Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Winter Reads: Amish Christmas at North Star


Retail: $15.99; Pages: 400
Yes, I'm well aware that Christmas is officially over; though some of you might be wondering why I'm reviewing a Christmas title. To tell you the truth, I signed up to review Amish Christmas at North Star the week before Christmas, but it didn't dawn on me that Blogging for Books wouldn't be shipping it until after holidays. The book arrived in my mailbox right before the 1st of the year, which should explain everything.

Published by WaterBrook Press, Amish Christmas at North Star features four romantic novellas by five wonderful authors -  Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark, Amanda Flower, and Kate Ganshert.

The first story is titled, Guiding Star, and is written by Katie Ganshert. It's centers on Noelle (Elle) McAllister, a young woman living in Iowa who gets some shocking news when the Englischer Chase Wellington steps into her life. He has been investigating a twenty-five-year-old mystery involving the disappearance of an Amish baby, and he believes that Elle is that baby.


Mourning Star is written by Amanda Flower and centers on Eden Hochstetler, who is just your typical Amish girl who happens to work at her parent's candy store. Her job is pretty much boring, well, that is until one of their best customers (Issac) is found dead, and Eden suspects foul play is at hand.

In the Stars is written by Cindy Woodsmall and centers on Kore Detweiler, a heartbroken man who plans on avoiding North Star at all costs. It seems that Savilla Beiler had ripped out his heart and stomped on it, so he doesn't want to go back home. Then the unexpected happens and Kore must return to North Star.

Star of Grace is written by the mother/daughter duo of Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark. The story centers on Sam Danner, who wants nothing more than his brother Andy to return home to North Star for Christmas. Andy had his heart broken by his girlfriend, Nellie, and he left home to join a new Amish settlement in Mississippi. Sam must create a clever scheme to bring his brother back to North Star.

Final Thoughts: I didn't exactly have the Christmas Spirit in December and reading a book Christmas-themed book after the holidays wasn't something I was planning on doing. However, I saw that Amish Christmas at North Star was available to review through Blogging for Books and that one of the authors was Cindy Woodsmall (one of my favorite authors of Amish fiction), I decided to sign up to review it.

By the cover, one would think this was a straight up romantic anthology, but while there is some love stories in this book, there are a few mystery plots as well. Out of the four novellas, my favorite was Mourning Star by Amanda Flower, which blends a murder plot with romance. The other three stories are great reads as well. Overall, I enjoyed reading Amish Christmas at North Star and I recommend it to other readers.

You can purchase Amish Christmas at North Star on Amazon.com.



*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy from Blogging for Books in exchange for unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

About the Authors:

Cindy Woodsmall is New York Times and CBA best-selling author of several works of Amish fiction. Mindy Starns Clark is a best-selling author of both fiction and nonfiction, coauthoring the Christy Award-winning The Amish Midwife. Her daughter Emily Clark is a MFA student. Amanda Flower authored the Amish Quilt Shop mysteries as Isabella Alan and received an Agatha Award nomination for Maid of Murder. Christy Award-winner Katie Ganshert is the author of A Broken Kind of Beautiful and several other novels and novellas.

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