An Amish Home by Beth WisemanAmy ClipstonKathleen FullerRuth Reid
Published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing on February 7th 2017
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
A Cup Half Full by Beth Wiseman—Sarah Lantz always dreamed of the perfect home, the perfect husband, the perfect family. When she married Abram, she knew she was on her way to securing her perfect life. But all of that changes in one moment when an accident leaves her unable to walk and confined to a wheelchair, dashing all of her dreams. As Abram starts to transform their home, Sarah begins a transformation in her spirit, and she begins, once again, to see her cup as half full.Home Sweet Home by Amy Clipston—Down on their luck and desperate after they are evicted from their small apartment, Chace and Mia O’Conner reluctantly take Chace’s Amish boss up on his offer to rent them the daadihaus located on his property. They are certain they will never feel at home in the rustic cabin without any modern conveniences, and they start to blame each other for their seemingly hopeless situation. But with the help of their new Amish friends, Chace and Mia begin to enjoy their cozy cabin and realize that home really is where the heart is.A Flicker of Hope by Ruth Reid—Fifteen years ago, Thomas and Noreen King were blissful newlyweds. Young, naive, and in love, life was rosy . . . for a while. Then trials and tribulations rocked their foundation, shattering them emotionally, and soon, their marriage was in shards. All hope for restoring their previously unshakable union seems lost. When fire destroys their home, Thomas and Noreen are left to sift through the rubble. As uncovered items from the remains of the house shake loose memories of the past, Thomas and Noreen begin to draw closer and a flicker of hope—and love—is reignited.Building Faith by Kathleen Fuller—Faith Miller knows that carpentry is an unlikely hobby for a young Amish woman, but she loves the work and it keeps the memory of her grandfather alive. So when her cousin asks Faith to build the cabinets in her new home, Faith is only too happy to take on the job, even if it is the most ambitious project she has ever taken on. The only catch is that she has to work with her ex-fiance, Silas. As they work to build Martha’s kitchen, can they put the past behind them and start to build faith in one another again?
Being a part of The Fiction Guild’s Elite Reader Program is such an honor As a blogger with Fiction Guild, I am provided with books to read and the only thing I have to do is share a report on them. It’s a win/win situation for me and my mother, who loves anything written about the Amish. Today’s book is An Amish Home: Four Novellas by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller and Ruth Reid.
Here’s my mother, Gloria’s review:
The book, An Amish Home consists of four novellas by my favorite authors, Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller, and Ruth Reid. When you look at the front of this book you know it is going to be great. All four novellas dealt with love, hardships, guilt, and healing with a home being the thread that weaves all the stories in this book. My favorite story was A Cup Half Full by Beth Wiseman.
A Cup Half Full by Beth Wiseman: This is a love story about Sara and Abram Lantz who have been married only one week when their buggy is hit by a car. Abram is not badly injured, but the accident left Sara with severe damage to both of her legs. She is paralyzed, will not walk again and will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. All of her dreams of a happy home are gone in one moment.
While Sara is in the hospital Abram and Sara’s brother remodels their home to become wheelchair accessible. Abram missed a lot of work to visit Sara every day and charging the materials he maxed out his credit card and borrowed money
Coming home from the hospital Sara’s life changes, she is angry and lost in grief, feels that she is an unfit wife who cannot take care of their home or become a mother. As she struggles to accept this new life and overcome the everyday challenges in her wheelchair she must learn to trust God and her family. Feeling sorry for herself, she does not recognize the burdens that her husband is carrying. Abram blames himself for their accident.
Can they learn to trust and rely on each other? Will Sara allow her family to help? How can Sara and Abram make it work? This story comes to an end, but I wanted more. It was such a sweet romantic story and the characters are so real. You feel their love for each other, their struggles and pains.
Home Sweet Home by Amy Clipston: The main characters in is story is a young Englischer couple with a 6 month old daughter Kaitlyn. Mia and Chace O’Conner had been evicted from their apartment. Mia’s wealthy family had turned their back on her because she was pregnant, dropped out of college, and would not marry the man they choose, but married Chace the father of her child and the one she loved. Chace was a foster child and worked hard for everything. His prayer was to be able to take care of Mia and Kaitlyn.
Chace’s Amish boss Isaac Allgyer provided them a small farmhouse on his property to live in until things got better financially. This home is a big change for Mia with no modern conveniences. Isaac and his family go out of their way to make them feel at home and how to adjust to living in the little farmhouse. Providing love, items that the baby needed, how to care for a sick baby, understanding, food, blankets, and lessons on cooking and gardening, but most importantly Isaac taught them to have faith.
Chase and Mia’s relationship is strained and they are blaming each other for their situation. With the help and love of Isaac’s Amish family can they begin to see their small home as a cozy one and realize that home is where your heart is?
A Flicker of Hope by Ruth Reid: This story is about Thomas and Noreen King, an Amish couple that has been married 15 years. Their marriage was a struggle and was falling apart after the loss of their child. There was a tragedy, a fire where their house was burnt to the ground and the fire spread across the field destroying their crops.
Thomas had saved Noreen, pulling her out of the burning house. Noreen blamed herself for the fire and Thomas was full of guilt. The bishop gave them good advice; he told them to pray together.
From the ashes they found a piece of their wedding quilt and with that small piece of fabric they found hope for their future. Their family, friends, and the Amish community came to their rescue to help them start over. As they do they realize the love that they have for each other and work and pray together to rebuild what they had in the beginning of their marriage.
I felt so sorry for this young couple, but was happy how Ruth Reid tied it all up so nicely at the end. I really enjoyed this story.
Building Faith by Kathleen Fuller: Amish women did not work on woodworking projects, but Faith Miller loved to help her grandfather from a very young age until his death. She loves to work with her grandfather’s wood and continues to do projects alone. Faith has a full time job working at Schlabach’s Bulk Food store so most of the people thought her woodworking was a hoppy (hobby).
Silas Graber is Faith’s ex-finance and a carpenter. They do not speak to each other, but attend the same church every Sunday. Faith’s cousin Martha is marrying her sweetheart Melvin who is a friend of Silas. Working hard to finish building their house before their wedding they realize that they need help with the kitchen cabinets. Without talking it over with each other first Martha ask Faith to build the cabinets and Faith was excited to do them as their wedding gift from her. Melvin ask his friend Silas to build their cabinets and he would pay him. Silas is in need of this income due to many medical bills due to his Mother’s illness.
Will Silas and Faith be able to work together or will Silas hire someone else for this project? Will their situation help rekindle their feelings for each other? As Kathleen Fuller brings this story to a wonderful end, I wanted to read more about this young couple.
I received a paperback copy of this book without cost from the publisher through The Fiction Guild, a Thomas Nelson/Zondervan Elite Reader book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own, or in this case, my mom’s.
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