About The Book: Grace's autistic son needs a life that is safe and consistent. Seth wants to leave his flirting days behind him and settle down. Deep in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, the beautiful and weary Amish widow, Grace Beiler, is not looking for a husband—especially one so much younger than her. But handsome and smitten Seth Wyse stumbles upon a way to help her and they marry to keep Grace’s autistic son safe from his ill-intentioned uncle. Grace soon discovers that she is far from immune to her young husband’s experienced charm and realizes that her first marriage has not destroyed her capacity for love. Seth Wyse seeks counsel from his older brother, Jacob, when playing the game of pursuing his wife becomes more dangerous to both his heart and life than he ever imagined. Yet God can give Grace and Seth a passion for family and each other that teaches them the ways of the Master Quilter through the tangled and tender threads of their lives.
About The Book: The Amish Kitchen is the Heart of the Home – and the Ideal Setting for Stories of Love and Hope.Fall in Paradise, Pennsylvania, always brings a brisk change in the weather. This season also ushers in unexpected visitors, new love, and renewed hope for three women.Fern has a green thumb for growing healing herbs, but longs for love to bloom in her life. Then the next-door neighbor’s oldest son, Abram, comes running into Fern’s kitchen seeking help for his little sister. The crisis soon leads to a promise of romance—until mistrust threatens to end the growing attraction.Nearby, Hannah runs her parents’ bed and breakfast, Paradise Inn—but her life feels nothing like Paradise. She longs for a man of integrity to enter her life, but never expected him to knock on the front door looking for a room. Will she be able trust Stephen with her future once she discovers his mysterious past?When a storm blows a tree onto Eve’s farmhouse, she has little choice but to temporarily move her family into her parents’ home. Outside of cooking together in the kitchen, Eve and her mother can’t agree on anything. But this may be just the recipe for hope in healing old wounds.Three Amish stories—each celebrating love, family, and faith—all taking place in a tight-knit community where the kitchen truly is the heart of the home.The book also includes a Reading Group Guide and 45 Old Order Amish Recipes.About The Authors: Amy Clipston: Amy is a native of New Jersey who began her writing career unofficially when she was a child. She loves writing about the Amish, and has an Amish friend in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who reads her manuscripts for accuracy. She has always been fascinated with the Amish. Clipston remembers visiting Lancaster County, and her father, who was a German immigrant, told her that the Amish speak the same dialect of German as her relatives. She was drawn to their simplicity and faith. Due to her German heritage, she felt a loose connection to the Amish and their culture. Her plots come straight from the heart and all involve family issues intertwined with faith.Kelly Long: Kelly Long is the author of Sarah's Garden, the first novel in the Patch of Heaven series. She was born and raised in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania. She’s been married for nearly 25 years and has five children. Beth Wiseman: When a personal crisis tested and strengthened her faith, award-winning journalist Beth Wiseman was advised by her agent to consider writing a Christian novel, particularly an Amish one. Encouraged by her agent’s urging, she began exploring the Amish lifestyle and soon developed a great appreciation for the more peaceful way of life. In 2008 Wiseman wrote her debut novel, Plain Perfect, featuring the Amish lifestyle within the context of a fictional love story. It was a bestseller, as have been all of the full-length novels and novellas she has written since.My Thoughts On The Book: All three of the authors are some of my favorites. Their take on the life of the Amish is amazing. All three novelas are filled with faith, love, and the culture of the Amish. Having grown up in a family where the kitchen is the heart of the home and women bonded within its walls I was delighted to see that there are some amazing recipes at the end of the book and a reading guide if you would like to do a book study on the book. It is the kind of read that makes you want to shut the world out and just submerge yourself into a world of simplicity. A great read and would be a wonderful gift. I plan to add it to my Amish library of keepers.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishing Booksneeze Program for bloggers. I was not required to write a positive review. All they asked for was an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.
A Perfect Secret--Rose Bender's betrothed, Luke Lantz, is safe and dependable, maybe a little too much so. Or so she thinks until she sees him in the woods one night and discovers a secret he's been keeping. Now his secret haunts her. She wasn't sure about marrying a man she knew too well. But should she marry a man she doesn't understand at all?
Christmas Cradles--When Anna Stolis takes over for her aunt, the local midwife, Christmas night heats up with multiple deliveries, three strangers' quilts, and unexpected help from the handsome and brooding Asa Lapp.
A Marriage of the Heart--Since her mother's death, Abigail Kauffman has lived alone with her father. She longs to escape the emptiness of the farmhouse that has never felt like home. Joseph Lambert is a newcomer in their close-knit community. Only after suddenly marrying do they begin to understand the tender truths of life-long love.
About the Author: Kelly Long is the author of Sarah's Garden, the first novel in the Patch of Heaven series. She was born and raised in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania. She's been married for nearly 25 years and has five children.
My Thoughts About the Book: For those who love Amish life and romance this is a must read. The first novella, A Perfect Secret was the first book I have read by Kelly Long. I loved her writing style. She is a master wordsmith and keeps her story moving to the point that I could practically picture it in my mind. The back and forth between Luke and Rose and the desire between them both catches the reader and keeps them captive until the story ends. Rose finds out that Luke is keeping secrets and of course thinks the absolute worst, but who wouldn't? There is a thief in their Amish village and she is so curious that she actually meets him one night and is surprised at who it turns out to be. With the secrets flying will this young Amish couple make it down the aisle?
The second story, Christmas Cradles opens with Anna Stolis relieving her aunt, the local midwife. She meets Asa Lapp who is her driver while she is covering for her aunt in the middle of a horrendous snow storm. From the meeting of the two you can feel the tension buillding. Anna, in her mid-twenties, has never had a true love so her feelings towards this man is surprising even to her.
The last story, A Marriage of the Heart, is about two Amish people, Joseph and Abby, who come together because of a lie and realize that they actually are very lonely and need each other. Abby does a lot of maturing with the help of Joseph, who has his own secrets. They find that they really want to feel the closeness that two people feel and eventually realize soon after what being in love really means.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Book Sneeze Blogging Program. I was not required to write a positive review. All they asked for was an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.
About the Book: An Amish Wedding is a charming book which consists of three novellas. It includes A Perfect Secret, by Kelly Long, A Perfect Match, by Kathleen Fuller, and A Perfect Plan, by Beth Wiseman. Each one of the stories is about an Amish couple, their families, and the struggles they endure. In A Perfect Secret by Kelly Long we meet Rose and Luke who are an Amish couple who have been best friends since childhood. When Luke asks Rose to marry him Rose accepts his rather matter of fact proposal, knowing that it will be beneficial to both families. Since she has known Luke since they were children she accepts feeling satisfied with choice since she knows all there is about her future husband.. She eventually realizes that she does not know him as well as she thought and the journey from discovery to wedlock is a difficult one.In Kathleen Fuller’s novella, A Perfect Match, we meet another couple, Naomi and Zeke. Zeke is swept off his confirmed bachelor feet when he meets Naomi. He has just arrived in town to help his cousin and attend his wedding. The attraction between the two is mutual, but Naomi tries to pair with her good friend, Margaret. When the friend and Zeke turn the table on Naomi she discovers a lasting love. Beth Wiseman’s, A Perfect Plan is the story of Priscilla and Chester. Their wedding has been perfectly planned since Priscilla was a child, but everything that can go wrong does, causing them to wonder if they should go through with it. The story is about how two young people discover God’s will for their life and learn to trust in God to handle all the details. About the Authors:Kelly Long is the author of Sarah's Garden, the first novel in the Patch of Heaven series. She was born and raised in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania. She’s been married for nearly 25 years and has five children.Kathleen Fuller was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and now makes herhome in beautiful Geneva, Ohio. She has been married to husband, James for 15 wonderful years. They have three terrific children, three dogs, and an overwhelmed cat. They have also raised cattle, pigs, and chickens at various times over the years.. Fuller started writing in 2000, and published her first short story a year later. Since then she has authored several short stories, novellas, novels, and has done a lot of freelance non-fiction work Beth Wiseman is the best-selling author of the Daughters of the Promise series — Plain Perfect, Plain Pursuit, Plain Promise, Plain Paradise and Plain Proposal. Her new series–Land of Canaan– debuted in the fall of 2010 with Seek Me With All Your Heart which has been selected as the 2011 Women of Faith Novel of the Year. She is contracted with Thomas Nelson Publishing and is currently working on her first non-Amish novel due for release in the spring of 2012. All of her books have held spots on both the CBA (Christian Book Association) bestseller list and the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller list.
My thoughts: This was a wonderful book and I could not put it down once I started reading it. I enjoyed having the entire story to read in one sitting. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys reading Amish fiction.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
