About the Book

Book: Miriam’s Little Gentleman (The Heart of the Amish Book 13)

Author: Anne Blackburne

Genre: Amish/Christian Fiction

Release Date: May, 2026

Her Heart Is Set on One Man

Full of faith, hope, and romance, this series takes you into the Heart of Amish Country.

Miriam Zook has loved David Miller her whole life, and she confessed her feelings the night before he moved to Indiana and joined the Mennonite church. Miriam, having been baptized into the Amish faith, makes an income by painting beautiful vignettes of Amish life. She has never married, since no one ever compared to David, and, as she is an only child, this concerns the women in her family greatly. Now, seven years after leaving, David is back in Willow Creek to embrace his Amish roots and join the church. Miriam’s heart awakens, but can she dare to hope that he will also embrace her?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Anne Blackburne lives and works in Southeast Ohio as a newspaper editor and writer. She is the mother of five grown children, has one wonderful grandchild, and a spoiled poodle named Millie. For fun, when she isn’t working on Amish romance or sweet mysteries, Anne directs and acts in community theater productions and writes and directs original plays. She also enjoys reading, kayaking, swimming, searching for beach glass, and just sitting with a cup of coffee looking at large bodies of water. Her idea of the perfect vacation is cruising and seeing amazing new places with people she loves.

More from Anne

Hello Dear Readers!

It seems like only yesterday that the wonderful Christian bloggers who work with Celebrate Literature did a blog tour for my January 1 release in Barbour’s “Heart of the Amish” series, “Plain Jane’s Secret Admirer”! Yet here we are again, with another CelebrateLit blog tour, this time for my May release, “Miriam’s Little Gentleman”.

Miriam’s story is available now to readers in print and online wherever fine books are sold, and I feel blessed to have the help of the CelebrateLit folks in launching this next tale from my made-up Amish community of Willow Creek, Ohio.

In addition to Jane’s and Miriam’s stories, my previous Heart of the Amish books in the series include, “Ruth’s Gingersnap Surprise”, “Mary’s Calico Hope”, and “Lizzie’s Little Mouse”. If you’re read any of them, you’ll remember Miriam Zook, who does beautiful folk art  paintings of Amish life scenes. Miriam was also mentioned in Ruth’s story as one of the lucky recipients of a kitten from their elderly friend, Lydia’s, cat’s final litter.

Miriam’s cat is a black and white tuxedo cat named Beau. He enjoys sitting outside in the fresh air while Miriam paints, safely wearing his natty red harness to keep him from wandering into trouble. If you read Jane’s story, you know kitties sometimes do wander off!

Miriam has been hung up on David Miller for years. She even told him so . . . but unfortunately, it was too late. David had already made plans to leave Willow Creek the following morning, running from troubles he didn’t make and couldn’t fix. Years later, Miriam and David still have feelings for one another. But are they strong enough to survive the hurt and years of separation, and to forge a real and lasting love? With God’s help, of course, anything is possible. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy!

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Miriam’s story! This book is my fifth in Barbour Publishing’s series, “The Heart of the Amish”. Look for other great reads in the series from authors Mindy Steele, Kelly Irvin and Lisa Jones Baker.

I’m currently writing my sixth book in the series, which will feature a young woman you’ve met in some of my other stories, Rebecca Beachy. Her cat is Patches, a little orange and white boy. Together, with the help of Amish farmer Rudy Miller, they’ll figure out a way to keep a dear old woman from losing her home and business. A buried treasure and a small mystery are involved!

I hope you’re having as much fun reading about these remarkable young women – and their kitties! – as I’m having writing about them. Thanks for being part of our journey!

God bless you and yours!

Joyfully,
Anne Blackburne

Author Interview

• What is your favorite genre of books? Why?

I read widely across most genres of books, and I think that this has made me a better writer, because it has exposed me to so many voices. I love it all, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, etc. I’d say my favorite is romance, and the beauty of the romance genre is that it can and does embrace all the others! You can find romances containing elements of mystery, fantasy, suspense . . . you name it. I think it’s fascinating that there are ‘romance only’ bookstores popping up around the world. Of course, there have long been bookstores specializing in one thing or another. I’m going to visit one of these soon and find out whether they carry Amish romance! If not, I’ll try to talk them into doing so.

• Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at once?

Although I sometimes have to work up a proposal for one book while working on another one, and a proposal can involve a lot of delving into characters, plots, etc., I find it confusing to try and keep more than one story straight in my mind at a time. I prefer to write one book from start to finish before starting another one. Plus, knowing myself, if I did start multiple stories, I’d never finish anything.

• How do you relax after a long day of writing?

Since I have a full-time day job as a newspaper editor, there are no ‘long days of writing’ for me. Instead, there are long evenings of writing following long days at the newspaper.

 

I try to pace myself so that I don’t come up on a deadline in a panic, having to write so many words in a day that they’ll be no good. I think learning to write ‘on a deadline’ for newspapers has helped me with this, training me to keep my eye on the target, so to speak and get the job done on time. 

When it is time to relax, I unwind by reading someone else’s work! I’m a huge reader, devouring two or three books a week. When, you ask? Early morning, at lunchtime, after work, and after writing and before bedtime. I promise I find time to do my wash, vacuum occasionally and keep up with the dishes in between!

• Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?

In other words, am I a plotter or a pantser? Depends. If I’m writing for Harlequin, they require a pretty detailed outline of the plot before they buy the book. And if you digress too much, they call you out. So, with Harlequin Love Inspired, I’m a plotter.

If I’m writing for Barbour, I’m allowed to ‘pants it’ a bit more, fleshing out the storyline as I go after submitting a proposal with the sturdy bones of the story in place. 

I find that I’m more naturally a pantser, but I can do it either way, thankfully.

• What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

Staying focused is not a problem for me, probably due to the fact that I developed my writing chops in chaotic, noisy news rooms focusing on the computer in front of me and the story I was writing or editing and ignoring everyone else’s talking and drama. All I need is my laptop and a cup of coffee or tea and I’m good to go.

Blog Stops

Texas Book-aholic, June 27

Artistic Nobody, June 28 (Author Interview)

Life on Chickadee Lane, June 29

She Lives To Read, June 30

The Avid Reader, June 30

For Him and My Family, July 1

Guild Master, July 2 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, July 2

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 3

Simple Harvest Reads, July 4 (Guest Review from Marilyn)

EmpowerMoms, July 5

Holly’s Book Corner, July 6

Vickey Sluiter, July 7

Fiction Book Lover, July 8 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, July 9

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, July 10

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Anne is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon e-Gift Card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://gleam.io/Gffm1/miriams-little-gentleman-celebration-tour-giveaway