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Showing posts with label #AmyClipston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #AmyClipston. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Sunday, September 15, 2019
"An Amish Christmas Bakery" by Amy Clipston, Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, and Kelly Irvin
This charming novella collection is just in time for the upcoming holiday season. It releases on October 1, 2019. You can get your copy here.
Q & A with Amy Clipston...
Q: Congrats on the new novella collection. I've read it and really enjoyed it. Since this novella is one in which Alyssa works in a bakery, what's a baked good that just has to be in your house at Christmas?
A: My mom and I like to make cookies and cheesecake. I also love her lemon pound cake. Yum!
Q: All of those sound really yummy! In your story, "Cookies and Cheer," Alyssa came up with an incredible idea for a display. Have you ever seen a display like hers?
A: My mom and I brainstormed Christmas story ideas, and together we came up with the bakery display. I hope readers enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing about it.
Q: Did any of your own Christmas traditions get written into this novella?
A: The only tradition I included was writing Christmas cards, which the Amish do. I love to send out Christmas cards every year. Lately, I have ordered cards with cats on them. What a surprise, right? I send them out to friends and family members, and I always include a family photo that we had taken that year, along with the boys' school photos. I already have decided what photo to include in this year's card.
Q: We send out cards. It's fun to receive them. One final question. Do you have a favorite Christmas movie that you make sure to watch every year?
A: Yes! We always watch "Die Hard" (the first one, of course). It's been a tradition for many years. It was one of my father's favorite movies, and it always brings back happy memories. In fact, my son Matt and I pretty much know the lines by heart, and we like to quote them during the movie. (I'm sure that's annoying to the other watchers!)
Thanks so much for stopping by, Amy. I'm sure my readers will enjoy learning a bit more about your and the novella.
My review...
This is a charming novella collection, perfect for the upcoming holiday season. (I read this in the middle of summer, and it was a welcome, though brief, reprieve from the summer heat and humidity.) All four authors are well-known in Christian fiction for creating strong characters, charming settings, and heartwarming scenes, and this collection is no exception. All of the stories are wonderfully detailed, and the authors do a great job of making the reader feel a part of the story. The stories help the reader remember the true reason for the season. I enjoyed the discussion questions, as well, which would make this a nice book to use for a book club. If you're looking for a book that's a sweet, quick read and easy to fit into a busy schedule, this is one to check out.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy, but I wasn't required to leave a positive review.
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Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Release day review!
My review...
This is the final book in the series, though it could stand alone, and the focus is on Cindy. Returning readers will enjoy seeing familiar characters from the prior books. Things didn't go quite as I expected, but it was an enjoyable story and a nice conclusion to the series. Situations not always addressed in Amish fiction are tackled in this one (such as how the community may treat a member considering a relationship with an Englischer and how that comes into line with their personal and religious convictions). Characters are well developed. Clipston has a way with words that makes Cindy's struggles with finding where she fits relatable for many readers, who may find themselves crying, cheering, and laughing along the way. It's interesting to watch the characters grow spiritually, as well. Some parts were bit predictable, and there were a few lulls, but through it all, God's love and forgiveness is evident. This book is a good way to wrap up the series. On a fun side note, I loved Cindy's cows name!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, but I wasn't required in a positive review.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Four Cozy Winter Reads
Winter is the perfect time to snuggle up with a good book and a hot cup of tea (or cocoa!). Here are some of the stories on my reading schedule this season. I do hope you'll consider adding them to your list, as well.
An Amish Christmas Love (novella collection) by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kelly Irvin, and Ruth Reid
Winter Kisses by Beth Wiseman:
Three generations of Stoltzfus women are all living under the same roof. At twenty-five, Naomi has never been married, and both her mother, Barbara, and her grandmother, Ruth, have recently been widowed. Each nursing broken or lonely hearts, they also each have potential suitors. When a storm on Christmas Eve forces the three couples to take shelter in the basement of the Stoltzfus homestead, secrets are revealed, hearts are opened, and all three potential grooms drop to their knees for very different reasons: a proposal, a prayer, and an epiphany.
The Christmas Cat by Amy Clipston:
Emma Bontrager is spending her first Christmas alone after her husband of 45 years, Henry, passed away in July. Although the Amish don't normally allow animals in their homes, a big, fat, orange barn cat keeps coming into Emma's house. She shoos the cat away, but it continues to appear in her house, settling on Henry's favorite wingchair. But the cat isn't the only Christmas visitor: a group of young people help bring the Christmas spirit to Emma, reminding her that love and hope abide.
Snow Angels by Kelly Irvin:
As a young man enjoying his rumspringa, David Byler gave his heart to an Englisch girl, but he eventually realized he couldn't give up his Plain faith and family for her, so he let her go. He's found a new love in his Bee County Plain community, Molly Shrock. Molly has been patient, waiting for the man she loves to love her back. Just as he is ready to propose, David makes a startling discovery: Bobbie McGregor, his Englisch love, is back. Will Molly's prayers for a Christmas love be answered?
Home for Christmas by Ruth Reid:
When a misdirected GPS sends Ellie Whetstone to the wrong address, she inadvertently finds herself breaking into the home of Amish man Ezra Mast. Ellie hopes to fix up the house left by her aenti and sell it quickly, but a series of run-ins with Ezra and his young daughter have her questioning whether a hasty sale is the right move. Could this new place with its slower pace be the right home for Ellie?
Until We Find Home by Cathy Gohlke
For American Claire Stewart, joining the French Resistance sounded as romantic as the storylines she hopes will one day grace the novels she wants to write. But when she finds herself stranded on English shores, with five French Jewish children she smuggled across the channel before Nazis stormed Paris, reality feels more akin to fear.
With nowhere to go, Claire throws herself on the mercy of an estranged aunt, begging Lady Miranda Langford to take the children into her magnificent estate. Heavily weighted with grief of her own, Miranda reluctantly agrees ... if Claire will stay to help. Though desperate to return to France and the man she loves, Claire has few options. But her tumultuous upbringing--spent in the refuge of novels with fictional friends--has ill-prepared her for the daily dramas of raising children, or for the way David Campbell, a fellow American boarder, challenges her notions of love. Nor could she foresee how the tentacles of war will invade their quiet haven, threatening all who have come to call Bluebell Wood home and risking the only family she's ever known.
Imperfect Justice by Cara Putman
To the world it seems obvious: Kaylene Adams killed her daughter and then was shot by police. Attorney Emilie Wesley knows a different story: Kaylene would never hurt anyone and was looking for a way out of a controlling, abusive relationship. Her death shakes Emilie's belief that she can make a difference for women in violent marriages. Self-doubt plagues her as she struggles to continue her work in the wake of the tragedy.
Reid Billings thought he knew his sister--right up until he learned how she died. He discovers a letter from Kaylene begging him to fight for custody of her daughters if anything should happen to her. No attorney in her right mind would support an uncle instead of the father in a custody case, but Kaylene's letter claims Emilie Wesley will help him.
Thrown together in the race to save Kaylene's surviving daughter, Emilie and Reid pursue the constantly evasive truth. If they can hang on to hope together, can they save a young girl--and find a future for themselves in the process?
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern
People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.
But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny--literally--assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation. They're joined by Rusty, a Wall street high-flyer suddenly crashed to earth.
In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit, Sunny, and Rusty are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit together again and finally reclaim their stories.
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