Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Author Guest Post~ Karen Ann Hopkins Author of YA Novel Temptation & Giveaway!!


Today Im thrilled to have Karen Ann Hopkins author of Young Adult novel Temptation on Tinasbookreviews. Karen will be sharing some facts about the Amish Community in her area and the small things she's learned about the teen life in the Amish community. 


 A day in the life of an Amish Teen by Karen Hopkins

Hard work and responsibility are parts of every Amish teen’s life. Whether girl or boy, they’re expected to contribute to the household’s income and livelihood. After graduating in the eighth grade, Amish teens are finished with schooling and thrust into the workforce, either leaving the home for a forty hour work week or putting that much time into in a family business. Jobs include carpentry, metal work, farming, and welding for the boys and butchery, bakery, woodworking, retail, teaching, child care, and housecleaning for the girls. Usually, 90% of a teen’s income is given to the family as an intricate part of the family’s financial survival. Part of the ten percent that the teens retain is saved towards the teen’s future married life, while the rest is for their own enjoyment. 

Even though Amish teens work hard, they also play hard. Oftentimes, they will take short trips with their church groups, visit relatives and friends, and participate in activities such as hunting, horseback riding and skiing. A usual day for an Amish teen begins at five o’clock in the morning, followed by prayer, breakfast and morning chores. After working an eight hour work day, the youth will arrive home to afternoon chores before dinner with the family. The evenings are playtime for the young people. They can be found at the church’s youth group gatherings, such as signings and ball games or they may be seen riding their horses or bikes on the roadways.


Five things I’ve learned from the Amish:

Just a few random facts.

1) They are not taught geography or science in school.

2) Their families deal with many of the same problems as everyone else, such

as marital, financial and child rearing.

3) If an Amish couple does divorce, which is highly unlikely, they are not

allowed to remarry.

4) Amish families often move around, relocating to another region or state

due to problems within their community.

5) The Amish pay federal and state tax, but not social security tax.


Love stories that inspired Temptation:

Romeo and Juliet, and Twilight are two stories that I can name that gave inspiration to Rose and Noah’s story. There are similarities in all three romances from the forbidden nature of the affairs to the struggle for the couples to be together. In TEMPTATION, however, the external forces are only part of the difficulties facing the young lovers. The aspect of whether Rose and Noah are willing to give up their own world is the driving conflict of the story.



GIVEAWAY

Thanks so much Karen for stopping by today. I loved that guest post!!
Today Karen is giving away one brand new copy of her book Temptation. This is open to everyone including international readers. To enter please leave a comment and a way to get in touch with you (email, link to profile) Winner will be drawn September 10, 2012. Thanks and goodluck.

Your heart misleads you.That's what my friends and family say. But I love Noah. And he loves me.

We met and fell in love in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview, while we rode our horses together through the grassy fields and in those moments in each other's arms. 

It should be ROSE & NOAH  forever, easy.

But it won't be. Because he's Amish.

And I'm not.....


A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.




Find out more about Karen at Goodreads and Facebook.

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Posted by Tina~ at 8:00 AM

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the giveaway, sounds a great book :)

    love the Five things you've learned from the Amish :D

    [email protected]

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  2. Juju at Tales of Whimsy.comAugust 29, 2012 at 8:41 AM

    I had no idea about geo and science. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. (not an entry)

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  3. Missie, The Unread ReaderAugust 29, 2012 at 12:57 PM

    Wow! I'm blown away by those facts, especially about the geo and science. It's somewhat difficult to understand the whys of it....

    I'd definitely love to read this book!!! I love exploring differnet cultures and trying to seek understanding. Thanks so much for the insight you've provided. I've watch a couple of reality shows of people who have 'escaped' from the Amish lifestyle.

    Please enter me.

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  4. Melissas Eclectic BookshelfAugust 29, 2012 at 3:03 PM

    WOW...I learned so much from this little post. Only educated thru 8th grade and no geography or science at that. And then thrust into 40 hour work weeks...that will mature one quickly! And girls do the butchery? I always saw that as a male dominated field! (not an entry)

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  5. i am fascinated by the amish lifestyle...thanks for sharing

    karenk
    kmkuka at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete

  6. Wow! It's incredible!
    (:
    And i like the giveaway, i'm in n_n
    Thanks for making it international.

    andiiblogs(at)homtail(dot)com

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  7. I've been wanting to read this book for a while!
    [email protected]

    ReplyDelete
  8. Peppermint Ph.D.August 29, 2012 at 7:35 PM

    I love stories about the Amish :) [email protected]
    http://epkwrsmith.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

  9. Very informative post! I had no idea. This book sounds really good and I'd love to be entered to win. Thanks for the chance.

    mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete

  10. I love learning and hearing more and more info the Amish!! This looks great! Thanks for the chance to win it!

    [email protected]

    ReplyDelete

  11. "A usual day for an Amish teen begins at five o’clock in the morning"

    And that right there is why I would never survive the Amish lifestyle. I'm not a morning person at all. At. All. The hubs has learned not to even speak to me until after 9, and even then it's possible he'll regret it. 11am is a much safer bet:) I would do well with the horseback riding as I've been a rider all my life, but everything else I'm pretty sure I would fail at:)

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  12. Asheley (@BookwormAsheley)August 31, 2012 at 11:16 AM

    This is so interesting. I suppose - because I live so far away from any of these communities and know practically NOTHING about them - I have always found that my preconceived ideas are just not right! So posts like this one are so good for me because I like to TRY to be in-the-know as much as possible. This community is one that I just do not understand but it is because of lack of knowledge on my part. I find their culture interesting, though, especially how they are so steadfast in a world that is so tempting and glitzy.

    Thanks for the insight Karen and the post Tina! Love it. :)

    [email protected]

    ReplyDelete

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