Charlotte Hubbard

In Willow Ridge, Missouri, the Christmas season is a time when faith brings peace, family brings warmth, and new romance brings sparkling joy.

Winds of change are blowing through Willow Ridge, and they're bringing a stranger to the Sweet Seasons Bakery. At first, widowed Miriam Lantz has misgivings about Ben Hooley, a handsome but rootless traveling blacksmith. But as she gets to know the kind-hearted newcomer, she wonders if his arrival was providential. Perhaps she could find love again--if only there weren't so many obstacles in the way. With Bishop Knepp relentlessly pursuing her hand...

"For the peaceful town of Willow Ridge, November presents an early holiday surprise. Stranded in the snow, 18-year-old Lena Esh and her boyfriend Josiah Witmer need more than a place to stay for the night. Lena defied her strict family and their judgmental beliefs to run away with Josiah and have his baby. But she's starting to wonder if he can prove as responsible as he is passionate. And she isn't sure how--or if--they can ever find a place to truly...

As Promise Lodge's first wedding arrives, the evidence of a community building a foundation for the future is a cause for celebration. But the bishop's narrow-minded wedding sermon doesn't sit well with the Bender sisters, the town's courageous founders, especially widowed Mattie Schwartz. She believes marriage and family aren't the most important of God's gifts -- even if she suspects her tender feelings for Preacher Amos Troyer run deeper than simple...

"With all the warmth of a cozy quilt, snuggle into Amish tales of hearts joined, friendships patched, and the bright joys of Christmas tradition... A Willow Ridge Christmas pageant: Seth Brenneman didn't expect his holiday would include rescuing pregnant young Mary Kauffman and her two children...or having unexpected feelings for the still-grieving widow. But when they must play the leads in an impromptu Nativity pageant, will their roles reveal...

"Leaving Flaud's Furniture to teach at the community's new school is a joy for Lydianne Christner. Old Order Amish, but new to Morning Star, she's grateful that the congregation trusts her with the position-- but she panics when handsome Bishop Jeremiah Shetler asks about the life she left behind. If anyone discovers the secret she's hiding, she would, quite rightly, be shunned. A widower, Bishop Jeremiah admires young Lydianne's youthful energy and...

"When five maidels join forces to turn an abandoned barn into an Amish marketplace, the unmarried women have community in mind. But their fledgling enterprise promises to reap surprising rewards for each in turn, including the gift of unexpected love . . . For Regina Miller, the new Morning Star Marketplace is a chance to share her secret work with the world—without revealing herself. Old Order Amish forbid the creation of art without purpose,...

"Recently widowed after twenty years of marriage, Frances Lehman is only just tasting the freedom and opportunity that her Promise Lodge friends enjoy. So she's not about to be pressured into marriage by her widowed brother-in-law, even if she and her daughter have no real means of support. Much more promising is her new friendship with Preacher Marlin Kurtz, though their respective families don't see their relationship as proper . . . When Frances...

Nora Hooley's shop is abuzz with preparations for the holiday open house, and Rosalyn Riehl is handcrafting wreaths from evergreen boughs, pinecones, and other natural materials. The work is a welcome diversion for the only unmarried daughter of Cornelius Riehl: her gruff dat has been receiving envelopes marked Past Due, leaving dutiful Rosalyn to manage the household's inexplicably shrinking budget. Marcus Hooley hightailed it to Willow Ridge on...

For Leah Otto, marrying Jude Shetler is a long-held dream come true. As a young girl, she was captivated by his good looks and talent as an auctioneer. When Jude, now a widower with three children, begins to court her, Leah doesn't hesitate. Other men may not appreciate her tomboy ways, but Jude values Leah's practical nature and her skill with the animals she tends, and both enter the marriage with joy and optimism. Three months later, Leah feels...