Rosanna's Gift by Susan Lantz Simpson, is also a gift from the author to readers- a beautiful and deeply moving story that is hard to put down! I found myself re-reading the story and picking up on new aspects i missed the first time. And Simpson's books, released just a few times a year, are a treat I look forward to and anticipate eagerly. In Rosanna's Gift, Rosanna, a young woman who assists her mother in her midwife responsibilities, receives the gift of a newborn infant when the young mother leaves a note, a document giving her parental rights, and disappears. While Rosanna, like all other young Amish women, dream of a home and family of their own, this is not the typical way this dream becomes reality. Rosanna is thrust into single motherhood, thankfully with her family's full support. She experiences disappointment when her hoped for special friend disappoints her with his lack of interest, however, another special long time friend may yet surprise her with his caring and interest.
As I read through Rosanna's Gift both times, I felt deeply drawn into the Mast family's daily lives, their love and caring for each other, and her intense immediate bond with baby Mollie. As a mother of two daughters myself, I can identify with this deep bond and truly loved this story and highly recommend it.

Rosanna Mast has always wanted a husband and children. Her hope is to marry Henry Zook. However, when an English baby she and her Mamm helped deliver is placed in her hands and told she is yours, Rosanna takes her motherhood to heart. But will Henry still accept her? Or will a new suitor take center stage?

I love how the characters in this story were developed. As the reader, we knew what they were thinking and feeling. Seeing how much a baby can really change ones future, brings both joy and tears. The love that a young mother shows by giving her child to someone she knows will care and raise the baby is seeing how unselfish the act is. I look forward to more books by this author. I received a copy through Netgalley. A review was not required.

I’m going to preface this review with two facts. One, I’ve never successfully finished reading an Amish romance novel before now. They just aren’t my cup of tea. Two, I really detest reviews that start off with, “Well, I should have known I’d hate this, because I hate this genre of book. So here is a nasty review about it, just because I dislike the genre but chose to read it anyway.” So, no, I don’t love the Amish romance sub-genre, but I am going to try to review it fairly, on its own merit. Also in full disclosure, the author is related to a colleague of mine. That local connection is what spurred me to give the book and the sub-genre a try, once I saw that it was available as an electronic advanced copy through Netgalley. So here goes:

Rosanna’s Gift is a sweet novel. It’s not very demanding of the reader, aside from the initial need to suspend disbelief regarding the central plot, and a tolerance for random Pennylvania Dutch words thrown into conversation seemingly without rhyme or reason. Rosanna is a sweet young Amish woman who lives with her bustling family of parents and siblings in a big farmhouse. They cook all their meals, and seem to eat all the time. Seriously, half of what is depicted in this book occurs around the making and/or eating of food. When Rosanna isn’t helping her mother and sisters make meals, she’s sitting down to baked goods and warm beverages (kaffee? tea? hot chocolate!) with every other character in the book–siblings, love interests, friends, rivals, total strangers. Everyone wants pie and tea, apparently. All the time. I am going to assume this is at least somewhat based in the reality of a slower life free of much of the technology and time-saving devices common to the greater culture, as well as the benefits of an active lifestyle for appetite and of a disregard for the potential health effects of a diet so heavy in refined sweets. I was only surprised that there were no recipes included at the end of the book.

Rosanna is surrounded by mostly more nice people. Frankly, even her two biggest rivals, a pudgy girl with glasses, and a bottle blonde secular woman who is described pretty much like a tacky stripper (Her name is Kandy Kotton, she dresses scantily regardless of the weather, and she talks about dancing as a performer a lot.), weren’t really bad people. (Not very complex characters either.) There’s one family presented as pretty heartless and unkind, who doesn’t get assigned any redeeming qualities, but otherwise everyone is presented as ultimately lovable characters. Including the smartest, prettiest, most well-behaved baby ever, apparently. I know all new mothers think their child is the best, but most will admit to the occasional exhaustion or frustration in caring for their child. Not Rosanna. Aside from an inability to read the intentions of the men around her, no matter how clearly they signal them, Rosanna is pretty much perfect herself. So I guess she deserves a perfect baby too.

As mentioned earlier, the central plot concept definitely requires a suspension of disbelief. A secular, or Englisch, young woman comes to give birth with Rosanna’s mother, the local Amish midwife. After the birth, she informs Rosanna and Rosanna’s mother that she’s giving the baby to Rosanna to raise, and has already drawn up the legal papers, despite never having spoken with them before. Not to Rosanna’s mother or any other existing family in the Amish community, but specifically to unmarried, completely single Rosanna. As mentioned previously, Rosanna is so nice as to be perfect, so she naturally takes on this charge without many questions or any complaints, and seems startled that some people in her community might take a dim view of her single motherhood. Mostly the community as depicted doesn’t let her down. All of this felt rather far fetched to me. Rosanna’s cluelessness to the signals the marriageable young men around her were giving also required some suspension of disbelief. How can you really miss someone being SO OBVIOUS about their interest or lack thereof?

Other things to point out–the language feels inconsistent sometimes. I actually grew up in PA Dutch country around conservative Mennonites, who generally have MORE formal education than their Amish counterparts, and this language didn’t always feel familiar to me. The throw-in phrases like “Ain’t so” and the “Dutch” words sprinkled throughout gave the writing a homey ring, but didn’t always balance out larger, more obscure word choices or concepts that would pop up periodically.

Also, this is a Christian novel, which depicts the characters praying, talking about God/ God’s plans for them, etc. If that bothers you, this isn’t the book for you. While I had questions about whether the theology inherent to the book’s discussions was actually more Amish or evangelical in nature, it’s still definitely Christian, for better or for worse.

Another point to mention is that the book is specifically set in the Amish community of St Mary’s County in southern Maryland. This was part of my interest in the story, as the setting is not very far from where I live. This setting is mentioned several times throughout the book, usually in connection to the weather. It otherwise has absolutely no bearing on the story or setting, and Rosanna’s Gift could as easily be set anywhere else in the US instead. So don’t read this expecting some kind of southern Maryland-specific charm.

But, if you’re willing to suspend disbelief and spend lots of time reading about a perfect baby and a saintly adoptive single mother and lots of characters who spend their time consuming baked goods and hot beverages, this is actually quite a relaxing read. The plot is not stressful, suspenseful, or intellectually demanding. The characters are basic, pleasant, and not overly complex. Their language occasionally seems a bit more complex than one would expect from the level of education acquired by members of the Amish community (Hint: that’s not very high.), but it’s still not demanding of the reader. This is the kind of book you could read before bed with no fear of having nightmares. I did so, and frankly, it may even have helped me fall asleep.

All that being said, this book still isn’t my cup of tea. or hot chocolate. or piece of pie. or favorite kind of cookie. I like more diversity and complexity of characters in my stories. I like more serious topics and heavier matters at stake, even interwoven into my escapist romances. The world doesn’t go away while we read. But if you would like to immerse yourself in an all-white religious Christian world of baked goods and electricity-free family-centered living, with some praying and talking about God thrown in, this may be just the book for you. I’ve already pre-ordered a copy for my cousin who loves Amish romances. For the right audience, this book may be just what they want and love.

I want to thank #Netgalley and Kensington Books for giving me a chance to experience a complete Amish romance novel finally, by letting me access a free electronic advanced copy of #RosannasGift. This is my honest opinion.

This was a sweet story of a young mother's love for her child and doing what she thought was best. Giving a child up for adoption must be hard but knowing you have a loving person to care for them, is a comfort. Who couldn't love Rosanna's sweet personality and warm heart? Perhaps, Henry, who she thought she would marry.

There are lots of twists and turns in this sweet story. I found it to be a quick read, and the story was so touching from the beginning. I really enjoyed this author and her book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions and reviews are my own.

Rosanna Mast's life is changed forever by an unexpected request. A young Englisch mother is sick and wants Rosanna to raise her newborn baby daughter. She is surprised by the girl's request. But when she holds the baby for the first time, she immediately falls in love and wants to keep the baby. But when her dream of adopting the baby meets unexpected obstacles, she finds a friend and supporter in Paul Hertzler. Paul has always been in love with Rosanna and wants nothing more than to marry her and be a daed to her boppli. Now all he has to do is find the courage to tell her how he feels.

Rosanna's Gift is a sweet and heartwarming Amish romance that captured my interest from start to finish. The story is beautifully written and moves at a steady pace. Rosanna was such a wonderful and kind-hearted person. It was very easy to love her and want to see her dream of adopting Mollie come true. I admired her dedication to her family and her desire to help people. Paul was one of kind. He was just as caring and kind-hearted as Rosanna. I love that he was always there to support her. They were perfect for each other and I enjoyed watching their relationship grow throughout the book. I highly recommend this heartfelt Amish romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very well written book that holds your attention. It's a very heartwarming story that will keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. I recommend this book to any one who enjoys reading a good clean book. Thank you Kensington Books via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Rosanna Mast’s is in love with Henry Zook. Henry dislikes Englisher's. Rosanna helps her Mother who is is a midwife deliver a young English girls baby.. After the baby is delivered the girl tells her that she is ill and the baby is Rosanna's. The young girl slips out of a window and vanishes. Rosanna is shocked and when her mother checks it out she is told that the girl signed the baby over for Rosanna to raise. It is a beautiful story and the characters are interesting. It draws you in to see how Rosanna deals with raising the child.

I did enjoy this book, although it did feel quite drawn out for what actually felt more like a short story type of book. There was a lot of repetition, and the twists that were thrown in with the "custody battle" were actually not really considered any real suspense. It was easy to see what was going to happen in all areas, so there really weren't any feelings of surprise. I tend to normally enjoy books that are more in depth with a greater sense of surprise, but found that this book was actually comforting at this time of year as an easy read. The author did a good job of representing the Amish beliefs, and way of life, but there were some small inaccuracies over-all. However, I did enjoy this book, and am glad I had the privilege of reading it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is my third book by this author and like the others I have enjoyed it. The writing, to story, and even the characters make you want to keep reading. Onto the plot.

Rosanna's mother is a midwife and will welcome any woman that shows up at her door. Young, old, married, single, Amish, English, etc. That is how the book opens up. Rosanna's mom is helping a young English woman give birth. When the young woman announces she wants to give her baby to Rosanna both Rosanna and her mom believe it is simply postpartum. However, this girl is completely serious.

Rosanna becomes a caring and devoted mother. She is commended by many in her community for stepping up, and though she is at the age where she should be attending signings she prefers to stay with her little one. As the story continues, Rosanna opens her eyes to the plan God has for her. Even when she didn't believe it possible.

This book was one that took twists and turns and the road came to the end it should. Rosanna was the daughter of a midwife and she assisted her mother, whenever she could. One day, an English woman came, to their home, and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. BUT, that is where normal ends and life takes a very different turn for Rosanna and her entire family!! Watching from the sidelines, but not for long, is a young Amish man who has been watching Rosanna for a long time, waiting for his moment.....Paul watches and waits.....and hope it pays off. Not to think that this story will run the usual course, the English aunt, of the birth mother, enters unexpectedly with her bleached hair, long nails and spiked heels....yep, a sight to behold. Sit back, get some warm mulled cider, soft music, and a holiday candle and enjoy your time within the pages of this book.....I know you, too, will enjoy it!!!

A sweet story that exemplifies the love of a mother for her child. When Rosanna receives her "gift" she readily accepts her with love. I love the Rosanna's family loves and supports her decision. The love between siblings rings true with all the teasing. I love Paul's quiet spirit and his mother's love for children. Very enjoyable story. Recommended!

Great story! Very clean romance that follows Rosanna Mast and Paul Hertzler. It begins with a young mother that gives birth to a daughter, and gives her to Rosanna. Rosanna names her Mollie, and everything goes well until Mollie's biological aunt comes to visit.. She threatens to contact lawyers to obtain custody of Mollie, even though she has no clue how to care for a baby. Excellently written story that I couldn't put down!

Roseanna's Gift is a tender, heart-warming story of a girl putting her daughter's needs before her and her future, knowing she wouldn't be there to see her grow up.
Life is never easy. And I loved Rosanna and her family. Rosanna truly cares for people and helps them just as her mother did. I enjoyed reading this book and recommend a box of tissue beside you as you read.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC