About the Book

Title: Plain Everyday Heroes

Author: Laura V. Hilton, Rachel J. Good, Thomas Nye

Genre: Christian Amish

Release Date: July 4, 2018

Playing with Fire

Arie Zimmerman has been in love with Noah Behr from almost the moment they met, but after a devastating wildfire destroys the community, everything changes. Noah questions how a loving Gott could allow such things to happen. As Arie and her family struggle to rebuild their home and lives, Noah escapes to California to fight another off-season wildfire—and maybe find Gott in the process.

When Noah returns, he promises Arie the prize money if she will help him with a chili cook-off to fund the fire department. Of course, in order to spend more time with the girl he loves, he’s also willing to pitch in unloading the new furniture and animals her daed bought at an auction. He’ll even help Arie slice and dice vegetables if he can taste test the recipes.

More than just the kitchen heats up as they spend time together. But will Noah find a still missing Gott in the process and discover there’s more to life than what he initially believed?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Unlikely Hero

Mysteries intrigue secondhand shop owner Benuel Miller. Although strangers may think a blind man would be easy to cheat, those who know Benuel realize he’s honed his other senses to pick up clues his eyes don’t see, making him a savvy business owner. When a stranger enters Benuel’s secondhand shop, the man is shocked by Benuel’s accurate assessment and unsolicited advice. Wary, he hopes Benuel won’t find out his true intentions, but the shopkeeper is already on the case.

Later, Mari and her twin sister, Frannie, stop in Benuel’s shop with Frannie’s three-year-old son, and Benuel senses trouble. His hunches have never led him astray, but is he misreading something here? He can’t help being drawn to Mari, yet is she as sweet and loving as she seems? Or is she hiding a deep, dark secret?

One explosive night when tragedy strikes, Benuel risks his life to find out the truth. Can he unmask the stranger from his shop to foil a sinister plot? And will what he discovers destroy his only chance for love?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Racing the Slow Girls

A recipe for fast-paced, comical, Amish adventure— Ingredients: Three fun-loving teenage boys on bicycles. Mix in an adorable little girl on a pony, a few spunky teenage girls, and a hint of romance. Directions: Place the characters in a beautiful setting, such as Holmes Co. Ohio. Roll in the boys on bikes. Stir up a few harsh words spoken carelessly. Add plenty of retaliation by the girls. Place in the heat of a family emergency until everyone is completely undone. Sit back and enjoy an Amish adventure with a cup of coffee.

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Authors

Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning, sought-after author with almost twenty Amish, contemporary, and historical romances. When she’s not writing, she reviews books for her blogs, and writes devotionals for blog posts for Seriously Write and Putting on the New.

Laura and her pastor-husband have five children and a hyper dog named Skye. They currently live in Arkansas. One son is in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is a pastor’s wife, and homeschools her two youngest children.

When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, and visiting lighthouses and waterfalls. Her favorite season is winter, her favorite holiday is Christmas.

Rachel J. Good is the author of several Amish series in print or forthcoming—Sisters & Friends, Love & Promises, and two books in theHearts of Amish Country series—as well as the Amish Quilts Coloring Books and the contemporary novella, Angels Unaware, part of the Hope Chapel series. Visit Rachel at her website: www.racheljgood.com.

Thomas Nye writes novels about horses and Amish life, with a touch of romance, and a foundation of faith in Christ. He and his wife, Shari, live on her family farm where they raised five children. Their six grandchildren love to visit Karma and Karla, a team of draft horses which Thomas purchased from an Amish friend.

Arie’s habanero chili

1 lb stew meat: venison, or beef

1/4 cup bacon bits

1/2 Onion, diced

Green pepper, diced

2 cans of habanero Rotel

1 can tomato sauce

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1/2 cup sliced jalapenos

1 TSP cayenne pepper

3 TB chili powder

2 TB beef bouillon

1 TSP paprika

1 TSP pepper

2 TB garlic

salt to taste

Saute onion and pepper, set aside. Sear stew meat in hot pan until brown. Do not over cook. Add meat and other ingredients to pot and simmer until done. Add water if necessary. Serve with cornbread. Approximately 7 servings

Recipe compliments of Michael Hilton (Laura’s son)

Blog Stops

Blog Stops
The Avid Reader, July 7

Blossoms and Blessings, July 20

Giveaway

To celebrate the tour, Celebrate Lit is giving away

Grand prize: a $25 Amazon gift card

Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/d19d/plain-everyday-heroes-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review:

You’ll find three amazing Authors sharing stories within the pages of this book. Novels that contain so many stories in one are a favorite of mine, especially when they blend together so well. You’ll love the plain, everyday heroes that are shared within the pages of this book.

I was drawn to the story of Arie and Noah after just reading Laura Hilton’s Firestorm. The story line is similar though it’s a different setting. The name Arie drew me in, too. I have ancestors who share the name on both sides of my family. It was like reading there story when I was reading this story.

I love stories about characters with challenges like Benuel. Not being able to see never stopped him from figuring out a person’s true intent, though sometimes even his inner vision was clouded. Mari’s heart is his for the taking if he can just get past the feelings of wrong that he has.

The young love that Thomas Nye shares is unforgettable and refreshing. It’s a fun story that keeps you laughing throughout. Young love is always fun.

You’ll enjoy all three of these books in one, just as I have. It makes a great Summer read, something to do as you lay in the breezes a long the waterside. Definitely one you won’t want to miss!

We are long time lovers of Progeny Press. We were first introduced to them many years ago through the Homeschool Review Crew. The guides they provide are excellent and easy to use. For this review, we will talk about The Scavengers – eGuide.

Progeny Press has many guides for Classic books available. They’re a really great company for anyone looking to use a guide with reading for literature. They are a Christian company so their views and their guides do reflect this.

The Scavengers is a book by Micheal Perry. I had never heard of it before this but I found the story line intriguing and thought it was something the kids would enjoy. A different book than what we normally read.

The book itself tells the story of Maggie, a young girl in a world a lot different than our own. Progeny Press describes as a cross between Mad Max and Laura Ingalls Wilder. It’s a Dystopian tale set in a fantasy world, a world without the modern conveniences of today. A world desolate though people still manage to thrive.

It’s really a fun tween book that the family can enjoy. But I digress from the real point of this review: The Scavenger’s – eGuide. This guide is designed especially for this book.

The Scavenger’s – eGuide is jammed back with good stuff about the book and the author. 59 pages of stuff to be exact. Progeny Press gives rights for family use of this eGuide so that you can print it and use it with your students at home after purchasing.

The guide is interactive so you can have your student use it directly on the computer to type in their answers if you’d like. I have found that’s worked well for us in the past. Or as I mentioned above, you can print it as well.

The guide is for grades 5-8. The guide begins with a quick mention of the guide’s author, followed by a Table of Contents and a Note to the Instructor on how to use this guide. There is a Synopsis of the story featured at the beginning so that you are up to date on the story line if you have not read the book yet. This is followed by a short script on the Author of the book himself, so you have a better idea of who he is and why he writes.

Then begins the good stuff: suggestions for prereading activities, vocabulary, and simple questions begin the study guide. As you continue through the guide, the questions become more in depth, focusing on what you’re reading in the story. There are additional optional activities suggested for your students as well. Some of these are writing activities and some are activities which help your student learn more about the usage of items mentioned in the book. For instance, this guide suggests that the student look up Hoop Houses and their use for gardening then possibly visiting a green house to see how Hoop Houses are used first hand.

This is how the guide continues throughout. It breaks the book into chapters like 1-8 and so on for more in depth learning about what your student is reading. Each section follows the above mentioned formatting until you reach the end of the book. Then there is an overview of the book presented which reviews the literature aspects of the book, like theme and pros and cons.

At the end of the guide there are suggestions for Writing and After You Read activities. This is a fairly long section with tons of ideas like researching Gene Splicing and painting a portrait of Maggie, who changes her name to Ford Falcon in the book. Writing a poem or making a water telescope are more ideas suggested in this section.

Lastly, there is a list of additional resources recommended for further reading and education on the things featured in the book. This is a great way to expand the lessons as well and a place to find other projects that bring the story to life for your student.

The Scavenger’s – eGuide is extremely thorough as are all the guides from Progeny Press. The cost for this guide is $18.99 and worth the cost. There are more guides available for other books as well. There is a sample of this guide available on the Progeny Press website for you to view before purchase as well.

You can find Progeny Press online at:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/progenypress
Twitter: https://twitter.com/progenypress
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/progenypress
YouTube: https://youtube.com/progenypress

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Disclaimer:

I live in a household of Tech Geeks. They get it naturally from me. I got it naturally from my own Father and my Grandfather on my Mother’s side. We come from a long line of computer geeks. So when I saw the review come up for Code For Teens and their book Code For Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1), I knew this was meant for us!

My grandfather on my Mother’s side set up and coded the first IBM computers used by the military many, many decades ago. He was super smart and gifted. My Father, I later learned, used to build desktop computers and program them just for fun. He was really good at it.

I personally have a long history with computers as well. I’m the Tech friend that others come to when they can’t figure out something with their phones or computers. I’m the one who set up some of their social media when they were just lost about how to use it. I’m the one often teaching the ins and outs.

All of my children love devices from our computers, to gaming systems to our iPads. Like me, they enjoy the ins and outs of the digital age and can set up programs with little help. It’s just something that seems to come naturally to us all.

We’ve done some coding products for review in the past but I’ve often wanted an actual book they could hold in their hands to learn from. Unfortunately, many of those are complicated and over their heads for children. Code For Teens is not.

Written by Jeremy Moritz and illustrated Christine Moritz, Code For Teens is approximately 220 pages in length, filled with chapters on how to program. This book is designed to be used by the student, without parental supervision. It is important that you as the educator read through the beginning of the book, and the end, and that you check in with your student as they work through the chapters on their own.

You will also need to make sure your student has or is able to download the Chrome browser on their computer in order to work through the programming used in this book. Everything else they should be able to easily do on their own with just the computer and the book at hand.

Coding is so much fun. I use it almost daily in writing reviews. My children enjoy using it creating as well on their games.

Code For Teens begins with teaching Javascript which is a base program for all programming. It teaches your students to use Javascript properly through inputting different codes into the Chrome browser to get results and see what happens. It shows them how easy it is to make the computer do what you tell it to through the things you input in to the browsers search bar.

Each chapter shows a little more to using Javascript. This book does not teach HTML or anything that creates imagery as those details are taught later through other volumes of the program. It simply focuses on the simplicity of using Javascript for coding.

Each chapter begins by telling the student about what they’re doing and giving them prompts to try and compute. Then it gives a quiz to see how the student is coming along. This is followed with a concept review and then drills to complete. By the end of each chapter the student should have a solid grasp of what has been discussed.

The back of the book features the answer key for all the programming used in the book. It also features a glossary of terms. This book is so simply written. It thoroughly covers all the aspects needed for your student to achieve success without the parent holding their hand. It’s wonderful start to creating independence in learning.

Now, I know at this point you may be feeling a little lost, especially if you don’t know what Javascript is or coding or any of this mambo jumbo I’ve mentioned above is. I get it. Not all of us can understand how computer systems work but this book is a great place to start for your children, and even yourself if you’d like to give it a read!

Code For Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1) is $25 with free shipping to order in 48 of the 50 US states.

You can also find Code For Teens on Facebook at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CodeForTeens/.

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Disclaimer:

About the Book

Title: Firestorm

Author: Laura Hilton

Genre: Christian Amish

Release Date: July, 2018

Bridget Behr and her family migrate from the bustling Amish community where she grew up in Ohio to the mostly unpopulated Upper Peninsula of Michigan after a stalker breaks into their home. While her father and brother try to find work in the area, the family is forced to reside in a borrowed RV until the house and barn are rebuilt. While Bridget is hoping for a fresh start, she’s afraid to trust anyone—even Gabriel, the overly-friendly Amish man who lives nearby. Bridget thinks he’s a flirt who serial dates and doesn’t even remember the girls’ names.

Due to not enough construction work in his Florida community to keep him out of trouble, Gabriel Lapp has been sent to Michigan to work. His father is desperate for his son to settle down. When the family walks into Gabe’s home in the middle of a thunderstorm and he discovers their circumstances, he offers to help with construction. For Gabe, the beautiful girl he teasingly calls “the recluse” once he discovers she doesn’t attend youth events, confuses him like none other.

As Gabriel and Bridget grow closer, they realize there is more to a person than meets the eye. Just as Bridget is finally settling into her new life, and perhaps finding love, tragedy strikes. Now Bridget and her family must decide if they should move to another Amish community, or dare to fight for the future they’d hoped for in Mackinac County.

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning, sought-after author with over twenty Amish, contemporary, and historical romances. When she’s not writing, she reviews books for her blogs, and writes devotionals for blog posts for Seriously Write.

Laura and her pastor-husband have five children and a hyper dog named Skye. They currently live in Arkansas. One son is in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is a pastor’s wife, and homeschools her two youngest children.

When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, and visiting lighthouses and waterfalls. Her favorite season is winter, her favorite holiday is Christmas.

Guest Post from Laura Hilton

I read a series of books a year or so ago by another Amish author who had set her books in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As a Michigan native, I was curious, and I researched, but found nothing about Upper Peninsula Amish except a notation that one had tried and failed. So I contacted the author. She told me that she’d never been there, and her research had all been hearsay, so with that lack of firsthand knowledge and no trip to the Upper Peninsula planned, no trip to see for myself would be possible. At least at that time.

Then God intervened. My son who is in the United States Coast Guard was stationed in the Upper Peninsula this past summer (2017.) He saw the Amish driving around in their buggies. And he felt like a stalker as he followed one to see where he went and drove through the area. He even sent pictures. (Shhhh.)

Yes, there are Amish in the Upper Peninsula – at least at the time this book was written.

Okay, as a Michigan native, I used some terms that may not be familiar to non-Michiganders. A Yooper is someone who lives in the Upper Peninsula. A Troll is someone from the Lower Peninsula. A pastie is kind of like a Hot Pocket, except it’s a meat pie made with root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and rutabagas. They are so good. And the straits are the area of the Great Lakes connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

As for the wildfire, the earliest wildfire I could find any documentation on in the Upper Peninsula was in April. It is generally a snowy area — trust me. I lived near the Muskegon area and saw snow drifts in May. We sometimes had over six feet of snow on the ground at one time. So, to get the wildfire when I wanted/needed the wildfire I used artistic license. Yes, fires really happened in Michigan’s history. Just not in the month mentioned in the book.

I am attaching a meme about Michigan seasons. We’ll call the fire set in “fool’s spring.” My son got married during the “third winter” this year. April 21 and there’s snow on the ground. He and his beautiful bride got married at a water fall (Tahquomenon Falls) very near where the story is set.

Thanks for reading Firestorm!!

Blog Stops

Blog Stops
Carpe Diem, July 10

Little Homeschool on the Praire, July 23

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Laura is giving away

Grand prize: Firefighter Puppet 9 (Melissa & Doug), Copies of Amish Firefighter and Firestorm by Laura Hilton.

First place prize of “I Love You to the Cross & Back” Mug (Gardenfire) & Firestorm by Laura Hilton!!

Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/cf87/firestorm-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review:
Can I just start by saying, “Wow!” This book was really wonderfully written and totally unexpected. There’s just so much involved with the story that I don’t know exactly where to begin.

Laura Hilton is a wonderful person and an amazing author which really shows in her books. I have only known her a short time but I’m truly impressed with her writing and her as a person in general. She goes out of her way for her fans and her stories are just beautiful and amazing of themselves!

Fire Storm tells the story of Bridget Behr, the Behr Family and Gabriel Lapp. Recently, I found that I have Behr lineage in our family background so I was excited to see this name used. Though my family doesn’t hail from Ohio or from Michigan, it’s still a terrific name.

The story starts right out with the Behr’s relocation to Michigan from an Amish Community in Ohio, which they truly loved. However, a stalker caused great issues for them there and they were forced to find a new home to escape. They weren’t expecting to find a run-down mess of land though, which is exactly what they found upon arrival.

The family was forced to make do by living in a tent. Boy, can I relate to that?! You do what you must to survive!

Gabrielle Lapp isn’t fond of the cold and was really looking forward to moving back to Florida where the temps were so much warmer. In come the Behr’s, with their green-eyed girl though, and all the world whirls out of control. Gabrielle can’t deny the attraction he feels even with the fires flaming all around them.

That’s right – I said fire. There’s a blazing forest fire burning out of control which no one expected. Will it cause all the hopes and dreams of these two families to go up in flames or will they find the strength to stay, despite the frigid temps and rebuild their lives? Firestorm will not disappoint to add fuel to your love of reading and bring warmth to your heart.