Fans of Amish Fiction discussion

Please join us in reading Hide In Plain Sight, the first book in the 'Three Sisters Inn' series, by Marta Perry during the month of October.

Synopsis:
She couldn't turn her back on her family in their time of need.

So when her sister was injured, financial expert Andrea Hampton traded the big city for Amish country to help turn her grandmother's house into an inn.

But life with the Plain People took a treacherous turn when a string of accidents and pranks threatened her family. Someone didn't want the secrets the old house harbored to come to light. Trusting anyone— even the handsome carpenter who seemed so genuine—was a battle for Andrea, but her life depended on her ability to find the truth.

Whenever you've finished the novel, feel free to post your comments about the book and any questions you think would be good for group discussion. Spoilers are perfectly fine but it might be a good idea to type ***SPOILER*** at the start of your post to alert any members who haven't finished the book if you're mentioning a major plot point that should be kept secret.

Happy reading!

How nice that you're reading my book! I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Marta Perry

Thanks Marta, that would be lovely!

I am excited to read this book again! :) I love that it has a mystery aspect to it, but I won't ruin the surprise. :)

BTW, I'm returning to the Amish setting with my December suspense from HQN Books, Murder in Plain Sight. I hope you'll look out for it.

Marta

Ooh, I just added it to my wish list! Thanks for the heads up Marta!

I just had a look at the synopsis on your website and this book looks excellent - my wishlist is never going to stop growing!

I'm excited for your new book Marta!

Thanks, everyone. I hope you like it. I'm doing the revisions now on the following book in the series, Vanish in Plain Sight. Obviously at some point I'll run out of "Plain Sight" title ideas!

Marta

I wish I had a Kindle because Hide in Plain Sight is free right now on Amazon. I'm working on if I can figure out a way to get it on my android cell phone. My husband says he thinks it will work we shall see. lol

Is it possible to just read Kindle books on your computer, maybe in Adobe reader?

It worked on my cell phone, I have a HERO phone and I love it! Now I'll be addicted to the amazon kindle store lol. Already started reading the book and I like it so far.

Rachel I actually found the whole book online by searching the title on Google, but I feel kind of funny reading a book that is copyrighted and not pay or buy it legally. THis is a great book to get for free on the Kindle.

I got it free too - the Harlequin website were offering one title from each of their lines for free last year for their anniversary and I took it as an opportunity to try their Love Inspired books. I think it's a good way to discover a new author.

I believe you can download Kindle for PC or Mac for free, and you can read books on that. I know I have Kindle for Mac on my computer, and though I do have a kindle, I downloaded the Kindle for Mac software for free from amazon.com

I'm glad you found the book--since it's available free on the eharlequin site, a lot of sites have pirated it, I fear. You can download the Kindle to your pc at no cost. I have it on my Dell mini-computer, which I take when I go away, and I like having a book available there without carrying anything extra.

Marta Perry

I have never done a group read, so I need to ask... other than we all read at the same time, what do we do?

That's a pity about other websites taking advantage of Harlequin's free ebooks. I'll have to look into the Kindle computer software, it might make it easier for me to read ebooks on my laptop.

Barbara, so far this is the first month so we've not decided anything official yet. I was thinking that we come up with a few discussion questions and talk about our thoughts on the book. It's rather casual at the moment. If anyone has any other ideas, please jump in!

So here's my first question about the book we are reading. There is a line in the book that says, "If you are not House Amish or Mennonite...." So who knows what is House Amish? I tried to do a search on it but got Amish houses. Maybe Marta can answer this one. Thanks

Glad to. Most Old Order Amish worship in each other's homes or barns every other Sunday. There is no church building. Families take turns hosting the Sunday worship, and congregation size is usually cut off at a number that allows each family to host services once a year, so that after there are about 25 to 30 families, a congregation would split. Some newer Amish-Mennonite groups do have a church building in which they hold services--so they're church Amish and the others are House Amish. That may be a colloquial expression. I hear it in Pennsylvania, but I don't know if it's used elsewhere.

Hmm, I've not heard of House Amish before - interesting! Thanks for enlightening us, Marta. I'm going to start this book after I've finished my current one.

I had never heard of that before either. Pretty neat to have the author answer a question about the book you are reading and quick too. Thankis!

Glad to!

Marta

I've just started reading this and am really enjoying it. I'm balancing out a chapter of Hide in Plain Sight with a part of the Russian epic poem I have to read for class...kind of like a reward whenever I finish a bit of the poem!

I have a question for Marta, when she next pops in here. Is the mansion based on a real building you know? I love the descriptions of it, it really comes to life.

Hi, Rachel--I'll try to check in once a day when I can!

Yes, the mansion is based on a wonderful bed and breakfast inn where my husband and I stayed one weekend. It's called the Churchtown Inn Bed and Breakfast, and I changed very little of it...lovely old historic building, and I highly recommend it if you're ever looking for a place to stay in Lancaster County.

Marta

Thanks Marta! It's so wonderful of you to answer our questions!!! Now I really want to make it out to Lancaster!

Lancaster is a wonderful area to visit! But I am a little biased since I am a quilter so I go nuts with all the great fabric shops around there! Plus you must stop by Kitchen Kettle Village and sample all the wonderful goodies until you are full!

I live in MA so it is only about 6 hours away. We went there this past May and may go again in late spring next year. I can get plenty of reading done while we are driving too!

I hope you'll stay at a bed and breakfast inn while you're there, Diane. It really gives you a flavor of the area!

I used to love going past the Churchtown Inn. We used to live nearby it. A B&B isn't as much a treat when you only live 15 minutes from it, unless you just need a night to runaway!

Sometimes that's just what you need, Barbara!

That's true, but that's when we had 1 income & 2 little ones. My running away times were a couple hours in the evening. It's so much easier now that they're in college. I did get to run away for 36 hours with 4 friends to Lancaster in the beginning of September. Stayed at the Bird-in-Hand Village Inn, toured the area, went to Shady Maple, and then back to Richmond, VA. We had some wonderful good soft pretzels and homemade root beer. They're already planning our next trip!

Love the soft pretzels and homemade root beer. We used to make that, until we had some bottles pop and make a mess!

I have a friend who lives in PA so, some day, I'll have to make a trip to the US and take a trip to Lancaster while I'm with her. I didn't know that soft pretzels were popular amongst the Amish, are they the same as the German kind? I had some wonderful pretzels when I stayed with friends in the Stuttgart area of Germany last year - not the same as the stuff you get in the supermarkets here!

Soft pretzels straight from the oven -- there's nothing quite like them! They were incredible. There's a chain "Auntie Anne's" who does make a mighty good pretzel, but what wouldn't be good if you dip it in melted butter before you serve?!

I used to have a recipe for those--wonder where it went? Yes, they are the same, or very similar to German pretzels.

Welcome Eva!

I'm glad you could join us! :) I hope you'll be active around this group we always enjoy having more input from more people! :)

Welcome, Eva! So glad that you've found us. It would be great to hear what you think about this book and any other Amish stories you've enjoyed.

Hello Eva! This is a great group! There aren't many of us but I love how active that it has become!!!

We all love Amish fiction and are always looking for new authors to read. I am interested to hear some of your suggestions!

Also, the next two books in this series were under $4 each for the kindle. I grabbed them so I could read all of them.

My favorite pretzel shop is in Intercourse, PA on Route 340 in front of Kitchen Kettle Village called Immergut. I love how you can smell them throughout Zook's Fabric Store which is right next to it! I always get the cinnamon and sugar one!

Mom's~

Have you considered downloading the kindle app for PC and reading it on there? The book is free for kindle. Here are the links:

Kindle App for PC: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...#

Book: http://www.amazon.com/Hide-in-Plain-S...

I know reading on a PC can be tiring on the eyes, but I wanted to give you an alternative so you could join us!

I may have mentioned this, but I downloaded the free kindle to my small laptop and I love it when I'm traveling. That way I have the laptop with internet access as well as a book to read.

And if you like inspirational romantic suspense, hurry over to Amazon and get a free download of my friend Terri Blackstock's new book, Intervention. I just downloaded mine last night, and I'm not sure how long it will be free!

Marta

Thanks for the link to the Kindle App, Diane, looks like it'll come in useful! I'm actually considering getting a Kindle - you guys are good at selling this device!

Enjoying Hide In Plain Sight so far, it's nice reading a romance with some mystery in it!

Glad I could help Mom's and Rachel! If later on you do purchase a kindle, you can easily transfer your books from your PC to the kindle. Grab all the freebies that you may like. Remember, if the book stinks, you can always delete it!

I have not started the book yet. I have 7% left of Simple Secrets that I am hoping to finish tonight!

Mom's, don't forget to sign up for Net Galley too. Here is the link to that thread too:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Okay, I finished my other book last night and wrote a review for it that will be posted on my blog tomorrow.

I was able to read 6% of this month's group read. Yeah! I really like her style of writing. It is easy to read for me so it should not take me long to read it.

I'm about halfway through the book now and the suspense is really getting to me. I read some last night before I went to bed and nearly jumped out my skin when one of my flatmates slammed the creaky old door in our bathroom at a particularly exciting moment in the story!

I've never tried any of the books from the Love Inspired lines before so I'm glad this has given me the chance to do so. Some of the blurbs sounded a bit cheesy but I'd definitely read more after trying this one.

The blurbs! Believe me when I say the authors sometimes cringe, but with the Love Inspired lines we don't have a say in them.

Marta

Glad it's not just me who finds them cheesy! I can see that they're aiming them at a particular audience but it's the blurbs that have made me a big wary of trying anything from the Love Inspired line. The Suspense ones seem a bit better. Anyway, this has given me a chance to see beyond the blurbs and covers!

We've been so quiet in here for a few days so I thought I'd check in to see how everyone is enjoying this book so far. :)

Indeed, this has been kind of quiet. I'm on chapter ten right now and still enjoying this book, hopefully I'll get it finished by the end of the week and be able to write a review of it :) Everyone else?

I was away for Columbus Day weekend since my hubby had it off too. I did not get as much reading done as I had hoped but I am almost half way through it.