I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit and was under no obligation to post a review. No compensation was received for sharing this review and all opinions are my own.
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation on May 30th 2017
Source: Celebrate Lit
Genres: Amish
Pages: 352
Under bright blue skies, wedding bells ring--fulfilling sweet dreams, impossible wishes, and joyous new beginnings . . .
THE RELUCTANT GROOM by Jennifer Beckstrand
Spirited Suvie Newswenger has three marriage proposals--but not from the man she truly loves. No matter how lonely widower Aaron Beachy is, he seems determined to stay that way forever. Now, with help from his matchmaking great-grandparents, Suvie will do whatever it takes to rekindle Aaron's hope--and spark happiness for a lifetime.JOSHUA'S BRIDE by Molly Jebber
Madeline Lehman fears her fiance's family will never accept her because of her rebellious sister. She's postponed her wedding to Joshua Stutzman until they see the truth. But when Maddie adopts her sister's abandoned baby, can she and Joshua find a way to unite their families through forgiveness as well as love?A SUMMER WEDDING IN PARADISE by Amy Lillard
Reba Schmucker longs to be a bride. And she knows her mischievous nieces just wanted to help when they "chose" Abel Weaver for her. But he's the last man in the world she'd ever marry. There's no way her independence and his stubbornness could ever get along--unless a sudden crisis somehow leads to understanding . . . and love.
Ahhhh, what do I say about this book? I’m torn. I’ve sat on writing this review for three full days and I still can’t formulate what I’m thinking and feeling. Amish Brides is a collection of three Amish novellas written by Jennifer Beckstrand, Molly Jebber and Amy Lillard.
I wanted to like this book. I truly did. In fact, in the first few pages, there are some quirky jokes made that made me laugh. It gave me high hopes but unfortunately, the stories fell flat for me.
Let me explain, I feel that in a novella collection, the stories should complement one another. They need to feel as if they belong together. Bound together forever in printed word. This book just didn’t deliver that for me. The first story, while quirky, felt more appropriate for contemporary fiction.
With the second story, we suddenly time warp to the 1800’s. Again, the story felt slightly out-of-place with the addition of an Amish girl turned saloon girl. Now, I’m not saying that didn’t happen back then. Maybe it did. It just didn’t feel organic to the story. Neither did the casual mention of threatened miscarriage and bleeding. That stuff is barely talked about now. Miscarriage is still fairly taboo. I had a hard time accepting that an unmarried couple would be discussing their mutual friend’s trouble with bleeding during pregnancy. I just wasn’t sold on it. I had a hard time accepting that two men (Amish, at that) had these discussions. That was women talk, if at all.
Amy Lillard’s addition to the book was the saving grace for this collection. Though the romance felt rushed, that’s the norm for a novella. I enjoyed the quirk of the characters. Especially the meddling nieces. They were totally adorbs. Yes, I just said adorbs in a review. Deal with it.
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