Wishing on Willows

Does a second chance at life and love always involve surrender?

A three-year old son, a struggling café, and fading memories are all Robin Price has left of her late husband. As the proud owner of Willow Tree Café in small town Peaks, Iowa, she pours her heart into every muffin she bakes and espresso she pulls, thankful for the sense of purpose and community the work provides.

So when developer Ian McKay shows up in Peaks with plans to build condos where her café and a vital town ministry are located, she isn’t about to let go without a fight.

As stubborn as he is handsome, Ian won’t give up easily. His family’s business depends on his success in Peaks. But as Ian pushes to seal the deal, he wonders if he has met his match. Robin’s gracious spirit threatens to undo his resolve, especially when he discovers the beautiful widow harbors a grief that resonates with his own.

With polarized opinions forming all over town, business becomes unavoidably personal and Robin and Ian must decide whether to cling to the familiar or surrender their plans to the God of Second Chances.

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Click Here to Download the First Two Chapters


Bonus Features

The Cast

Behind the Scenes with Robin Price
Behind the Scenes with Ian McKay
Behind the Scenes with Amanda Price

Praise for Wishing on Willows:

Ganshert (Wildflowers from Winter) tackles difficult topics head-on, dealing honestly with themes of loss and redemption while creating believable, sympathetic characters. Karen Kingsbury fans will delight in discovering a promising new author.

Library Journal

This is a wonderful story of the possibility of starting over after tragedy and having a second chance at love. The characters are well rounded and very well thought out. Ganshert has hit a grand slam!

–Romantic Times

“Have you ever been through a painful season in life and wished for something new, something fresh, or even something healing to come along? Take this journey with Robin Price, a widow and single mother with a big heart and passion for those closest to her as she wades through trying to live, let go, and love again. Wishing on Willows is a story of hope that will find you stepping up to the willow tree and daring to make wishes”

—Cheryl McKay (Co-author, Never the Bride / Author, Finally the Bride: Finding Hope While Waiting)

“What I’ve come to admire about Katie Ganshert’s writing is how skillfully and compassionately she creates memorable characters and weaves into their lives authentic struggles. From the very first line “The first time I lost my husband…” to the last line “The whispered words came without fear or guilt or hesitation” we are given the gifts of grieving and letting go told with humor, realistic trials, characters I want to go on telling their story and the longings of the human heart. This is a fine, fine novel.”

—Jane Kirkpatrick, New York Times bestselling author of Where Lilacs Still Bloom.

“Just like a willow tree, Wishing on Willows evokes grace, humility, and beauty. A well-penned story of sacrifice, second chances, and love, Ganshert’s second novel is as poignant as her first. A must-read for any reader seeking to find comfort beneath their own proverbial willow.”

—Besty St. Amant, author of Addison Blakely, Confessions of a PK

“In Wishing on Willows, Katie Ganshert delicately weaves together a story of healing and renewed hope. Will young widow Robin Price choose to fight for what she had or to relinquish the past for the chance to love again? Ganshert deftly writes of grief and wounds that leave us shattered, pointing her characters—and her readers—to the One who provides the strength to embrace life again.”

— Beth K. Vogt, author of Wish You Were Here (Howard Books, May 2012) & Catch a Falling Star (May 2013)

“Katie Ganshert’s Wishing on Willows is rich in symbolism but as down-to-earth as its Midwestern heroine, a young widow juggling the roles of single mom, business owner, and ministry volunteer. I was thoroughly drawn into her changing seasons of love and loss, memory and hope. Like a May basket left at a neighbor’s door, this is a generous story filled with charm and surprises.”

— Meg Moseley, author of When Sparrows Fall

To Have and To Hold

They’ve helped orchestrate the perfect day for countless couples. Now twelve new couples will find themselves in the wedding spotlight in the second Year of Weddings novella collection.

Love Takes the Cake: A September Wedding Story by Betsy St. Amant

Charlotte Cantrell is always the baker; never the bride. When Will, a regular at Charlotte’s bakery, catches her attention, she can only hope that he is the reliable man this single mother has always hoped to find. The problem is that he’s regularly stopping in to buy cookies for another girl. But when Charlotte is hired to bake a host of wedding goodies for a difficult bride and finds out Will is the best man, she has the perfect opportunity to get to know him better—and find out how serious Will is about this other girl in his life.

The Perfect Arrangement: An October Wedding Story by Katie Ganshert

Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower and the proud owner of Forget-Me-Nots, a quaint flower shop. Her love life has always been a bit lackluster—until she ends up in an embarrassing fender-bender with handsome Nate Gallagher. Meanwhile, Amelia’s younger brother, William, has proposed to his girlfriend. Amelia would be excited except she has evidence that the fiancée is not who she says she is. It seems Nate is the only one available for any advice-giving, and he’s good at it—and pretty fun to talk to too. As Amelia works to craft the perfect flower arrangements for other people, she begins to wonder if real love is better than the dream. And if it is, will Nate still be interested when he learns who she is?

Love in the Details: A November Wedding Story by Becky Wade

When Josh returns to his hometown of Martinsburg, Texas, to help his best friend get married, he didn’t intend to run into church wedding coordinator—and ex-girlfriend—Holly. He can’t help but pine after the girl he never got over. Holly broke up with Josh years ago in an attempt to ensure his future success. But she loved him then and still loves him now. As she helps him plan his best friend’s wedding, she longs to be with Josh but doesn’t feel worthy of his big-time lifestyle when she is more comfortable in her smalltown world. Will Josh and Holly be able to keep things as they are when their true feelings threaten to surface at every turn?

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The Perfect Arrangement

Meeting Nate was truly an accident—but Amelia finds that he’s one of the few people she can count on.

Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower and the proud owner of Forget-Me-Nots, a quaint flower shop that once belonged to her mother. Despite her success in business, her love life has always been a bit lackluster. Until she spies on her ex-boyfriend’s wedding and ends up in horrifyingly embarrassing fender-bender with handsome wedding guest, Nate Gallagher.

Meanwhile, Amelia’s younger brother, William, has proposed to his girlfriend. Amelia would be excited except she has evidence that the fiancée is not who she says she is. How can she be supportive and yet be the protective big sister too? It seems Nate is the only one available for any advice-giving, and he’s good at it—and pretty fun to talk to, too. Amelia and Nate strike up an online relationship, but always lingering in Amelia’s mind is the fear that he’ll realize she’s not nearly as appealing in real life.

As Amelia works to craft the perfect flower arrangements for other people—including a ninety-year-old “fairy godmother” named George—she begins to wonder if real love is better than the dream. And if it is, will Nate still be interested when he learns who she is?

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Release date: September 29, 2015
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN-13: 9781491598313

Bonus Features

The Cast

Behind the Scenes with Amelia Woods
Behind the Scenes with Nate Gallagher

The Setting

Mayfair is a small town full of quirk, inspired by another quirky, fictitious town called Stars Hollow (from The Gilmore Girls). Only instead of Connecticut, Mayfair is located in Wisconsin, the perfect place for an October love story! It’s also the setting of my first novella, An October Bride.

northern wisconsin fall

The back roads of Mayfair in the fall

downtown

Downtown Mayfair, home of Patty’s House of Pancakes, Eloise’s delicious bakery, and of course, The Forget Me Not Flower Shop.

gazebo

The gazebo in the middle of town square

pumpkin patch

The pumpkin patch at Sawyer Farm

Screen Shot 2015-08-19 at 2.03.22 PM

The church where Amelia’s parents were married.