Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Available for preorder Firestorm!


https://www.amazon.com/Firestorm-Amish-Mackinac-County-Hilton/dp/1641230312/



Firestorm  Blurb

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.



Excerpt:


Firestorm

By Laura V. Hilton



Chapter 1

Mackinac County, Michigan


It was a nightmare.
Lightning flashed across the black sky. Thunder boomed so close that vibrations shook the ground. Rain, mixed with pebble-size hail, pelted the van’s windows with enough force it seemed the glass might not withstand the impact.
Bridget Behr stared in dismay at the haus Daed had bought sight unseen. In the bright flashes of lightning along with the beam from the headlamps of the vehicle that had brought them here, it appeared gray. Rundown. Forsaken. Abandoned.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad during the day.
Or maybe it’d be worse.
“It’s a nightmare. A nightmare, I tell you!” She hadn’t meant to blurt those words out loud. Especially when her parents, older brudder, and the driver jerked around to stare at her. Still. They had come here for a safe haven and found this. Unbelievable.
Daed grunted. His frown spoke volumes without saying a word. Don’t talk in our language in front of Englishers and We’re doing this for you, Bridget.
Maybe she should be grateful instead of imagining the worst. She probably had read too many cozy mysteries under the covers via flashlight lately, but this seriously had creepy, scary, and unnerving written all over it.
A complete disaster.
But there probably wasn’t a body hidden halfway behind the bed. Of course, there wasn’t even a bed, because the truck they’d hired to bring their worldly possessions wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. Providing the bridge across the straits of Mackinac was open. It’d been shut for hours today due to gale-force winds.
The driver cleared his throat. “I can take you to the house next door, if you wish. Things might appear more attractive in morning light.”
There didn’t appear to be a haus next door. Just a thick expanse of ever so many trees. Maybe home to bears. Wolves. Cougars.
She shivered. The book she’d read most recently had the hero battling grizzlies in a high-stakes adventure.
“Jah…Yes. The neighbors’ would be gut,” Daed said. He looked back at the spotlighted wreckage and tugged at his beard. “Let this be a lesson to you, kinner. Never buy property sight unseen.”
Jah. Seemed it would be a given. Hadn’t Bridget argued that very point when Daed announced his plans?
Daed had ignored her. Other than, “We can’t stay here, Bridget. It’s not safe. Not for you, not for your sisters, and not even for your mamm.”
Indeed.
Still, at least Daed semi-admitted his mistake in a roundabout way.
Bridget sighed and leaned back against the seat in the van. Getting as far away as possible from the atrocity that was to be her new home.
“The next-door neighbors… are they Amish or Englisch?” Mamm clutched the seat of the van beside Bridget as if it might launch them out at the forsaken haus.
The driver chuckled. Not a comforting sound. Instead it almost sounded… evil. “Amish.”
That was gut, jah?
Mamm relaxed.
Bridget tensed. She glanced over her shoulder into the rear seat of the van. Her two younger sisters and younger brudder were asleep. In the seat next to her, her older brudder stared out the window and shook his head. He’d have plenty to say away from Daed’s hearing, no doubt.
“Off we go then. It’s about a half-mile down the road.” The driver shifted the gearshift lever beside the steering wheel and drove off.
Long before Bridget mentally prepared herself to meet strangers, he parked in front of another dark haus.
At least this one seemed in better shape. Glass covered the windows. They didn’t loom empty like the ones in...
Wait. No windows? That meant her future home was also home to any number of creatures. And now thoroughly drenched thanks to the driving rain.
“Daed—”
The driver cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure it’s unlocked. No one locks doors around here. The family is in Mio visiting relatives, but they probably won’t mind you staying overnight.”
More unease slithered up Bridget’s spine. A sharp contrast to their home back in Ohio where houses were locked simply because of all the tourists and the stalker. Would strangers be welcome to just barge in and camp out overnight?
“Thank you.” Daed handed the man some money. “Appreciate you picking us up at the bus station.”
“No problem. Welcome to the area.” He pocketed the cash and laughed. “Of course, you might not like it so much once the snow starts flying in a week or so. You might want to go back where you came from.”
There’s a thought. They may have left one danger, but it seemed they’d jumped from the frying pan straight into the fire with this move. Bridget waited for Daed to agree.
Daed grunted.
After a few moments of silence, the driver coughed. “I’ll wait to be sure it is unlocked.”
Bridget climbed out of the van, then reached to help her youngest sister Roseanna. The heavy rain soaked through her dress and kapp, turning her into a cold, wet, soggy mess. Too bad their hand luggage hadn’t made it to the right bus going north. But they were assured it’d be found and delivered later. Maybe this family would let them borrow something dry to sleep in.
Daed led the way up the porch steps and opened the door. He flicked on the small flashlight he always carried in his pocket.
“Where are we, Daed? Is this our new home?” Roseanna rubbed her eyes. “I don’t recognize any of the furniture.”
A door shut somewhere upstairs. Seconds later, a man appeared at the landing, holding a flashlight lantern high. He had crazy bed head, wore some psychedelic-lime-green pajama pants, and was bare-chested.
He stared down at them and blinked.
Bridget dipped her head, her cheeks heating. But… She darted a glance up again, fascinated by the sight.
“Uh. There’s a lantern on the table,” the man in the lime-green pajamas said. “Go ahead and light it.” He set the flashlight on the top of the stairs and disappeared into the room he’d just emerged from.

Seconds later, he reappeared, tugging on an undershirt as he ran downstairs. 


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