Member Reviews
Loved reading the inspirational and amazing four stories in one novel.
Lucy's Christmas Sunbeam by Anne Blackburne; Lucy takes care of her handicapped sister, Mildred, and when she literally bumps into the handsome Amish hardware store owner, Amos wants to get to know Lucy.
A Bird-In-Hand Christmas by Amy Clipson: Makala, a widow, and her five year old son go home to spend the holidays with her family, but her ex-boyfriend, Wyatt, who broke her heart is working for her father.
Christmas Lily by Amy Lillard: When a snowstorm strands Lily Kate with Jacob and his widower father, Jacob is thrilled.
Leaving Lancaster by Mindy Stteele: Louise's family is moving, and Louis is concerned about her jam business, Beth looks forward to the move, and Leah doesn't want to leave her boyfriend.
Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and must read riveting stories all in one book.
Are you ready for some sweet Christmas stories? You will enjoy the surprising way Amos and Lucy meet and how some sharp tongued gossips try to destroy their love.
Simon meets Lily Kate by saving her from being run over and later on they are stranded in a ferocious snowstorm for three days.
Louise and her family plan a quick move to Kentucky but she and her sister find a reason to stay. Louise can keep her thriving business and Beth realizes she her thirst for wanderlust will be satisfied with Daniel.
This was an absolutely delightful read from start to finish! Amish romances are my go to feel good reads and there is nothing I love more than collections like this. I read one story at a time between longer, heavier reads and found myself very satisfied after each one. I highly recommend this anthology. TBR and Enjoy!
A Lancaster Amish Christmas is everything one would expect to read; sweet, wintery romances. All four held my heart in a pitter-patter rhythm as each romance unfolded. These four novellas give the perfect sampling of each writer’s ability. I look forward to reading this again, especially closer to December.
Lucy's Christmas Sunbeam by Annie Blackburne: This is a wonderfully told story of love pretty much from the moment Lucy and Amos meet. There is a nice balance between light-hearted banter and the serious moments. The love Lucy has for her sister is touching. It is enjoyable to read stories that include characters with disabilities. It would be difficult to not fall in love with Amos Fisher.
A Bird-In-Hand Christmas by Amy Clipston: This is a cozy, second chance romance between Makayla and Wyatt. The history they have between them is just the right amount to enhance the conflict. The instant friendship between Wyatt and Lucas is heart-warming, along with the love shared between their families.
Christmas Lily by Amy Lillard: The spark that ignites this story kept me glued through all of the ups and downs of the story. From the gifts to the weather, it felt very much like Christmas. It was impossible to not fall in love with this story’s matchmaker as he helps the two to overcome their heartaches.
Leaving Lancaster by Mindy Steele: The multiple perspectives was unexpected, and created a complexity that is not often found in novellas, but was easy to follow and that I quickly grew to love. I liked following how and why the three sisters made their decisions to love or not.
Thanks to netgallery for the chance to review the ARC for a Lancaster Amish Christmas.
2 guilty pleasures in one. My super soft spot for Amish romance and Christmas mixed together 😍
This book consists of 4 stories written by 4 well known authors and each of these stories were sweet and had beautiful moments.
Lucy's Christmas Sunbeam by Anne Blackburn
This sweet story brought many tears to my eyes. Lucy raising her sweet Downs syndrome sister after her mamm died during labour. Jacob returning after the death of his brother.
This story has a few interesting moments that I had never read in my many Amish stories, which was a nice surprise. This story is a reminder of God's plan for us. My favourite quote in this story is "she suddenly felt optimism flood her soul and knew that Gott was so very gut, and With him, anything at all was possible"
A Bird-In-Hand-Christmas by Amy Clipson
Widowed mother Makayla leaves her home and returns to her family for Christmas. In leaving she also leaves her fiancee which was her passed husbands business party whom she does not love but wants her son to have a Dat. She returns to her family home and the man whom had broke her heart and made her flee in the first place.
There were so many moments to love in this book. Heartbreak, meddling mothers, hope, new best friends and my favourite being a man who connects with a child on a delightful level bring all kinds of feels. Fabulous story.
Christmas Lily by Amy Lillard
This lovely story is an enemies to more story for the Amish. In this story Lily Kate moves to Lancaster to be a relief teacher for a short period of time, she meets Simon when he saves her from being hit by a car, not that she believes she needed to be saved!
Simon is a widow raising his son Jacob, Jacob is praying for a new mamm. Things take a turn when a snow storm hits and strands Lily Kate at Simon's farm, being in forced proximity things start to shift.
This story was fantastic and fresh.
Leaving Lancaster by Mindy Steele
This is the story of a large family uprooting themselves to shift counties so the family deer farm can expand. In this story we see several stories running which gets a little confusing at times with so many names! In saying this there are some lovely moments in this story
"family is life and safety. It can also be an adventure"
"he was a master of tricks, and with each new touch, with each new compliment, he was ruining all her plans"
"there were moments in life when a woman had to make bug decisions. Sometimes they were scary, often times easy, and sometimes they changed the course of everything"
I’ve read all of Amy Clipston’s books so I’m very familiar with her, but I don’t think I’ve read anything by any of the other 3 authors, so it was exciting to discover new Amish storytellers!
<b>Lucy’s Christmas Sunbeam (Anne Blackburne) — 3.5 stars </b>
I really liked seeing a character with Down’s Syndrome in Amish fiction, and the bond between Millie and Lucy was very sweet. Amos was a good man and I liked that he knew Millie and Lucy were a package deal. This is one of the few Amish books that had a “villain” of sorts from within the community, so that made the story interesting. However, this story has almost nothing to do with Christmas, so that let me down quite a bit. I like seeing the Amish Christmas traditions and while there were a couple mentions of gifts being made, Christmas wasn’t really a focal point of the story.
<b>A Bird-in-Hand-Christmas (Amy Clipston) — 4 stars </b>
Amy Clipston’s story was the one I was most looking forward to reading. I love all of her books and stories! This one was very sweet and cute. I also loved all the Christmassy elements, especially the sleigh ride they took to look at Christmas lights. It sounded so fun! This was a very cute second chance romance. Wyatt and Makayla were well rounded, likable characters. I especially loved Wyatt’s bonding with Makayla’s son Lukas. Lukas was such a sweet little boy. Overall this was an adorable second chance romance. I just love Amy Clipston!
<b>Christmas Lily (Amy Lillard) — 4.5 stars </b>
That was so cute!!! I loved the enemies-to-lovers vibe (which is not something often seen in Amish fiction). The two characters really get under each other’s skin at first and it was really fun to see them interact with each other. I also love snowed in stories, especially when the characters don’t get along. There were so many cute Christmas things too! They baked cookies, made a snowman, played in the snow, and it was so fun and made me want to do all of those wintry things! The little boy was all kinds of cute too. Truly a lovely, feel good Christmas story.
<b>Leaving Lancaster (Mindy Steele) — 3 stars </b>
Definitely my least favorite of the collection. Putting multiple romances in a short story means that none of them were developed well. The family situation was somewhat convoluted and confusing. I did like that the family owned a deer farm. I’ve never heard of that before and it was interesting to read about. While not terribly Christmassy, I did like learning about Second Christmas.
I really enjoyed this book by all four of the authors. I read Amy Clipston but have not read the others. All of the stories were really good. A VERY GOOD AMISH READ,
Oh, how I loved this book! I literally devoured the entire thing in a single sitting. I will definitely be reading this again come December.
I love Amish romance, and am obsessed with Christmas, so this is literally the perfect book for me.
I loved all of the stories, and the message of hope and trust that each on carried, but my favourite was definitely Lucy’s Christmas Sunbeam by Anne Blackburne.
I am a single mum/foster mum to children with disabilities ranging from cerebral palsy to autism, and it is a lonely life. I loved living vicariously through Lucy, and found her character the most relateable.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.
I enjoyed 3 of the 4 stories very much. The third story didn't quite fit with the others. Love Amish charm at Christmas.