An Amish Heirloom

A Legacy of Love, The Cedar Chest, The Treasured Book, A Midwife's Dream 

ebook, paperback, digital, audio cd

by Amy Clipston  (Author),‎ Beth Wiseman (Author),‎ Kathleen Fuller (Author),‎ Kelly Irvin (Author)

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; Combined edition 
• (April 10, 2018)
• ISBN-13: 978-0310351887

A Legacy of Love by Amy Clipston

Local volunteer fire fighter Leon King agrees to repair his ex-girlfriend Susie Bontrager’s grandparents’ antique rocking chairs for her future home with her fiance and is forced to acknowledge that his feelings for her have not quite gone away. As Susie spends time with Leon, she begins to recognize she is marrying the wrong man for all the wrong reasons.

My thoughts: This was a sweet romance by popular Amy Clipston. I liked Leon and Susie though both were playing with fire. I could understand Susie's fiance's distrust of Leon and his motives even though Susie was the one who sought him out, not vice-versa. I greatly enjoyed this story. 

The Cedar Chest by Beth Wiseman

Decades after inheriting her great grandmother’s cedar chest, Emma Fisher decides to pry it open only to discover a beautiful love story in the form of letters between her great grandparents. But as Emma immerses herself in their story, family secrets are revealed, and she must decide whether to share them to preserve family history or honor her great grandparents’ decision to leave them hidden.

My thoughts: I've come to expect women's fiction from Ms. Wiseman and that is what this is. Two married women, one young one middle aged. And a cedar chest  full of memories of a great-great grandma barely known. When a stack of ribboned letters is discovered the women start reading about a past love facing hardship and might change the  course of the future. This is Beth Wiseman at her finest. Fans of Amish women's fiction will devour this novella.

The Treasured Book by Kathleen Fuller

For the past two years, Shane Broyles has felt God leading him to join the Amish. He’s staying with his friends Noah and Ivy Schlabach in Birch Creek, OH, where he is reunited with Lucy Fisher, an old friend of Noah’s family. Shane and Lucy have never revealed their feelings for each other, but when they stumble upon an antique Bible at a flea market, they feel drawn to each other and to the mystery of the contents found within.

My thoughts: The Treasured Book by Kathleen Fuller is another sweet romance. I enjoyed getting to know Shane and Lucy and their meddling relative. It is a bit of reality suspended for the sake of story, but it all wrapped up in a sweet way that was perfect for a  HEA moment. I rather wondered if Shane would become an Amish lawyer and hang his shingle out in Ohio.  Since he joined that Amish with a law degree and experience, it is plausible. A good read. 

The Midwife’s Dream by Kelly Irvin

Iris Beachy serves as a midwife in her district where she longs for a family of her own. When her friend’s brother Mahon Kurtz seeks her help in delivering the baby of two young teenagers who have sought refuge in their town, they begin to see each other in a different light. Unprepared for parenthood, the young couple leave their baby girl behind in an antique crib quilt resembling the one destined for Iris when she becomes a mother. Mahon and Iris come together to take care of the baby as they try to find her parents, and they begin to see new possibilities for their future.

My thoughts:  The Midwife's Dream is a totally sweet romance. Heartbreaking with the teenagers' decisions, and heart-rending for Iris, exhausted, trying to care for a newborn, and take care of other new mothers. It was nice that Mahon was so willing to help Iris and it was nice watching love grow. It was also great revisiting Jamesport, Missouri again, home of real Amish and fictional Amish stories penned by Kelly Irving, Charlotte Hubbard, Mary Ellis, and Laura V. Hilton and maybe others. It was like going home in a story. 

My overall thoughts: A sweet collection, probably the best collection yet containing these four authors.