Book Review: "An Amish Garden" by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, Tricia Goyer, and Vannetta Chapman

I received a free copy of "An Amish Garden" from Booklook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.  


"An Amish Garden" is a collection of 4 novellas:  "Rooted in Love" by Beth Wiseman, "Flowers for Rachael" by Kathleen Fuller, "Seeds of Love" by Tricia Goyer, and "Where Healing Blooms" by Vannetta Chapman.  They are not tied to each other than they all deal with Amish communities and the central theme of gardens.  Each of the stories has a glossary at the beginning telling the Amish terms used in the story and a Reading Group Guide at the end.  There are also recipes at the back of the book.


"Rooted in Love" was my favorite of the stories in the book.  It is about Rosemary Lantz struggling to take care of her family after her mother's death.  Saul Petersheim dated her for 3 months when they were teenagers before Rosemary suddenly broke up with him.  He still loves her and continues to ask her out, but she has a reason for turning him down and he can never find out.  When Saul starts helping Rosemary start her garden, will they find a way back to the love they once shared?


In "Flowers for Rachael", Rachael Bontrager comes to take care of her grandfather after his stroke.  She has a way with flowers and loves working in her garden.  She wishes for more than friendship with her neighbor, Gideon Beiler, but knows that that will never happen.  Besides, she's too busy trying to make enough money to keep food on the table.  Gideon loved Rachael from the moment she moved in next door, but he's too shy to tell her.  His sister tries to help, but will she make it even worse?  When Rachael's garden and her life are a shambles, will she realize that she can't do everything on her own, but allow others to help her and know that God is in control?


"Seeds of Love" tells Sadie Chupp's story.  She has just moved to Montana to live with her aunt and uncle following the deaths of her mother and father.  She brings with her the heirloom tomato seeds passed down from generation to generation, the only thing she has left of them.  She struggles to know how best to garden in this new area and Eli Plank offers to help.  He is a traveling bachelor scribe writing for "The Budget", but his family is in the seed business and he's done his share of gardening.  As they work together, they forge a relationship, but will a miscommunication trample the seedling of love they have grown?


Emma Hochstetter's past year has been difficult with the deaths of both her father-in-law and her husband, Ben.  She is glad for the strength and help of her friend and neighbor, Danny Eicher.  Danny and Emma had dated before he decided to travel for "The Budget", but now she is a grandmother and too old for romance.  She finds a runaway teen in her barn and the Bishop asks her to shelter a mother and her young sons.  When her mother-in-law reveals a long hidden secret, will they all be able to find a way to build a place "Where Healing Blooms" ?  


I enjoy Amish stories and these were no exception.  I did find it sort of unusual for Amish stories with the amount of kissing the characters did.  Normally in Amish stories, they can barely be alone together or hold hands before they are married.  It made these stories seem more like contemporary romances (other than the lack of technology).  There was also one instance in the last story where it says Ben instead of Danny.  On the whole, I enjoyed "An Amish Garden" and would recommend them to those who enjoy clean romances.  It is nice to be able to read a story in an evening without guilt of it taking all day to do it!



Length 416 Pages
Publication Date March 18, 2014
Company Thomas Nelson
ISBN-101401689795
ISBN-139781401689797



"An Amish Garden" is available for $11.59 as a paperback or $9.99 as a Kindle edition.

Book Review: "A March Bride" by Rachel Hauck

I was given an eBook copy of "A March Bride" by Rachel Hauck through Booklook Bloggers in order for me to review it.  "A March Bride" is the 4th in the "A Year of Wedding Novella" series.  While the characters in 2 of the 3 other novellas in the series knew each other at the beginning of their story, this one started with them already engaged!  I actually met Susanna Truitt and King Nathaniel II of Brighton Kingdom in "A Princess Ever After", but their story is actually started in "Once Upon a Prince".

The very first part of "A March Bride" is like a newspaper article that "catches the reader up" on Susanna and Nathaniel's lives up to the beginning of the novella.  I didn't read "Once Upon a Prince", so didn't know much of their story, just that they were engaged to be married in "A Princess Ever After" and a few little details of them meeting.

Susanna has given up pretty much everything she knows to be able to be with Nathaniel in Brighton and to marry him.  As the days get closer and closer to them getting married, one thing after another goes wrong and Susanna flies back to Georgia to figure things out.  She has a talk with her pastor and he helps her work through some of her concerns and reminds her that we have to give up our earthly citizenship to gain our Heavenly citizenship.

As this is "A March Bride", we know that Susanna and Nathaniel do, indeed, get married, but the twists and turns the story takes you on are fun to experience.  I enjoyed reading the book and that I could finish it in an evening.

You can get "A March Bride" as an eBook for $3.79

R2D2 Earflap Hat

In exchange for my sister painting the kit for the swap baby I did in October, I told her I'd knit her an R2D2 hat with earflaps.

Have you ever had a project that it seemed that everything and anything that could go wrong, would? Well, this was one of those projects!

I figured out the graph (which took several revisions to get it right) and then did a test run-though of the pattern to figure out the approximate size he'd end up.  I bought the yarn and then did the cast on.  My cable came off of the needle in the middle of casting on, so I had to start over!  I knit about 10 rows and realized it was ending up way too big, so I pulled it all back out and started over with only 5 pattern repeats instead of 6.  After I was knitting awhile, my cable broke, so I had to rescue my stitches and switch to a different needle!  I was 3/4 of the way done and I wasn't liking how it was looking.  The stitches looked pucker-y.  So I ripped it back about 20 rows and restarted.  Next came time to figure out the earflaps.  I had my sister try on the hat and see where the flaps needed to be, but after I got them both done, they didn't seem quite right, so I had her try it on again.  Sure enough, they weren't wide enough after all!  So I ripped them out again!  I still had to figure out the fleece for the lining and it went semi-well!  In the end, I think it turned out okay, although I really wasn't 100% happy with the top of the hat!

Book Review: "A Little Piece of Heaven" by Staci Stallings

I was once again thrilled to be gifted an eBook of one of Staci Stallings' wonderful books.  This time, it was the 2nd book in The Faith Series, "A Little Piece of Heaven".   This book starts up exactly where the 1st book in the series, "A Work in Progress" leaves off.  It is almost like it was one book with the first half following Eric and Rebecca's story and the second half following Jeremy Stratton and Emily Vasquez.  We experienced Jeremy's world fall out from below him in the end of "A Work in Progress".  He has now moved back in with Eric and is trying to figure out what he wants out of life now that what he had envisioned for his life has failed.  Emily now is without a roommate, so she hangs out with Eric and Rebecca since she knows them from the Bible study that meets in her room.  Through them, Emily and Jeremy meet and they are each attracted to the other.  Jeremy, however, is not into the "whole God thing" and thinks Emily is a little nuts, while Emily has seen the life of wealth and entitlement up close and it left her wounded. 

"A Little Piece of Heaven" is a New Adult Contemporary Christian Romance Novel.  This means it is written for college aged people, but not that it isn't enjoyable for those that aren't.  There are several times that the characters discuss God and how He works in and through you. Staci Stallings makes you feel like you are a part of the book.  My one complaint about the book is that Emily dates Jeremy when he is not a believer.  As a Christian, I don't think Emily should have been dating a non Christian.  But that is a plot complaint and not about the quality of the writing of the book. 

File Size: 959 KB
Print Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Spirit Light Publishing (February 6, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B004MME4T0
Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
X-Ray:
Not Enabled  

Lending: Enabled

You can buy "A Little Piece of Heaven" as an eBook for $6.99.

Catch the Reading Wave - 2014 Reading Month Poster

I always plan on having the kids work on their reading month posters earlier and always end up working on them the day before they are due!

Andy wanted to make a poster, too 

Home And School Mosaics Newsletter

I just found out that I'm going to be in the March newsletter for Home and School Mosaics!  Getting the newsletter is the only way to see my article for this month.  The newsletter goes out on the 10th, so you should still have time to subscribe if you want!

"The Ride on Pegasus"

I looked through some of my old school papers and found a "story" I had written on June 3, 1981 (I was almost 9)  Here it is, complete with missing punctuation and misspelled words!

The Ride on Pegasus

         One night when I was sleeping I heard a tapping sound on my bedroom window.  I turned to see what it was.  It was Pegasus!  He seemed to be saying "Ride me."  At first I was afraid but I finally said softly "O-o-k-k-ok."  So I opened the window and got on Pegasuses back.  Pegasus led me all the way to the big dipper so we could get a drink.  He stopped and let me get off him.  We got a drink of water and went to sleep.  I woke up and I was in bed.  I could hardly wait to tell my mom and dad.