Marta Perry and Patricia Davids have teamed up to each
write a Christmas themed novella which are combined into An Amish Family Christmas (Harlequin Love Inspired Publisher). Both novellas are deliciously romantic and
definitely not a book you will want to put down. Readers also win by having two complete stories
within one book. Regardless that
Christmas is five weeks behind us, this is a fascinating quality book to read
any time of the year.
The first novella in the book is Heart of Christmas by Marta Perry, a top notch Amish writer of
romances and mysteries. Heart of Christmas tells the story of
Susannah Miller, a 30 year old single Amish teacher at Pine Creek Amish School
in a small valley community in central Pennsylvania for the past twelve
years. Ten years ago she was jilted a
month before her wedding when Toby Unger left their community and moved to
Ohio. Toby got married in Ohio within a
year and had two children, William and Anna, before his wife died.
Now Toby and his children have come back to live with his
folks in Pine Creek. Susannah becomes
the teacher for William and Anna, both of whom are troubled as a result of
their mother’s death. With Toby in town,
one thing after another happens to Susannah to the point that she is about to
lose her job as school teacher.
The book transposes the caring within the Amish community
for one another versus the desires of just one school board member with bad
motives. Readers will question whether
good can win out over a powerful, yet misguided school board member.
The next novella, A
Plain Holiday by the inspiring author Patricia Davids, tells the story of Sally Yoder from Hope
Springs, Ohio who is spending her Rumspringa working as a nanny in Cincinnati,
Ohio. The children, Kimi age 11 and
Ryder age 8, that Sally watches are selfish, materialistic and entitled, just
like their parents who decided to spend Christmas alone in Paris. It is decided that the children and Sally
will spend two weeks with the children’s grandmother who owns a large
ranch. Unfortunately the Amish boy, Ben Lapp
that broke Sally’s heart, works in the stables of that same ranch.
Ben, soft spoken and helpful, follows the Amish way of
life and has stayed on the straight and narrow path, while Sally previously ran
around with a wild group of teens. Sally
always felt she could never be a good and faithful Amish woman like Ben
deserved. Sally has a problem with
meekness and struggles with her faith.
Will Ben and Sally be able to mend their prior differences and begin a
friendship?
Both Patricia Davids and Marta Perry are undeniably
gifted in drawing their characters into people that readers can relate to and
enjoy. They make us care about what
happens next. What a gift! An Amish
Family Christmas was published on October 14, 2014.
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