In a heart wrenching but beautiful story of love, loss and redemption, The Beloved Hope Chest shows us why through everything and anything, God and family never desert us and always have our happiness in mind

Final book in Amish Heirloom series by Amy CLIPSTON. THE BELOVED HOPE CHEST. Secrets hidden, and now found by her daughters, time to tell. She was married before, his name was Isiah, bank robbery and he was gone. 4 months have gone by, she is now facing her childhood friend Leroy. He was starting a new business and needed a wife for the house. Her child would have a father, and she wouldn't be a burden to her family any more. For Leroy, he has loved her from afar, since he met her years ago. To have a wife and children in the big house, he felt truly blessed. He would wait, and hopefully in time she would come to love him also. Then letter comes she only wants friendship, she needed time to grieve, and hope he would understand. He knew when she gave the doctor her first married name, that she wasnt married to him. After a month of hoping, he sets her free. Would they, or the memories since they were children unite them. A beautiful story of love and dreams, can they come again. Given ARC by Net Galley for my voluntary review and my honest opinion.

This was a very sweet read. At times heartbreaking, and always very realistic, it was a journey through grief with a pleasant ending. No matter your religion of choice, grief is something that everyone can relate to - and this book did a good job of conveying the roller coaster ride. Overall, a good, quick read.

The Beloved Hope Chest
By Amy Clipston
Fans of Amish Fiction and Amy Clipston won’t be disappointed by her newest release, The Beloved Hope Chest, which is also the conclusion to her Amish Heirloom Series. In the story, we get to learn Mattie’s story. Mattie is the mother to the three girls in the first three books of the series: Rachel, Veronica, and Emily. We get to see Mattie as a young wife, expecting her first child, and feel her heartache when everything goes wrong. When she loses her husband and the love of her life, she marries an old friend so that her child will have a father and she won’t be a burden to her family. Walk with them while they discover how to love each other, live together, and hold each other up through all the rough times. I really enjoyed it because there were so many references to the first three books, including the basket Rachel used when providing meals for Mike’s family in an earlier novel. Clipston does an excellent job of holding you captive and keeping you there while you anxiously turn the page to see what will happen next. I hate to say goodbye to the characters, and hope that, just maybe, we can see them again in a different novel. I received a free copy of this story for my honest review from NetGalley.

This is a great Amish series by a wonderful author. I greatly enjoyed the entire series, and this book is a great closure to the series.

I really enjoyed the conclusion to this series. It was perfect . I loved how when Mattie started telling her story how she went into the past and stayed there until the end, Mattie and Leroy had a rough start but Leroy persisted and showed Mattie what love was all about.

The Beloved Hope Chest is the culmination of a series of books by Amy Clipston and I have to say that she's saved the best for last. While Mattie is explaining the contents of her hope chest to her daughters, Amy has brought about a deeper thought for anyone reading. This book wasn't just a book about two Amish people falling in love, it was about worthiness to receive love. Mattie married Leroy shortly after her husband, Isaiah, died, because she was pregnant and wanted her child to have a father. After the baby was stillborn, she went into a serious depression--widowed, married, lost child all add up to a serious high on the stress scale. She couldn't see her worthiness to be Leroy's fraa.

While I don't think this was Amy's goal in writing this book, she has presented a picture of us as Christians, especially those of us who do not see ourselves as being worthy. God sees us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and in Amy's book, Mattie has to learn to see herself through Leroy's eyes to find her worth. This is one of the most endearing books I've read by Amy. Her characters and plot lines resonate through me and bring about a new appreciation for the God we serve, and the sacrifice of His Son.

Absolutely a Five Star book, with two thumbs up, and a coffee cake to munch on while you read.

My thanks to Zondervan Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book.

Mattie Fisher felt a onesie that her daughter Veronica had gotten out of her hope chest a year ago. Her middle daughter Rachele found a stack of letters. Emily found some birth certificates and footprints. She recalls how she first met Isaiah when he was renting a farmhouse near her in February 1989. She met Isaiah at a church youth gathering. Mattie was worried as Isaiah was late coming home from the bank. Tow policemen came to the door and told her Isaiah had been killed. Four months later Mattie married Leroy Fisher. At the wedding, Leroy was excited to marry her. Although Mattie was still in a mourning period for Isaiah. Mattie is already pregnant with Isaiah's baby. Mattie loved Leroy as a friend and needed to learn to love him as a husband. Leroy was going to spend their first night together sleeping in the guest room. Mattie still didn't feel comfortable around him just yet. Mattie was still missing Isaiah. Mattie wished she could'be stopped IUsaiah from going out that fateful day. Leroy looked forward to being a new dad. He was also making plans to open up a harness shop with his friend Hank. Leroy remembered Mattie as a teenager when they went to the swimming hole and he got to see her long blonde hair down. He remembered how lovely her hair is. Mattie and Tillie are planning a grand opening party for the harness shop. Tillie points out to her the bible verses about there being a time for everything. Mattie still thought that Leroy only loved her as a friend. Tillie told her he loved her as a wife. Mattie worries she won't be able to love Leroy as more than a friend. Leroy came home for lunch and find Mattie sobbing while rocking in her rocking chair. Leroy talked with her about her god memories with Isaiah. Mattie and Leroy spend time together setting up the nursery.
Will God bring this couple and their baby together?

Amy Clipston deserves a standing ovation with this last book in the Amish Heirloom series. We once again join the Fisher family where the Fisher daughters are about to discover what mystery has been hiding in their mother’s beloved hope chest. We have read as each daughter has discovered a little piece of the puzzle that has lead up to the reveal of Mattie’s mystery surrounding the little blue onesie and blonde lock of hair along with other items that she has hidden away all these years.

Mattie and Leroy Fisher’s story is one of loss, heartache, and love. Mattie never shared with her daughters that their father was her second husband. She was married briefly to Isaiah whom she lost in a tragic accident when he passed away trying to protect an English woman from her abusive husband. He left Mattie devastated and pregnant with their first child.

Leroy has been in love with Mattie since she was six and he was seven. They have been best friends and inseparable until she fell in love with Isaiah. Leroy steps in and becomes her rock during this difficult time. When Mattie didn’t know how she would make it with a child on the way, Leroy asked her to become his wife and stepped up to raise her child as his own.

When tragedy strikes their family again and little Jacob is stillborn, Mattie and Leroy can only turn to God to get them through this difficult time. Mattie doesn’t think she can make it and feels she is only holding Leroy back from being truly happy. Leroy longs to make everything better for Mattie and vows to wait as long as it takes to win her back.

The book takes you on their journey as they travel through their grief and learn to love each other fully.

This was in my opinion on of the best books I have ever read. I can honestly say I cried while reading the book because it reminded me of similar events in my own life that I have faced and Amy wrote about these events in a way that made the reader feel as if they were there experiencing them along with the Fishers. The story was well-written and the character development was well versed. I would recommend reading the first three books of the series prior to this one, but you could read this book by itself if you so desired.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from netgalley, Thomas Nelson Fiction, and the author and was under no obligation to post a positive review.

This is the last book in this series. It tells the story of the Fishers mother and the child she had lost so many years ago. The sisters find some things in a Hope Chest and question there Mother (Mattie ) about them. Mattie tells her daughters the story behind them. She tells her daughters about her marriage to her first husband and how he was killed saving a women from a abusive husband. She tells them about her being pregnant with his child and struggling his death and not knowing where she and the newborn would live. She tells them about her childhood friend Leroy,their Father asking her to marry him and he would take care of her and the child.. This book is the story of Leroy and Mattie's struggle with their marriage and also the lost of the child. Will Leroy's love for Mattie be enough to hold them together? A beautiful story about loss and love being found again.

What an amazing and beautiful story that I basically read in one sitting! On enforced bed rest due to sprained ankle, I started reading The Beloved Hope Chest and could not put it down! Amy Clipston is a master story teller, and this series has been one of my favorites. This time Mattie, the girls mother, is the main character- Mattie has been extremely supportive of each of her three daughters throughout their relationship difficulties, and now readers have a chance to learn about her and Leroy's past and how they survived tremendous obstacles in the earliest days and months of their marriage. Mattie reveals to her daughters a secret from her past that they had begun to guess at and inquire about. Leroy has come across in each book in this series as the ultimate loving and supportive father that any daughter would adore, and now readers have a chance to see how he pursued and won Mattie's heart following heartbreaking losses. Leroy truly shines through as a very special husband, father and friend. Amy Clipston does it again, writing a story that readers will want to return to over and over again.

A wonderful conclusion to a wonderful series! After reading each book I would think that was my favorite so far but Amy Clipston out did herself with this book. This book will be my favorite in the series and I was sad to say goodbye to the Fisher family at the end. The characters will stay with me long after the pages of the book turn cold.