Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Amish Christmas North Star

Amish Christmas at North Star: Four Stories of Love and Family 

ebook, paperback, audio

by Cindy Woodsmall  (Author), Mindy Starns Clark  (Author), Emily Clark (Author), Amanda Flower  (Author), Katie Ganshert  (Author)


  • Print Length: 402 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1601428146
  • Publisher: WaterBrook 
  • Publication Date: October 20, 2015
  • ASIN: B00SPW377S

One night four lives entered the world by the hands of an Amish midwife, just outside North Star, Pennsylvania. 

Rebekah’s Babies, as they are called, are now grown adults and in four heartwarming novellas each young person experiences a journey of discovery, a possibility of love, and the wonder of Christmas.

Guiding Star
 by Katie Ganshert
Curiosity gets the best of Englischer Chase Wellington when he investigates the twenty-five-year-old disappearance of an Amish baby. When he finds adventurous Elle McAllister in Iowa will his discoveries upend her world? 

My thoughts:  This was a very sweet romance. I loved Chase.  He was a dear, kind, considerate, and smart.  Elle was a dear, and as much as she and her adoptive mother imagined where she came from she had never guessed the truth.  Beautiful story.  Unfinished- but maybe it will be wrapped up at the end of the book...

Mourning Star by Amanda Flower
Eden Hochstetler slips from her parents’ fudge shop to investigate the death of her friend Isaac.  Who is guilty? Isaac’s handsome great nephew Jesse, an angry Englischer, or someone else?

My thoughts:  This is the first story I ever read by Ms. Flower's.  It is a cozy mystery, where Eden and her friend Gina investigates a murder of an Amish man - the story was good. Not what I expected, but very good. I suspected who-dun-it, but hadn't made the connection between suspect to yeah, "he" did it by the time the story ended so it was  a bit of surprise to me.  

In the Stars
 by Cindy Woodsmall
Heartbroken Kore Detweiler avoids North Star after Savilla Beiler rejects his love.  But when he is unexpectedly called to return home, he and Savilla must join forces to keep a family together.  

My thoughts:  It was interesting reading Kore and Savilla's story. While a romance it took some cunexpected twists and a lot of anger for these characters to find themselves.  I did skim this story a lot, but enjoyed getting reacquainted with characters from another one of Ms. Woodsmall's books. 

Star of Grace
 by Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark
Andy Danner left North Star to join a new Amish settlement in Mississippi. His little brother devises a scheme to bring Andy home for Christmas and unwittingly unleashes the power of forgiveness in a reclusive widower’s life.

My thoughts: This was my favorite story in the collection. I loved Sam and how dedicated he was to t he family and people he loved and how determined he was to reach his goals. And how unselfishly he gave when the need arose. A very sweet story, the best one in this collection.  Loved it. 


My thoughts: First, the disclaimer. "I was bought this book. All opinions are my own." That done,  I enjoyed this collection of four Amish stories centered around one birthing center and four babies born the same day, twenty-five years prior. I liked find out how all those babies turned out -- and the first story's strings that were left untied were neatly tied and trimmed by the end of the book. 




2 comments:

Marilyn R. said...

Laura, thank you for sharing this great review of Amish Christmas at North Star. I wanted to read this book last year and still haven't read it. Christmas stories are great any time of the year though. God bless.

ajwbear said...

I to wanted to read this book last year, while reading parts of the stories, I find that I still haven't read it. I will be buying it to finally get to read it.
Thanks for the great review.

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