An Amish Reunion by Amy Clipson, Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, Kelly Irvin is a compilation of 4 stories each written by the aforementioned authors. These authors are well known Christian romance writers because they are so good. When I received this book the next day was a rainy one and I sat right down and nearly read it in one day. It is 372 pages long so quite a bit of my day was taken by sitting and reading but it sure was fun.
In the first story, Their True Home, Marlene and her family are moving back to Bird in Hand. They had moved away right after Marlene's mother's death to get away from the constant reminders that were there but Marlene still felt that this town was her home and was happy to return even though her father was not. It had been 10 years after all. At 27 years old she was ready to make some of her own decisions and she wanted to stay here so she immediately got a job. Her father wasn't happy but he was convinced to let her keep it. Marlene quickly developed a friendship with her boss's son, Rudy, and he helped show her around and train her to the new job. Marlene had a crush on him 10 years ago and Rudy had never gave her a second glance but now they could at least be working friends and Marlene needed a friend in this new community. Marlene had a knack for running the store and did well but her father kept planning to move away as soon as possible. Marlene meanwhile was finding herself drawn back into attraction to Rudy even though she continue to deny it and say they were just friends. Rudy began to invite Marlene to the young adult groups from church and Marlene felt herself having to watch her emotions so that she would not fall for Rudy. She had just left a relationship in her old home town and wasn't sure that she should jump into a new one. Rudy was so nice to look at though and he was just so nice to her. What should she do? What should she do when her dad announces that he wants to move back? How does Rudy feel about all this? Read this story. You will be delighted.
Well known author, Beth Wiseman, writes A Reunion of Hearts in the next story. Ruth and Gideon Beiler had been married a long time when they finally had a child, Grace. Of course they doted on her and were completely devastated when she died at 10 years old in an accident. They simply couldn't get through it and left each other and their Amish faith. They had never divorced but living in separate towns they never saw each other. Both were still grieving after all this time but they had learned to live with it. Both returned to go to the reunion but really they needed to return to get their house ready to sell. People were tearing it up and it was just loosing value. They both needed to spend some time at their daughter's plot in the cemetery and just as sad needed to go through their daughter's room in the house. Their niece, Becky, was 5 years old and was the only one who would talk about Grace and she asked many questions. This opened the door to healing for both of them. How would Ruth and Gideon heal? Would they rekindle their love and marriage? Real this lovely story of grief and loss for these and many more questions.
Kathleen Fuller writes of the elderly Cevilla Schlaback in, A Chance to Remember. In this story Cevilla was raised not in an Amish family but rather converted as an adult. She had never married but lived in a home of her own. She was becoming unable to keep up with all her needs and had recently gotten rid of her horse because she couldn't take proper care of her anymore and now had to depend on others for rides into town. On the day that one of her pre-Amish days friends, Richard, decided to visit a trio of boys were cleaning up her gardens for the reward of cookies. Richard had arrived with his granddaughter, Meghan. Meghan had accompanied Richard because also elderly he sometimes needed help too. Richard and Cevilla spent the day reminiscing before heading into town for a planned motel stay. This hadn't worked out and Cevilla invited both of them to stay at her home. Meghan had misgivings about the no electricity thing but oddly enough they seemed to work it out and Meghan and Cevilla talked and grew close enough to discuss what had been bothering Meghan about her life. Read this story to find out how Cevilla and Richard figure out how to use this last part of their life as well as how Meghan learns to deal with teenage heart ache and go on to find out what God as in store for herself in the future.
And now the 4th story, Mended Hearts by Kelly Irvin. Hannah had made a terrible mistake at age 18 and shown her love with her boyfriend, Thaddeus by having sex with him. When this resulted in pregnancy Thaddeus had left town. Her church had shunned her and then afterwards they were supposed to forgive and forget but sometimes forget comes slowly. Hannah knew that people still judged her and she hoped that her 18 month old Evie would not have to suffer for her sins. Evie was such a joy and Hannah loved her so much. Hannah had not taken up with any other boys except she had begun to allow Phillip to be her friend but that was all. She just had lost all trust in men. Then Thaddeus came back into town and he wanted to see his daughter and he wanted to ask the church and God for forgiveness. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to hate him. What should she do? Read this story to find out how Hannah learns to forgive and still be true to herself and her daughter.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.
