infant son. As they recover at the farm, the baby brings sunshine and joy, while the handsome outsider is filled with shadows…and secrets.

Joshua King owes his life and his son’s to Laura Beth. Still, lingering at her farm is out of the question. He must fulfill a promise he made to his estranged wife on her deathbed: to deliver their son to his Amish in-laws. With his dark past, Joshua has no other choice. But his plans never took this sweet and surprising Amish widow into account. She just might be his second chance at happiness…and love.

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Meet the Author:

USA Today best-selling author Patricia Davids was born and raised in Kansas. After forty years as an NICU nurse, Pat switched careers to become an inspirational writer. She enjoys spending time with her daughter and grandchildren, traveling and playing with her dogs, who think fetch should be a twenty-four hour a day game. When not on the road or throwing a ball, Pat is happily dreaming up new stories.
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