About the Book

Book: Hunting for a Husband (The Heart of the Amish Book Nine)

Author: Mindy Steele

Genre: Amish/Christian Fiction

Release Date: July, 2025

Love Is the Bull’s-Eye Leah Aims For

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

Ten years ago, Joe Shetler took a leap, and it cost him his ability to walk. Accepting that this is God’s will for him, Joe finds his independence running Shetler Outdoors, an archery and outdoors shop.

Leah Wicky moves to Kentucky where her father has set up a deer farm. With a strong desire to marry, she soon sets her sights on Joe who, despite his disabilities, has determination and an easy way about him. A sticky situation finally affords the opportunity for a friendship to form between them.

When the Wickey’s prize buck attracts attention in the community—and attempted poachers—Leah is caught in the crosshairs, and Joe’s fears of inadequacy haunt him when he fails to protect her. A future once bright has dimmed.

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"Hunting for a Husband" by Mindy Steele is an Amish romance. It is a little different it that the main family raises deer. This book deals with forgiveness. Joe struggles with trusting God and believing that God wants to heal him and Leah wants to find love but thinks it is impossible. I found Mammi Iolene's quote inspiring. This story also has a bit of mystery on who stole the deer and attacked Leah, the bad guy might be a surprise to some readers.

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own.

About the Author

Mindy Steele was raised in Kentucky timber country and has been writing since she could hold a crayon against the wall. Steele writes Amish Romance peppered with just the right amount of humor, as well as engaging Suspense, using rural America and the residents as her muse. Steele strives to create realistic characters for her readers and believes in engaging all the senses to make you laugh, cry, hold your breath, and root for the happy ever after ending. A hopeless romantic, with a lyrical pen, Steele wants her readers to find themselves somewhere within her pages. A mother of four and grandmother to a half dozen blessings, Steele enjoys hiking and gardening, coffee indulgences and weekend road trips, and is personally doing all she can to make peanut butter its very own food group.

More from Mindy

The Story Behind the Story

I love thinking outside the box and crafting a story filled with originality as well as taking the common trope and hijacking it to suit my own reading interest. Thankfully readers do too as they continue buying my books. However, none of what I create is mine to claim, as God continues to spark my imagination in the ordinary every day. Hunting for a Husband started with a chance encounter, a few God winks, and ended with lots of research on my part.

Long story short, my husband was commissioned to work on an all-terrain vehicle for a Mennonite gentleman who was disabled. His condition didn’t allow him to drive a vehicle, and his livelihood was quite unique. This gentleman owned and operated an outdoor shop with archery being the center of the focus. Before this book was released he sold the business, but the echoes of his many years remain.

I had the opportunity to meet him. He was funny, informative, and had a beautiful wife and family. I never crossed over to asking his story. It’s his story after all, but everything about the encounters struck a chord in my writer’s brain.

Fast forward a year when I came across an article about deer breeding farms. Don’t ask. You have to be married to an avid hunter to understand why some things pique my interest. And we do have a few deer farms locally. Discovering one of the most well-known deer farms belongs to an Amish gentleman surprised even me.Again, all these little bits collected in my head. It wasn’t until I learned of an Amish man who aligned bows and was an avid hunter that I realized I needed to stop sitting on these thoughts and start writing them.

Thus, the Wickey deer farm was born. This story took me across four state lines, a short novella, and a very detailed and informative conversation with a surgeon!

The Wickey deer farm was first introduced to readers in Leaving Lancaster, a short novella in A Lancaster Amish Christmas. Readers fell in love with the three Wickey sisters, and though the plot twist appealed to readers, Leah deserved to find the same love as her sisters. She wasted so many years on the wrong man. Joe Shetler, after years of accepting his future was set by one boyhood mistake, needed to learn that God is the Author of our lives.

I hope you smile, laugh, and find yourself immersed within these pages of second chances, leaps of faith, and the power of friendship and family.

Mindy