An Amish Kitchen

The Amish Kitchen is the Heart of the Home – and the Ideal Setting for Stories of Love and Hope.
Fall in Paradise, Pennsylvania always brings a brisk change in the weather. This time also provides unexpected visitors, new love, and renewed hope for three women.
Fern has a green thumb for healing herbs and flowers, but longs for love to bloom in her life. The next-door neighbor’s oldest son Abram comes running into Fern’s kitchen seeking help for his little sister. The crisis soon leads to a promise of romance—until an incident threatens to end their growing attraction.
Nearby, Hannah runs her parents’ bed and breakfast, Paradise Inn—but her life feels nothing like Paradise. She longs for a man of integrity to enter her life, but never expected him to knock on the front door looking for a room. Will she be able trust Stephen with her future once she discovers his mysterious past?
When a storm blows a tree onto Eve’s farmhouse, she has little choice but to temporarily move her family into her parents’ home. Outside of cooking together in the kitchen, Eve and her mother can’t agree on anything. But this may be just the recipe for hope in healing old wounds.
Three Amish stories—each celebrating love, family, and faith—all taking place in a tight-knit community where the kitchen truly is the heart of the home.

These three stories are a wonderful way to spend a few hours taking a break from a busy life. Stories of love and redemption with characters that overlap in small ways through the other stories. Nothing here to give away what happens in the other stories so they can be read in any order.

I enjoyed all three stories although I did feel one of them ended rather abruptly, just when it seemed like it was building to something, it was over. But all in all, they were all enjoyable.

There are recipes in the back of the book as an added bonus.

Jody

My Kindle copy of this book was provided by BookSneeze for my honest review.

Courting Cate

Courting Cate is the first book in the Courtships of Lancaster County by Leslie Gould.

When Amish farmer Pete Treger moves to Paradise Township, Pennsylvania, seeking a better life, he meets sisters Cate and Betsy Miller. Both are beautiful, but older sister Cate is known more for her sharp tongue and fiery temper than her striking appearance. Betsy, on the other hand, is sweet and flirty--and seems to have attracted most of the bachelors in Lancaster County!

However, the sisters' wealthy father has made one hard and fast rule: elder sister must marry first, before the younger can even start courting. Unfortunately for poor Betsy, and for the men who want to court her, her older sister, Cate, doesn't have any suitors--until Pete comes to town, that is.

Though he finds both sisters attractive, something about Cate's feisty demeanor appeals to him. Soon the other bachelors in the district convince Pete to court Cate. She hardly seems receptive to his overtures, though. Instead, she's immediately suspicious of his interest.

Is Pete courting Cate because of the other bachelors? Is he interested in her wealthy father's money? Is it possible he really is interested in Cate for herself?

I enjoyed this book. The thing with the "bonnet romances" is that you know where they're going to end up. The fun thing is how each individual author chooses to get to that ending. Cate and Pete faced some unusual challenges that I don't normally see in these kinds of books but I enjoyed the telling. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Jody

My Kindle copy of this book was graciously provided by Bethany House publishers.