An Amish Market Book Review

SUMMARY:  All the color and variety of a quaint Amish shop in a charming collection of novellas by four of your favorite authors.  Feel free to come in and browse!

Love Birds by Amy Clipston

While Ellie Lapp and her mother are still mourning the loss of her brother, Seth, Ellie starts working at one of the gift shops in town.  Seth's friend Lloyd is talented at carving wooden birds, but his father disapproves and expects him to take over the family farm someday.  Ellie sees the beauty in Lloyd's creations and insists Lloyd sell the birds in the gift shop where she works.  As Ellie and Lloyd spend more time together, they begin to develop feelings for one another, but she accidentally betrays his trust.  Will she lose any hope of a future with him?

A Bid for Love by Kathleen Fuller

Every week, Hannah Lynne brings her home-churned butter to the local market.  And every week, Ezra stops by to purchase some.  Hannah Lynne knows not to read too much into it - Ezra is a confirmed bachelor and barely even glances her way, despite any hope to the contrary.  But when Ezra bids an exorbitant amount to win the quilt she had her heart set on, Hannah Lynne can't stop her heart from taking over her mind.  Could Ezra finally be in the market for love?

Sweeter Than Honey by Kelly Irvin

Shattering a jar of pickled beets wasn't the impression Isabella hoped to make on her first trip to the local Combination Store of Bee County, Texas.  But as embarrassed as she was by the accident, she didn't think it warranted the frosty reaction from the handsome manager of the store, Will Glick.  As she soon learns, though, Will's heart has been broken one too many times.  And now, for some reason, Isabella finds herself determined to be the one to repair that broken heart and renew his faith in love.

Love in Store by Vannetta Chapman

Stella Schrock works at the Old Mill in Nappanee, Indiana, with new employee David Stoltzfus, a recent widower.  When strange happenings begin occurring around town, it appears as if someone wants to close the mill.  Stella and David have to work together to solve the mystery of what is happening at the Old Amish Mill, and in the process they might just find that God has more in store for their future than they would ever have dreamed possible.

REVIEW:  My favorite of these stories is probably A Bid for Love.  The idea of Ezra buying all of Hannah Lynne's butter when he already had enough was so sweet.  I also like how he searched out the buyer of the quilt Hannah Lynn favored just to get it back for her.  There were a few times I got frustrated with the characters for their lack of communication, but if they communicated correctly, the story may not have been as good.
     My next favorite was Love Birds.  Ellie's determination to help her mother make ends meet after the death of her brother, their only source of income, is admirable.  Even though Ellie goes about getting Lloyd to sell his birds the wrong way, I like how Lloyd figures out a way to sell them without going against his father's wishes and ends up helping Ellie and her mother.
     Love in Store is a different story and was very refreshing.  I like how the main characters are older and neither are looking for a love interest.  Even though Stella was difficult, I like how she started to soften up as she spent time with  David.  The mystery they solved had me guessing whodunit until the end.  Vannetta Chapman's stories have not disappointed yet.  This one is definitely included in this impression.
      I had a harder time getting into the novella Sweeter Than Honey.  I like how Isabella is different from the other teens during their rumspringa and is not interested in trying to find out what life is like outside their Amish community.  Will's strong work ethic is admirable and his concern for the local teens and the community is deeply heartfelt.  Isabella and Will bring out the best but stretches each other beyond their comfort zones.  One thing I found a disheartening is how Will and the Amish community do not want to have anything to do with Jesse, his brother who left to follow God's leading to become a pastor.  I understand the reasoning of being not wanting those who left around for fear others in the Amish community might decide to leave, too.  But, if they are doing God's work and ministering to other believers, shouldn't that be excused?  I don't know.  It was a good story once I got into it.
      At the end, there are all kinds of cool recipes for items mentioned in the book.  I may have to try out a few.

This book was provided by Fiction Guild and Thomas Nelson Publishers

for review without compensation.

Amy Clipston is the award-winning and bestselling author of the Kauffman Amish Bakery series.  Her novels have hit multiple bestseller lists including CBD, CBA, and ECPA.  Amy holds a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC.  Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, and four spoiled rotten cats.  Find her on Facebook: Amy Clipston and on Twitter:@AmyClipston.

Kathleen Fuller is the author of several bestselling novels, including A Man of His Word and Treasuring Emma, as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield.  Visit her website at www.kathleenfuller.com.  She is also on Twitter at @TheKatJam and Facebook: Kathleen Fuller.

Kelly Irvin is the author of The Beekeeper's Son, the critically acclaimed first novel in teh Amish of Bee County series.  Kelly is also the author of the Bliss Creek Amish series and teh New Hope Amish series.  She has also penned two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine.  Visit her on Twitter: @Kelly_S_Irvin or on Facebook: Kelly.Irvin.Author.

Vannetta Chapman is author of teh best-selling novel A Simple Amish Christmas.  In 2012 she was awarded a Carol Award for Falling to Pieces.  She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather's birthplace of Albion, Pennsylvania.  Visit Vannetta's website: www.vannettachapman.org, Twitter: @VannettaChapman and Facebook: VannettaChapmanBooks.

The Christmas Quilt Book Review

Quilts of Love

Every Quilt Has A Story

SUMMARY:  Babies have their own schedule.  But so does God.  Annie's life is deliciously full as the Christmas season approaches. She helps her husband, Samuel, attend to the community's minor medical needs.  She occasionally assists Belinda, the local midwife.  And most days, she finds herself taking the buggy to her brother Adam's home.
     When her friend Leah is due to deliver her first child before Christmas, Annie becomes determined to finish a crib quilt before the boppli arrives.  But God's plans are different from Annie's, and she may not finish the quilt in time.  As each piece of the quilt comes together, Annie discovers the quilt holds far greater significance than she ever imagined.

REVIEW:  This is a sweet novel about best friends and sisters-in-law who go through their first pregnancies together.  I like how the girls used the quilt for one of Leah's twins to change their outlook during difficult circumstances. Using Galatians 5:22-23 regarding the fruit of the Spirit and the nine squares of the crib quilt, they told a story that matched each fruit and started focusing on positive things instead of negative.  Doing this not only changes their outlooks but their husbands and the people around them.  This book is a great way to start off the Christmas season.
    The author mentions that this book returns to visit Annie, Samuel and their friends from her novel, A Simple Amish Christmas.  This book does not seem like a follow-up (it's not quite a sequel) and the extra characters and their relationship to Annie and Samuel are explained very well.

This book was provided by Litfuse for review without compensation.

Vannetta Chapman is the author of five books about the Amish and has published more than one hundred articles in Christian family magazines.  She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather's birthplace in Albion, Pennsylvania.  Vannetta lives in Texas hill country with her husband.

Material Witness Book Review

A Shipshewana Amish Mystery

Book #3

SUMMARY:  Buggies, quilts ...  and a cold-blooded killer!  It's just another day in Shipshewana.

     Tragedy strikes on the opening night of the Fall Crafters' Fair when a woman is killed in the parking lot of Daisy's Quilt Shop, and the only witness is one of Melinda Byer's boys.  The investigation takes a bizarre turn when detective Shane Black becomes convinced the killer was actually after Callie Harper.

     This time it's a madman loose in the town's largest crowd of the year, and he's looking for something or someone.  If they can't figure out what, one of Deborah and Callie's close circle of friends may be next.

     Masked identities, antique quilts with hidden messages, an Amish boy whose handicap makes him stronger, one brave dog, and a possible hidden treasure ... it's nonstop action, danger, and a dash of romance as our group embarks on a journey of faith deep into the heart of God's grace.

REVIEW:  Material Witness is the third book in the Shipshewana Amish Mystery series and it does not disappoint.  The author does a great job weaving together all the different pieces of the story to keep the reader waiting for and wanting more.   Now, to fully understand the connection between Callie and Shane, you will need to read the second book.  It will help their relationship fall into place.
     While the bulk of the book takes place in the span of four days, the story doesn't seem drawn out but develops at a decent speed.  There were a few parts that were a little confusing but, when I went back and reread a page or two, everything seems to fall back into place.
      I like how no matter the situation or the differences between their cultures, Callie, Deborah, Melinda and Esther stick by each other through difficult times and are there for each other, no matter the cost.  When Callie's life is threatened, Shane, the local detective, goes over and beyond the call of duty to make sure she is kept safe and works diligently to find who is disrupting the peace in this small town and the lives of these four families.
     This is a great book with lots of twists and turns.  I highly recommend it.

This book was provided by Zondervan for review without compensation.

Vannetta Chapman has published over one hundred articles in Christian family magazines, receiving over two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups.  She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather's birthplace of Albion, Pennsylvania.  Her first novel, A Simple Amish Christmas, quickly became a bestseller.  The other books in her Shipshewana Amish Mystery series are Falling to Pieces and A Perfect Square.  Chapman lives in the Texas hill country with her husband.

A Perfect Square Book Review

SUMMARY:  There's more to the quaint town of Shipshewana than handcrafted quilts!
     Amish-made furniture, immaculate farms, and close-knit families are a way of life in the tiny Indiana town of Shipshewana.  But when a dead girl is found floating in a local pond, murder is also afoot.  And Reuben Fisher is in jail as the suspect!
     Reuben refuses to divulge any information, even to clear himself of a crime Deborah is certain he didn't commit.  So, with her English friend, Callie - fellow sleuth and owner of Daisy's Quilt Shop - Deborah sets out to uncover the truth.  But the mystery deepens when an elderly man seeks Callie's help in finding his long-lost daughter, missing since the days of the 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes.
     An old man who has lost his past.  A young man who may lose his future.  Once again Deborah and Callie find themselves trying to piece together a crazy quilt of lives and events - one that can bring unexpected touches of God's grace and resolve the tragedy that has shaken this quiet Amish community.

REVIEW:  This is the second book in the Shipshewana Amish Mystery series. Like the first one, Falling to Pieces, this book was a great mystery.  Deborah works hard to prove her friend Reuben did not murder the girl found in the pond on his farm and to find the real murderer.  Callie helps Deborah in her pursuit of the truth while she also tries to help Ira Bontrager find the daughter he lost thirty-five years earlier in the deadly Palm Sunday tornadoes.  I like the twists and turns in the story that keep you guessing about what is going to happen and about how everything is going to work out.  The author does a great job in weaving all the different stories together and how they influence the other.  Like the first one, this story does not have a lot of blood and gore like a lot of mysteries do but still gets the point across.  If you like mysteries, you will like this book.

This book was provided by Zondervan for review without compensation.

Vannetta Chapman has published over one hundred articles in Christian family magazines, receiving more than two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups.  She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather's birthplace of Albion, Pennsylvania.  Her first novel, A Simple Amish Christmas, quickly became a bestseller.  Chapman lives in the Texas hill country with her husband.

Falling to Pieces Book Review

A Shipshewana Amish Mystery

SUMMARY:  In this first book of a three-book series, author Vanetta Chapman brings a fresh twist to the popular Amish fiction genre.  She blends the familiar components consumers love in Amish books - faith, community, simplicity, family - with an innovative who-done-it plot that keeps readers guessing right up to the last stitch in the quilt.

     When two women - one Amish, one English - each with different motives, join forces to organize a successful online quilt auction, neither expects nor wants a friendship.  As different as night and day, Deborah and Callie are uneasy partners who simply want to make the best of a temporary situation.  But a murder, a surprising prime suspect, a stubborn detective, and the town's reaction throw the two women together, and they form an unlikely alliance to solve a mystery and catch a killer.

     Set in the well-known Amish community of Shipshewana, Falling to Pieces will attract both devoted fans of the rapidly-growing Amish fiction genre, as well as those who are captivated by the Amish way to life.

REVIEW:  Callie just wanted to get away from the memories and stress caused by her husband's death, the loss of their child, and her job.  Going through and packing up the quilt shop her Aunt Daisy left her in Shipshewana seemed the perfect escape.  Deborah, Melinda and Esther needed Callie to keep the shop open and sell their quilts so they would have extra money for expenses caused by a husband's death and the illness of a child.  Instead, a murder causes the friendship of Deborah and Callie to develop, which will be needed when things get rough.  

     When I got this book, I wasn't sure what to expect.  An Amish Mystery sounded interesting and it was.  There is not a lot of gore that is so popular nowadays but a lot of suspense and trying to figure out who did it and if and when they would be caught.  I really enjoyed this book and, like it says in the summary, it keeps you guessing right up to the end.  If you like a good mystery and/or you like the Amish genre of books, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.  I can't wait to read the other two books.  I already have possible plot lines and relationships forming in my mind.

This Advance Reader Copy was provided by Zondervan for review without compensation.

Vannetta Chapman holds a BA and MA degree in English and has published over one hundred articles in Christian family magazines, receiving over two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups.  She published an Amish novel with Abington Press called A Simple Amish Christmas.