In the shadows of a graveyard, a SHOT rings out…

Hannah Esh fled the Home Valley Amish community with a broken heart, throwing herself into her worldly dreams of a singing career instead. But as much as she tries to run from her past, something keeps pulling her back. On a whim, she brings four worldly friends to the Amish graveyard near her family’s home for a midnight party on Halloween. But when shots are fired and one of her friends is killed, Hannah is pulled back into the world of her past.

The investigation into the shooting uncovers deep-buried secrets that shock the peaceful Amish village to its core. Determined to prove her value to the community she left behind, Hannah attempts to bridge two cultures, working closely with both handsome, arrogant FBI agent Linc Armstrong and her former betrothed, Seth Lantz, now widowed with a young daughter.

Caught between Seth and Linc, between old and new, Amish and worldly, Hannah must choose her future. Unless a killer, bent on secrecy, chooses it for her.

My Comments: This book is a good mix of Amish fiction and mystery – two of my favorites.  I enjoyed this book, it kept me engaged throughout.   This book brought out that there are many secrets in this type environment.  Life is not all perfect and rosy as it might seem in the Amish community.  In that respect this book is somewhat more believable than the perfect life depicted in other books of the Amish fiction genre.  This book even portrayed the bishop than less than perfect.  There are times when I want a good excuse from real life into fantasy.  Other times I find strength from reading about real people with real problems.  This book fit the second category.

You’ll be swept away by the endearing characters created by award-winning author Anna Schmidt. On the heels of a horrific hurricane, Hester Detlef, field director for the Mennonite Disaster Service, blows into the life of self-made, shunned Amish man John Hafner. Will she find a way through his shield and into his heart? Although the hurricane has left John homeless and badly injured, the last thing he wants is some do-gooder Mennonite woman intruding in his life. Will his impatience with her intention of restoring his faith and property keep him from accepting this beguiling stranger’s kindness?

My Comments: Interesting journey of a young man trying to pay penance and a young woman who puts others first through the Mennonite Disaster Service.  This book combines Amish and Mennonite fiction.  I find the romance in this book a little more believable because it isn’t instant.  It develops throughout the book.  The characters are colorful.  I especially like Olive – one of the crabby spinsters.  I found appealing the desire of John to live a life as described in “Walden.”  Nobody would let him, however, and the weather completely ruined it for him.  The book is satisfying, the end is great and I am looking forward to more books in this series.

I received this book from NetGalley.

My Comments: This is a quick sweet read.  The premise of the book is a little hard to swallow – making a town famous for love – but my husband and I honeymooned in Vermont and it IS a romantic state overall!  Snow, skiing, cold biting weather (and we went in April!), and quaint little towns.  Four women from the town of Smitten share their love stories.  Each is different according to the personality of the author.  They share other aspects of their lives as well such as making a go of a new business, and fighting people who don’t agree with their idea of making Smitten a town for love (because of it’s name).  This book would be great to read for Valentine’s Day!  I would overall give it a 3.5 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley!  This book is already pubished and ready to order.

As many of you, I have been very busy with the holidays.  However, I read several books and now it is time to write posts about them!  One book I really enjoyed was A Life of Joy by Amy Clipston.    Here is a little synopsis of the story:  Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where you’ll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each woman’s story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams . and secrets. You’ll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the “English” way of life-and the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families. In A Life of Joy, the fourth installment in the series, eighteen-year-old Lindsay Bedford has reached a crossroads. Should she stay in the small Amish community she’s known and loved for four years or return to the English life in her hometown in Virginia where her older sister is a college student? An extended visit to Virginia might just tip the scales as Lindsay reconnects with friends, joins a new church, works on her GED, and is pressured by her sister to stay and “make something of herself.”

My comments: This was a great story, although I still wonder how many “English” would switch over to the Amish lifestyle and embrace it wholeheartedly.  If you know of any real person who has done this, please let me know.  I can see the appeal, believe me.  I cannot, however, see the work – the washing, the sewing, the cooking, etc.  I also have some problems with the legalism.  Other than that, the close family ties, the simpler (in some ways) lifestyle, and the work ethic appeals to me.  The Amish seem to have a great faith in God and His will in their lives and believing that all things that happen are His will.  I just question shunning, and their extreme separation from the rest of the world – even other believers.  Also limiting themselves to an eighth grade education doesn’t appeal to me at all.

I actually found myself pulling for Lindsey to go back to her roots – the English roots.  She had some great support systems in both the English and Amish worlds.  Maybe I was hoping for the English lifestyle because I know the English world and seems to be what her parents wanted for her.  I am anxious to see what happens in the next book.  Clipston does a great job leaving you off with a great cliff-hanger.  I enjoy her books and her writing and will continue to keep reading them!

College librarian and struggling artist India Hayes isn’t sure how her older sister Carmen talked her into managing a face-painting booth at the Stripling, Ohio, Founders’ Day Festival or how Carmen convinced her to wear the pink gingham pioneer dress, including mobcap and granny boots, but that’s where she finds herself in a chilly October just before Halloween. India’s annoyance turns to suspicion as she discovers the body of Zen-like basket weaver, Tess Ross, on the festival grounds. Tess leaves behind an angry blacksmith husband, a confused adopted son, greedy siblings, a dysfunctional artists’ co-op, and a chocolate-colored labradoodle with a two-million-dollar trust in his name. Much to India’s dismay, she learns Tess is the sister of her stuffy college provost, Samuel Lepcheck, and the mother of a library student worker, Derek, who has an irrepressible crush on India that she’s doing her best to ignore. Derek begs India to investigate his mother’s murder. Despite the urgings of handsome Police Detective Rick Mains to stay out of the investigation, India agrees to Derek’s request and finds herself playing sleuth as well as foster-owner to Zacchaeus, the two-million-dollar labradoodle. With her own eccentric family commenting from the sidelines and her Irish-centric landlady, Ina Carroll, as volunteer sidekick, India must discover the truth before she has a permanent canine houseguest or she ends up the next victim in the basket weaver’s murder.

My Comments: India Hayes ranks right up there as one of my favorite new detectives in a cozy mystery.  Her family makes me smile!  I love it that her mom is a pastor and her dad is in a wheelchair – real people!  Her parents, middle aged hippies, get involved in all the local “causes.”  The women in this family are strong – including India’s sister Carmen.  There is a book that comes before this and I’m anxious to read it as well.  The book ends with a great cliff-hanger making me want more, more, more.  If you like books by Leslie Meier and Joanne Fluke, you will love this book!

Gracious living can be murder. First in an all-new mystery series— includes delicious recipes and great tips on entertaining!

Few can compete with Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but her childhood rival, Sophie Winston, certainly tries. Natasha may have stolen the spotlight—and Sophie’s husband—but Sophie is determined to rob her of the prize for the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. She just needs the right ingredient.

But Sophie’s search for the perfect turkey takes a basting when she stumbles across a corpse. And when the police find her name and photo inside the victim’s car, Sophie will have to set her trussing aside to solve the murder—or she’ll be serving up prison grub.

But Sophie’s search for the perfect turkey takes a basting when she stumbles across a corpse. And when the police find her name and photo inside the victim’s car, Sophie will have to set her trussing aside to solve the murder—or she’ll be serving up prison grub.

My Comments: I’m enjoying this series by Krista Davis.  This particular book I downloaded on my Nook and read fairly quickly.  I love the main character Sophie and it interests me to wonder if the author is trying to get her back with her husband who she divorced a couple of years ago.  It seems that her mother and mother-in-law want them back together.  I also love a woman who has to solve a mystery.  This book makes me laugh and definitely engages my interest.  Natasha seems to want everything Sophie has and vice versa – a real rivalry exists between them