Böcker av Vanessa Carlson

A metaphor for married life from author Vanessa Carlson....It is the night before Christmas and Aaron has still not returned home. A snow storm suddenly hit while he was out in the hills gathering wood. His wife, Emma, is frantic. She goes out into the wilderness looking for him. They both are lost in the storm, having their lives flashing before their eyes as the weather gets worse. Will they find each other in the storm?

Cowboy Rex got a job as a coal runner at the mines and with the money he saved up, he was able to buy himself his very first horse. From there, he explored the stretch of land between the Atlantic and Pacific. He was his own man, doing as he pleased, and never thinking anything of it. From time to time, he would receive letters from his old Gram. She liked to talk about the ranch and there was always a plea toward the bottom, begging him to return, for Pops was getting on in age and needed someone to take over the family business. Rex had paid these pleas little attention. He did not want to give up his freedom. The ranch would tie him down into one little plot of land and there'd never be any possibility of escape. And yet, here he was making the trek back to Texas...And he soon finds himself caught between the two women he loves most as he uncovers unforgotten truths that could change them all forever.

A young soldier, Peter, returns home and meets an Amish girl, Lovina, along the way. Lovina is pregnant and fearful of returning home to her Amish family where her judgmental father may want to shun her because she is now pregnant out of wedlock. The chivalrous Peter offers to pretend to be her husband in order for her to get things situated at home but the more time they spend together, the deeper they fall in love. However, Peter has a girl back home and begins to feel pulled in both directions. What will the young couple do?

Sharida did not know where her father liked to wander off to. All she knew was that he was never around to help her. Even when she needed him the most, he was nothing more than a disappointment. How had her mother married such a vile man? The taste of disgust gathered at the back of her throat but she swallowed it down. Now was not the time for self-pity. She had a bar to run and without it, her siblings would starve. Sheriff Tucker could only watch as Sharida blossomed into womanhood. There was so much that he wanted to ask her but his tongue had tied itself into a knot. So, he focused on his drink and watched as she worked. Her hips had a manner of swaying from side to side. Their movement enraptured her. How had he never noticed her beauty? How had he been so blind? But when Sharida gets abducted, he realizes all of his fantasies me be all for naught. Knowing it's up to him to save her, he will have to be the hero he never thought he could be. Can he save the day and get the girl?

A young Amish woman begins care taking duties for her ailing grandmother while pining for the new handsome and roguish Englisch teacher in town...but the overweight Abraham has been pining for her for years....will she see the sweetness in Abraham and choose him over the Englischer?

Emily, an employee of a bakery, has been dreaming about finding her real life Prince Charming since she was a child. Now, her younger sister, Katie, is getting married, but Katie's simple idea of a wedding is not what the romantic Emily had in mind for her little sister. To make matters worse, Abraham, the bakery's owner, has assigned his headstrong son, John to shadow Emily. As Emily and John butt heads over how the store should be run, Emily meets Gideon, who seems to be her ideal Prince Charming. Not amused by Gideon's saccharine courtship, John bets Emily that she will lose interest in Gideon after one month. Emily accepts his challenge, but soon starts to see that he may have a point about Gideon and that under his blunt persona there is more to John than she thought. When Emily faces a life obstacle, it's John who comes through for her. As she begins to rethink her ideas of love, she discovers that she just may have been waiting for the wrong Prince Charming.

The headmistress beckoned her inside and into her personal lodging. It was the most extravagant room in the entire building and beautifully decorated. She motions for Mina to sit as she poured a cup of tea. "I have an offer. And it is an offer you cannot refuse." Mina shifted onto the edge of her seat. Her throat tightened as her mouth became dryer than a desert. "Y-Yes, alright." She stuttered. "I am in your service." In all honesty, Mina could not refuse. She owed this woman everything for providing refuge after her husband's passing. Without her, there was no telling where Mina would be. "I want you to become a mail-order-bride. There's a wealthy rancher owner out west who wants to donate his money toward building a school in his town. It's a noble effort but there is no one capable of teaching the children. I have corresponded with this man and I deem he's a good soul who will be able to provide for you and your children - should you accept - as I know you will." She paused to take a sip of her tea. "In return, you'll become headmistress of your very own school and you can do with it as you wish." Mina blinked in utter surprise. "Ma'am..." It was all she could say as her mind fizzled with the thought of putting her future in a man's hands once more. She didn't want to relive all the misery and heartache of sharing a bed with someone she didn't love. She was perfectly content with staying here with her children but that no longer seemed like a viable option. But what if the man she was "assigned" to marrying turned out to be a dream come true?

The Bontragers are an Amish couple that cannot have children. One day, they take in a deaf girl who has been abandoned by her mother. A year passes and they bond as a family...until the girl's mother comes back for her. Will the Bontragers give up the girl?

Hannah is a beautiful housewife who is married to an Amish man. While out Christmas shopping she accidentally gets her packages mixed up in a bookstore with a handsome young man named Charles. Charles is a married Englischer with two young children who also lives near the Amish town. Months later they take the same train into the city and bump into each other again. There is an instant attraction between them but neither of them is looking for an affair. They keep bumping into each other and having longer conversations. They are both falling in love against their better judgments. Honest with each other about not looking for an extramarital affair, they cannot resist seeing each other, just to talk. Their emotions grow stronger and they cannot stop thinking about each other...What will they do?

Katherine has been a widow for several years now but she has been nothing but a rock of support in the Amish community. Her children are young adults now and she begins entertaining ideas of starting a business with an Englisch friend but she feels the pull to help in the local bakery when the baker's wife passes away...The two begin working alongside each other and an attraction builds. Their affection and respect for each other slowly builds into love. But can they put aside the feelings that that they are betraying their dead spouses...and open themselves to the prospect of once again experiencing the loss of someone they hold so dear?

Janet's father told her that she should count her blessings that he had found her a suitable husband. He was a banker and was very well off. But Janet had other ideas. She would not let it happen. She didn't want to give up her calling as a nurse and be some banker's wife. Defying her father for the first time in her life, she came up with a plan. She would move out west as a mail-order-bride. Together with her young daughter, she had already found the perfect candidate: Dr. Race Barton. He needed a partner and she needed an excuse to keep working as a nurse. It was the perfect arrangement, if not for love than for practicality's sake. But would he feel the same way?

After a harsh childhood where she was abandoned by her Amish mother, Hannah decides to return to her birth mother's hometown to make amends with her past. Once there, she is hired by a brooding, widowed farmer to care for his young daughter...with an unlikely romance ensuing.

Two shy Amish men, John and Luke, fall in love with a visiting teacher. All of the women in the community are jealous of her beauty and undercut their efforts. But the teacher herself is hiding a dark secret. Can she find redemption in the Amish community?

Feeling lost and abandoned, Jezebel is a young frontier woman battles anger and self-pity at a school for the blind. But soon, she finds a source of hope & romance with the arrival of a new teacher named Thomas. The two young people begin working together and the students are given renewed hope... But what will happen when the school is threatened by lack of funds and the stresses it brings to their budding romance?

Penelope never thought it was possible to die of a broken heart but it happened to her mother. She had tried to mend that gaping wound inside her chest but, in the end, there was no saving her. With no money or job opportunities, Penelope left her small town to become a mail order bride of Thomas. Like her own father, Thomas is a grieving widow. Can they find common ground both she and Thomas are grieving for their loved ones?

Not much happens in and out of the small Amish town and that's just the way Sadie likes it. So when her brother is accused of murder, she's terrified.Sadie believes her brother is innocent, but she's going to have a hard time proving it when he can't remember the events of the night himself. What looks to be a tragic accident suddenly turns into an accusation of murder with Sadie questioning both her own brother and life long friends. Will Sadie be able to prove her brother's innocence? Can she expose secrets in her Amish town, even those she never know existed until now?