5 stars

My first time reading an Amish romance. I enjoyed it though I normally like a bit more passion.
Mary and her sisters go round to her cousins to choose a quilting patch to work with...Mary chooses Drunkard's path Clay drives his car into the barn. Mary and her father run out with the two fire extinguishers and hose down the barn to stop the fire spreading. Mary is able to help Clay out of the car but he's suffering from concussion and has a nasty cut. He refuses to go to hospital because he was dui...he's a baseball player and earns pots of money. It's a realistic story though due to an attack Mary is a quite a timid creature. Readers might have been warned about that aspect of the story. I like quilting so that's what attracted me to the book. I will probably look out for other.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Listen, if there was ever any doubt that I'd be willing to read ANY sports romance, let's put that to rest right now.

Clay Markham is a famous, but recently disgraced MLB pitcher. One night after drowning the sorrows of his recent playoffs loss, he drunkenly crashes his car into Mary Yoder's barn. She takes it upon herself to nurse him back to health, and rather than letting him pay for the damage, her father decides that Clay should complete the repairs himself in order to learn his lesson. And what if they... fall in love???

I... liked this? I want to be clear that you really have to take a book like this in context. It is of course wildly unrealistic and the dialog is often painfully cheesy. However, the fact that it's set within a community that I know next to nothing about (literally, I watched For Richer or Poorer a lot as a kid -- this is my whole exposure) helped remove it a bit from reality for me, which made those criticisms matter much less than they would in an ordinary contemporary romance,

I thought this was really sweet. Both Mary and Clay were self-sacrificing fools, which can be a bit frustrating, but they were very earnest and wholesome, and I couldn't help but feel very tender toward them. Even when he gave her a goat fecal testing kit as a gift.

This is moderately religious, which I am certainly not. But it didn't feel particularly grating or preachy, and did make sense in context, so I don't believe that you also have to be religious to buy into the fact that religion is important to Amish people, and just accept it as part of the culture.

CW: drunk driving, alcoholism, sexual assault (past, off-page, not detailed), adoption, medical content (concussion, stitches, surgery, post-op infection)

**eARC provided by NetGalley and Kensington

Beckstrand's The Amish Quiltmaker's Unlikelly Match is her newest release and the fourth book in the Amish Quiltmaker series. This was a unique Amish novel to me, as the main male character is a pro baseball player. Even though I'm not a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, this book grabbed and kept my attention from page one to the end!

When Clay Markham crashes his car into Mary's family's barn and the barn starts on fire, Mary grabs the two fire extinguishers from the house and helps her dad put the fire out. After that, she uses her nursing skills on Clay, who has a nasty gash on his forehead, a concussion, and needs to be extricated from his totaled car. Who is this personable mystery man? And what's to be done with Mary's growing feelings for him as hesticks around to help her dad repair the damage he's caused?

This is my favorite book of Beckstrand's that I've read thus far. If you're an Amish romance fan, you won't want to miss this one!

Thanks to #NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advanced e-pub of this book.

All opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

#TheAmishQuiltmakersUnlikelyMatch #NetGalley

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We meet Mary Yoder she is happy living at home with her Dad and sisters. She is a quiet lady and in many ways doesn't push herself forward, she is happy in the background. Herself and her sisters are making a quilt for their Great Grandmother, they each choose a block pattern they wish to use. Their friend Esther, who runs a Quilt shop brings her friend Cathy to help them with the quilt. A quote that struck me was "there is magic in every stitch you sew into a quilt block". As each sister chooses their pattern Cathy makes a comment about what the block represents, which I found really interesting.

Mary and her Dad stay home one weekend when her sisters go to see family for a wedding. There are reasons for them both to stay home, her Dads is to avoid Mary's Aunt, Mary wishes to avoid her cousin Peter. One night they are both awakened by a crash and run out to find a car has smashed into their barn, the barn is a light and there is a man in the car. Once the fire is out they get the man out of the car, he is injured but doesn't wish to go to hospital. Mary agrees to look after him, with her Dads permission.

They find you the man's name is Clay, he offers to pay for the damage he has caused but Mary's Dad thinks it would be better for Clay to learn a lesson and do the repairs himself. Clay readily agrees. The more time Clay and Mary spend together, the more they like each other but how can things work out for them?
Both have secrets that they would rather keep hidden but can they help each other?

This was a well written book, the plotline was well thought out and had me wondering right up to the end how it would be resolved. I like the characters, Cathy added much as the Englisher, she was very forth right and that was good. The character development for both Mary and Clay was extremely well written and was believable. A really good read.

I knew this book wasn’t going to be for me within the first chapter. More specifically, this bit: “… and Pepper sprinted to Dat's side.
Dat was Pepper's favorite person, and Pepper was Dat's favorite person. The horse, Patty, was Dat's second favorite person, and the goats were favorite persons three, four, five, and six. Dat liked animals much more than he liked people, and he loved Pepper most of all..”

Like…..

That style of writing is prominent throughout the whole book, and I just could not get into it. Not only does it do more telling than showing, but it felt like the author was trying to reach a predetermined word count with how much extraneous and repeated content there was.

I think the spirit behind the book is cute, but the dialogue was too wooden and like I mentioned previously, spent way more time telling readers what to think rather than proving anything.

Review will be posted to Amazon once the book officially comes out.

This was a delightful book! Clay is a professional baseball player who crashes into Mary Yoder’s barn. They form a friendship even though they come from different worlds. I love how Esther, from Book One is a major character. My favorite is Cathy! She’s an eighty-four year old Englisher who drives Mary around. I’m looking forward to the new book in the series. I hope Cathy also has a big role in it.
Many thanks to the author, Kensington Books and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#TheAmishQuiltmakersUnlikelyMatch #JenniferBeckstrand #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #fiction #ChristianFiction #AmishFiction

It all begins with selecting a quilt pattern and a warning. When an all-star pitcher drinks the car into the side of an Amish family’s barn, the story begins. Cultures clash, but soon, through a variety of adventures and misadventures, love wins out.

Loved reading the engaging and enthralling story. When Clay, a famous baseball player, crashes into a barn, Mary, a young Amish woman, helps him, and Clay works on her father's farm rebuilding the barn. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and a must read riveting romance story. Can't wait to read the next book in the series by the captivating author, Jennifer Beckstrand!

I was disappointed to read a book that didn't reflect the Amish lifestyle. While Mary wore Amish clothing, she didn't act Amish. I also thought that both of the main characters were very immature. This book is definitely written for young teenagers. I received a free copy of this ebook from the author. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. I ended up skimming the book about the a third of the way in. This book was not for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I love Jennifer Beckstrand writting style. It only took me two days to read this as I was so excited to see what happened. Sometimes we need to tackle a problem head on to face it. After crashing into an Amish family barn Clay is nursed back to health by Mary. Along the way will Clay and Mary find themselves and each other?

This book is about a very unlikely match who had an "accidental" meeting. Mary is an Amish woman and Clay is an Englisher professional baseball player. Clay is driving drunk and has an accident crashing into Mary's dad's barn. This unlikely match grows into love as Mary nurses Clay back to health. Will God be able to work out their cultural differences and join their two worlds? I received a complimentary copy of this book but was not required to leave a review.

The Amish Quiltmaker's Unlikely Match by Jennifer Beckstrand ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Absolutely delightful love story with a twist. Both Mary and Clay consider themselves unworthy of each other and love. Mary an Amish spinster and Clay an Englisher made for many obstacles in their lives. Can they overcome these obstacles? Can the Amish community accept Clay? Can Clay open his heart to love?

You can get the answers to these questions, when you read this great story, they I highly recommend. So pre-order your copy today so it can read it on release day. Jan 2nd 2024.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

Any book by Jennifer Beckstrand is definitely worth picking up, and An Amish Quiltmaker’s Unlikely Match is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Mary Yoder, a young Amish woman, is home with her dad when Clay Markham, a world famous baseball player, crashes into her barn. When her dad refuses to allow him to simply write a check to pay for the damages, but expects Clay to actually repair the barn himself, he and Mary will discover that, just maybe, God’s plan was more than they could’ve imagined. With rude reporters, jealous exes, and excited fans, adventure and more follows the two wherever they go.
I love her books and this one was so good. I actually laughed out loud several times, but didn’t miss the truth of God’s hope and purpose either. Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher.

Mary Yoder along with her family, is starting a quilt to honor her grandmother. When someone suggests Drunkards Path quilt, she had no ideal that she would meet and fall in love with Clay Markham. He literally came crashing into her family's Amish barn. With her father and herself home when the tragedy occurred, Clay had received some bad news that lead to drinking that resulted in a crash. Mary and her father took in Clay in and nursed him back. Not knowing who he was or the circumstances, Mary's father in his wisdom saw that Clay needed to learn a lesson in what happened. That there was more to his accident that needed character building. That is when he proposed that Clay work for their family in restoring the damages. Both Mary and Clay seemed drawn to each other in what God was teaching them.

The love story is sweet with some entertaining characters. All set in Colorado on a an Amish goat farm, the ups and downs of baseball - love is in the air for these two. A feel good read.

A special thank you to Kensington Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Mary Yoder has a caring nature; she nurses many of the community back to health. Englisher Clay Markham crashes his car into Mary's barn! Mary helps Clay recover from his injuries, and Clay repairs the damages to the barn and fence.

Clay is an ex-baseball player. He cannot find peace and is angry.

Until he starts speaking with Mary, Clay's internal wounds cannot be healed.

I found Clay whiny and wishywashy. It appeared that Clay was trying to buy his way into the family, which I guess technically showed where he was in his journey. It was not a very realistic romance.

First off thank you to Jennifer Beckstrand, Netgalley and Kensington Books for the arc! This was a lovely Amish read. This was a first for me by this author and I enjoyed her writing. It was a lovely story of Mary our MFC who at 28 has accepted that she will be an old maid only to meet our MMC Clay a baseball champion who crashes into the Mary's family barn and decides to stay around and fix it. I would recommend to anyone looking for a light hearted, fun Amish read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Was so excited to read this one! I love Amish romance books. This one in particular caught my eye the first time I read the synopsis and knew I had to add it to my list.

The book was even better than I expected. I lived ever aspect of the story and am sure you will too. Jennifer Beckstrand has been added to my must be read list of authors.

Highly recommend.

I've liked others of this author's books, but I'm having major issues with this one.

By chapter 9, I'm finding that I really don't like Clay (the male protagonist) very much. He looks pretty childish and thinks everything can be handled with cash and gifts. He has not taken the time to understand the Amish way of life at all. Mary has a way of making things worse (at least in her mind) and does what I consider a lot of non-Amish things to keep him around the farm because she has fallen madly in love with him in this short amount of time.

However, by the end of chapter 9, most of Clays' issues will have been revealed, making me a little softer toward him and understanding why he is the way he is.

The secondary character I like the most is Cathy, a non-Amish family friend and driver for the Amish. She is 84 years old and says what's on her mind, no matter who she hurts. She does always apologize for it, though, and that redeems her!

Lastly, what we read towards the end of this book...well, let's say that we have to suspend our disbelief just a little too far, in my opinion. I think the Bishop would have banned Mary for the stunt she pulls! But all in all, it was a fast, pleasant read. *ARC supplied for review by the publisher Zebra Books, the author, and NetGalley.

Jennifer Beckstrand is one of my favorite authors of Amish fiction, and this is another great story by her. Mary lives a very quiet life with her father and sisters until a professional baseball player crashes his car into the family’s barn. Mary helps Clay recover from his injuries, and he repays the family by repairing the damage his accident caused to their fence and barn. Mary and Clay each have secrets from their pasts that they need to overcome to move toward the future.

This story was entertaining and enjoyable. Watching Mary and Clay working to navigate the other’s lifestyle was very interesting. And of course, the author’s characteristic humor makes the story even more of a joy to read. The plot is not what you would expect from a typical Amish story, but that makes it an even more entertaining read.

I enjoyed this story very much, and I recommend it to anyone who likes Christian fiction or Amish stories. If you haven’t read the other books in this series, be sure to check them out as well.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My thoughts: Usually I love Ms. Beckstrand's books, but this one was unrealistic and well. Clay was whiney and wishywashy and trying to buy his way into the Yoders' life. Mary was baptised but did several unacceptable things, and well, Clay was a womanizer and a drunk. There is a slight faith message, mostly about going to church, nothing about salvation or faith, and ahem, well. I did love the older woman, Cathy, and there were laugh out loud moments. If you like Amish fiction you might like this book.