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2025 Carol Award Winner’s “The Quiet Soldier” Tests Amy and Lucas’s Impossible Bond When Crisis Forces Long-Buried Secrets to Surface MINFORD, Ohio — USA Today bestselling author and 2025 Carol Award winner Serena B. Miller raises the emotional stakes to new heights with “The Quiet Soldier,” the powerful third installment in her acclaimed “Secrets of Sugarcreek” series. When a devastating accident leaves Lucas Hershberger fighting for his life, Amy Stanton must confront not only her deepest fears but also dark secrets that threaten to tear apart the Sugarcreek community she’s grown to love. A frantic phone call from Ohio shatters Amy’s Manhattan meeting with her editor. Lucas has been critically injured trying to rescue a runaway buggy horse, and doctors are fighting to save his life at Cleveland Clinic. Amy’s seven-hour white-knuckled drive from New York becomes a desperate race against time, forcing her to acknowledge feelings she’s tried to ignore since moving to Sugarcreek. As Lucas hovers between life and death, Amy discovers that his accident has inadvertently unearthed mysteries that some in the community have kept hidden for decades. “I wanted to explore what Lucas’s accident would do to Amy, and what her immediate reaction to it would […]

“The Heart of Sugarcreek” Takes Top Honor in Romance Category at Annual Gala in Springfield, Missouri MINFORD, Ohio — USA Today bestselling author Serena B. Miller’s “The Heart of Sugarcreek” has been awarded the 2025 Carol Award in the Romance category, announced Saturday, September 6th at the American Christian Fiction Writers annual gala in Springfield, Missouri. The Carol Awards represent the American Christian Fiction Writers’ recognition for the best Christian fiction published in the previous calendar year. Published by L. J. Emory Publishing under the editorial guidance of Brenda Kallner, “The Heart of Sugarcreek” competed against top-tier Christian romance novels to claim the coveted honor. “I was genuinely surprised,” Miller says of the moment her name was announced. “The Romance genre brings in so many excellent authors, so I was absolutely thrilled when they called my name.” Set during the holiday season in picturesque Sugarcreek, Ohio, “The Heart of Sugarcreek” weaves together the love stories of two couples finding second chances at happiness. When Amish widow Lydia Troyer meets kindly widower Malachi during an unexpected winter storm, neither expects to discover love again. Meanwhile, her sister Bertha finds her heart rekindled with Anthony, a Mennonite doctor from her past, leading […]

Christmas in July Celebrates Heartwarming Holiday Tale Set in Ohio’s Amish Country Minford, Ohio — The magic of Christmas meets the charm of Ohio’s Amish community in Sugarcreek in USA Today bestselling author Serena B. Miller’s “The Heart of Sugarcreek,” which has been announced as a finalist in the prestigious 2025 ACFW Carol Awards in the Romance category. As readers embrace “Christmas in July” celebrations, Miller’s fifth installment in the beloved “Love’s Journey in Sugarcreek” series offers the perfect seasonal escape to the snow-covered hills of Ohio’s Amish country. Set during the holiday season in the picturesque village of Sugarcreek, Ohio, “The Heart of Sugarcreek” weaves together the touching love stories of two couples finding second chances at happiness. When Amish widow Lydia Troyer meets the kindly widower Malachi during an unexpected winter storm, neither expects to discover love again. Meanwhile, her sister Bertha finds her heart rekindled with Anthony, a Mennonite doctor from her past, leading to life-changing decisions that will forever alter the close-knit Troyer family. “After that first book was published, I kept missing my characters and the only way to revisit them was to go back and write another book,” says Miller, reflecting on her decade-long […]