Author Interview – Mindy Steele – Amish Fiction

Guide to Categories – Author Interview – an interview with an author, if there is no review from me, I have not read the book and cannot speak to its appropriateness for a school library

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About the Book

Book: A Stolen Kiss (The Heart of the Amish Book 7)

Author: Mindy Steele

Genre: Amish/Christian Fiction

Release date: December, 2024

Who Kissed Who First?

Full of faith, hope, and romance, the series takes you into the Heart of Amish Country.

LeEtta Miller has never done anything spontaneous before, but when a girl is the last one at everything, sometimes she has to take the reins into her own hands. What harm could come from kissing a stranger she’ll never see again?

Benuel Ropp isn’t sure he can ever forgive his father for giving away his inheritance. Taking work far from home, Ben hopes to earn enough to build his future, but nowhere in his plans did he predict being kissed by a beautiful stranger – or having to marry her. To save both their reputations he has little choice but to accept the elder’s demands. Well. . .if LeEtta thought he’d flinch, letting her boldness ruin the future he had all mapped out, she was mistaken. He has a dream to work for, and if he has to make sacrifices to reach them, so will she.

Who kissed who first? He couldn’t even remember anymore.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author – Mindy Steele

Mindy Steele is the award-winning author and bestselling author of over a dozen novels and novellas in Christian fiction. Raised in Kentucky timber country, Steele has been writing since she could hold a crayon on the wall and lives in northeastern Kentucky—where many of her stories are set.

 

 

 

Author Interview – Mindy Steele

When did you first know you wanted to be an author? I remember during my earliest childhood years creating stories while sitting at my grandfather’s side, who was a poet and short story writer, before I knew how to spell correctly. I never stopped penning something on paper since. 

When you are not writing, what other hats do you wear? What do you do for fun? I’m a wife, mother, grandmother, and daughter of Christ.  I’m very involved with my family and community and help where I can. Sometimes that only requires me to drive Amish friends to a particular destination or research something they need. Other times it’s being a foster grandmother to three cuties who I strive being richly involved with. I’m a huge advocate of reading and love speaking to students and donating clean reads to our local jail. I love to garden, hike, and bake, which mean others get loads of veggies and sweets.  

What is your favorite genre to read? What about that genre draws you? I’ve always been drawn to historical fiction. The past is filled with such rich and strong characters and you have a personal lens into the inner being of people who endured a very different world then we have today. Historically you can learn so much and how it helped shaped us.   

How does your faith play out in your writing? I feel my faith has grown more personally since God set me on this path. I’ve given Him the lead in all that I write, despite finding inspiration for each story in some unlikely places. He gives me the message the characters need most and in turn, I’ve learned a few lessons of my own shortcomings. I’ve no desire to fill my stories with preaching or a flood of biblical versus, but I have aimed to put the right verse in the right place for a reader who may need to remember it. God knew my audience would not all be Christian readers, but I do hope that all my readers will know Him when they reach the end.   

Young Author’s Days were an important part of my work as a school librarian. What advice would you give to a child or teen who wants to be a writer? I’ve talked with elementary school aged children and have lectured at Universities about writing and my first word of advice is always… read. I’m a true believer that one cannot write without first reading. My second word of advice is you have to start. Write it anyway, even if you don’t think it matters. 

Thank you so much for joining us today. I love learning more about the author behind the book!

More from Mindy Steele

The Story Behind the Story with Mindy Steele

A Stolen Kiss

I’m always seeking the not-so-ordinary plot for one of my stories. So, when our youngest son and his intended traded a look one evening, something struck a cord in my always moving imagination. Mind you, Blake told me when he was ten, riding a new bus to a new school, that he met the girl that he was going to marry. So cute, yet, they married in May, eleven years later. A Stolen Kiss is not love at first sight. It’s not even love over-the-years, but that one moment birthed a new character. LeEtta Miller. Not all love stories are as beautiful as our son’s, but all love stories are worth telling.

I’m an author of romance, love inspired stories weaving through rural landscapes where characters unveil themselves into realistic people most of us are glad to know. Romantic fiction gives readers what no other genre seems to offer. It’s an escape, a hope. Hope across illness, loss, despair, and uncertainty. Its community, knowledge, a gathering of friends, unity, while representing comfort.

We all want to add more love to our lives. After all, it is the greatest gift God has given us. Gentle or fast moving, we are sucked in to reach those glorious chapters of a first kiss and a promising tomorrow.

But, what if the kiss came sooner? What if love isn’t fast moving, but something earned and quietly obtained through slow familiarity.

LeEtta Miller is quite the rule follower and people pleaser. I’ve shaken my head at her quite often as I got to know her. LeEtta also feels as if life is passing her by. How many times have we’ve been in those pair of shoes? In one bold moment, she’ll through caution to the wind, and act, impulsively. Thus we get introduced to Benuel Ropp, who’s visiting his grandparents, hoping to earn enough money to buy his own land, back in Ohio. As events escalate, from a chance meeting to an binding union, these two young characters are thrown into new roles neither of them intended. I’ve never laughed more writing LeEtta and Ben’s story, and hope it brings joy, hope, and a wiliness to accept that the mistakes we make in life, are only rocky paths leading us to where we belong.

May you never stop making mistakes and following love’s calling,

Mindy

Views expressed in this interview/guest post do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog host.

Blog Stops

lakesidelivingsite, January 9

Texas Book-aholic, January 10

Simple Harvest Reads, January 11 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)

Stories By Gina, January 12 (Author Interview)

Jeanette’s Thoughts, January 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 13

The Avid Reader, January 14

Life on Chickadee Lane, January 14

Locks, Hooks and Books, January 15

Artistic Nobody, January 16 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 17

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, January 18

Vicky Sluiter, January 19 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, January 20

Holly’s Book Corner, January 21

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, January 22 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Mindy is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon e-Gift card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54127

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