The much anticipated and darkly comic first novel from a prize-winning storyteller "I grew up on a farm." The year is l974, the place Sweetwater College, and Beatrice Wolfe is telling the story of her life to the glamorous young professor Philippa Sayres. So begins the achingly funny, often heartbreaking story of Beatrice's double quest to find out who she might be, and to escape the gothic eccentricity of her family. Married in a misbegotten passion, her parents are totally unsuited to any kind of business. The four Wolfe children's lives are ruled by their mother whose larger-than-life demands and fears encircle them in a darkly comic web of contradictions. When their father's ping pong business collapses and he loses their "farm," Bea's family spirals out of control. Bea, under Philippa's romantic spell, joins a lesbian community and is so committed to her new gay identity that she barely notices she's falling in love with a man--a man just risen from the ashes of addiction, whose re-creation of himself she threatens to undo. In The Bride of Catastrophe, Heidi Jon Schmidt explores the magnetic effect of love in all its variations--its power to form and sometimes deform us, to make us who we are.

"A pact... a bride... a secret never to be told!"--Page 4 of cover.

When a mail-order bride arrives while her groom is away, what will she do when sparks begin to fly with her future husband's best friend?

A fun and heartwarming Amish rom-com where opposites really do attract. If there is one thing Christian Ropp will not allow in his classroom—or his life—it’s chaos. So why is he drawn to Ruby Glick, a woman who seems to bring mayhem wherever she goes? Christian Ropp moves to Birch Creek to accept a teaching position in the rapidly growing Amish community. He’s determined to put the rambunctious school in order as well as check another task off his list: finding a wife. Of course, that would be much easier if women were like textbooks, straightforward and logical. When an accident puts Christian out of commission, a new community member named Ruby Glick takes over his classroom. But Ruby’s exuberant teaching style clashes with Christian's careful methods and he worries his students will never be the same. With a track record of catastrophe, Ruby always feels too clumsy, too distracted, too . . . much. Desperate for a chance to prove that she can do more than make mistakes in her life, she throws herself into her new teaching position. But when Christian can’t seem to stay out of her way, she finds herself slipping into old, chaotic tendencies. What she doesn’t anticipate is that Christian's heart is slowly catching up with his mind—and she, too, must decide whether to follow logic or love. The first in the Amish Brides of Birch Creek series (followed by The Farmer’s Bride and The Innkeeper’s Bride) A full-length novel, approximately 78,000 words A sweet and wholesome Amish romance Catch up on the Birch Creek community with the Amish of Birch Creek series and Amish Letters series Praise for The Teacher’s Bride: "A heartwarming story of unexpected romance woven with fun and engaging characters who come to life on every page." --Amy Clipston, bestselling author of A Seat by the Hearth "Kathleen Fuller has written a sweet, oftentimes humorous, romance that reminds readers that the perfect match might be right in front of their noses." --Kelly Irvin, bestselling author of the Every Amish Season series "Kathleen Fuller is a master storyteller and fans will absolutely fall in love with Ruby and Christian in The Teacher's Bride." --Ruth Reid, bestselling author of the Amish Mercies series "Kathy Fuller's characters leap off the page with subtle power as she uses both wit and wisdom to entertain!" --Kelly Long, national bestselling author "The story will captivate you from the first page to the last with Ruby, Christian, and engaging characters. You’ll laugh, gasp, and wonder what will happen next." --Molly Jebber, Speaker and Award Winning Author of Grace’s Forgiveness and the Amish Keepsake Pocket Quilt Series

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient comes a romantic novel about love that crosses international borders and all boundaries of the heart... Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he's defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can't turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn't go as planned. Esme's lessons in love seem to be working...but only on herself. She's hopelessly smitten with a man who's convinced he can never return her affection. With Esme's time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he's been wrong all along. And there's more than one way to love.