{"id":9975,"date":"2011-11-19T00:11:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-19T05:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=9975"},"modified":"2011-11-19T00:11:14","modified_gmt":"2011-11-19T05:11:14","slug":"christmas-in-sugarcreek-by-shelley-shepard-gray-cfba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=9975","title":{"rendered":"Christmas In Sugarcreek by Shelley Shepard Gray (CFBA)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

This week, the<\/span><\/center>
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance<\/span><\/a><\/center>
is introducing<\/span><\/center>
Christmas In Sugarcreek<\/a><\/span><\/center>
Avon Inspire (October 25, 2011)<\/center> <\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Since 2000, Shelley Sabga has sold over thirty novels to numerous publishers, including HarperCollins, Harlequin, and Abingdon Press. She has been interviewed by NPR, and her books have been highlighted in numerous publications, including USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Under the name Shelley Shepard Gray, Shelley writes Amish romances for HarperCollins\u2019 inspirational line, Avon Inspire. Her recent novel, The Protector<\/em>, the final book in her \u201cFamilies of Honor\u201d series, hit the New York Times List, and her previous novel in the same series, The Survivor<\/em>, appeared on the USA Today bestseller list. Shelley has won the prestigious Holt Medallion for her books, Forgiven<\/em> and Grace<\/em>, and her novels have been chosen as Alternate Selections for the Doubleday\/Literary Guild Book Club. Her first novel with Avon Inspire, Hidden, was an Inspirational Reader\u2019s Choice finalist.<\/p>\n

Before writing romances, Shelley lived in Texas and Colorado, where she taught school and earned both her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in education. She now lives in southern Ohio and writes full time. Shelley is married, the mother of two children in college, and is an active member of her church. She serves on committees, volunteers in the church office, and currently leads a Bible study group, and she looks forward to the opportunity to continue to write novels that showcase her Christian ideals.<\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not writing, Shelley often attends conferences and reader retreats in order to give workshops and publicize her work. She\u2019s attended RWA\u2019s national conference six times, the ACFW conference and Romantic Times Magazine\u2019s annual conference as well as traveled to New Jersey, Birmingham, and Tennessee to attend local conferences.<\/p>\n

Check out Shelley’s Facebook Fan page<\/a>
\nABOUT THE BOOK:<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Judith Graber has always been the obedient daughter. When her older brother Josh struggled with his love life, she offered wise counsel. When her younger brother Caleb flirted with the idea of leaving their order, she firmly told him he was wrong. Over the years, she\u2019s watched her younger siblings, helped around the house, and worked in her family\u2019s store during her spare time. Judith feels overworked, overlooked, and underappreciated this holiday season.<\/p>\n

But everything changes when her father hires Ben Knox.<\/p>\n

Ben Knox is the \u201cbad boy\u201d of Sugarcreek. Though he\u2019s never considered jumping the fence, he\u2019s certainly never tried to be anything close to dutiful. Two years ago he left Sugarcreek under a cloud of shame. Rumors circulated that his rumspringa<\/em> had been filled with more than the usual harmless explorations.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s back and working side by side with Judith.<\/p>\n

As the chaos of the holiday season threatens to sap all joy, sparks fly between Ben and Judith. But Judith steels herself to ignore her infatuation. The last thing she wants to be is just one more girl who falls under Ben\u2019s spell. Ben, on the other hand, wants Judith to realize there\u2019s more to him than his bad reputation. When he fled Sugarcreek, he was running from a disruptive home life. Now that he\u2019s back, he wants a fresh beginning.<\/p>\n

Could this Christmas season bring love and a new life for the unlikeliest pair in Sugarcreek?<\/p>\n

If you would like to read the first chapter of Christmas In Sugarcreek<\/a>, go HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Shelley and her books on her Website<\/a> .<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally reviewed for Amazon Vine\u2122 Program on September 16, 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

Christmas in Sugarcreek<\/strong><\/em> is an easily read, sweet Amish romance that is just right for a lazy afternoon by the fire with a warm beverage. In this story, the reader returns to the small town of Sugarcreek where Judith Graber might just receive a Christmas surprise she never expected.<\/p>\n

Judith is the quintessential \u201cgood girl\u201d. In her opinion, everyone in her family depends on her way too much and seem to take her for granted. But being the good girl that she is, she stuffs her dissatisfaction and continues to help where needed without complaint. Just when she thinks she cannot handle another extra responsibility, her father hires a temporary employee to help her in the family store. Unfortunately that helper turns out to be Ben Knox, the former \u201cbad boy\u201d of Sugarcreek before he left town. Although they have both matured, Judith is not sure she can trust Ben because of everything she has heard about him. But as the two are forced to spend many hours working together, Judith slowly begins to realize that Ben is not the person she thought he was.<\/p>\n

Yes, this is one of those \u201cgood girl\u201d falls in love with the \u201cbad boy\u201d romances but it is one with a difference. Christmas in Sugarcreek<\/strong><\/em> teaches a valuable lesson about judging people by appearances or actions without looking to see the true inner person. Although the outcome of the story is obvious from the beginning, it is a charming and delightful read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingChristmas In SugarcreekAvon Inspire (October 25, 2011)  ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Since 2000, Shelley Sabga has sold over thirty novels to numerous publishers, including HarperCollins, Harlequin, and Abingdon Press. She has been interviewed by NPR, and her books have been highlighted in numerous publications, including USA Today and The Wall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38,8,57,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amish","category-books","category-christmas","category-romance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9975"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9981,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9975\/revisions\/9981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}