Dark Road Home by Karen Harper

Dark Road Home by Karen Harper is the first book in the Maplecreek Amish trilogy. Brooke Benton, an attorney who won a case for a person who it was later discovered really did commit the crime, moves to Maple creek after being stalked from someone she thought because of the case she won. She stays with a friend of her deceased sister who owns a quilt shop. Brooke has also brought her sister’s daughter, Jennifer, Brooke promised her sister she would care for her daughter before her passing. Daniel Brand is a woodworker who left his Amish family to pursue his trade. Daniel buys the home next door to where Brooke is staying and plans to finally come home to be baptized into the Amish church. Daniel meets Brooke on the first night he comes home when he finds Brooke dancing with some Amish teens. As the teens leave on the dark road home, Daniel and Brooke hear a loud explosion like noise. As they get to the sight they learn that all but one teen, Katie, is dead and she later dies at the hospital. The driver of the car who hit their buggy left the scene. As an attorney, Brooke wants justice. This is not the way of the Amish and they frown on her trying to find the murder. Daniel decides to help her in the investigation and in the process they fall in love. The story also focuses on the depression and grief of Katie’s mom, Emma. Emma tries to take medication for her depression, but her husband frowns on the use of medicines to cope. Brooke tries to help her as loses the trust of a lot of the Amish people. As Brooke and Daniel investigate, someone starts to stalk Brooke again. Will he be safe in Maplecreek? What will happen to the forbidden love they find? Read to find out the answers to these questions.


I really enjoyed this book. There are several story lines going on at once and many twist and surprises in the story to keep the reader guessing. I have never lost a child but I think it would be hard not to be able to grieve. Emma’s husband wants her to just accept it as God’s will and move on. Emma can’t do that. I really liked this storyline. I also enjoyed seeing the growing love between Brooke and Daniel. I’ve read a lot of Amish fiction, but was able to still learn some new things about the Amish culture. The only thing I did not like is that I felt the killers were given away too early in the story, but other than that I loved it am really looking forward to reading the second book in this series, Dark Harvest.

Clutter Rehab

Here's my review for Clutter Rehab by Laura Wittmann.  I really enjoyed reading a nonfiction for a change!  It was a very motivational book!

Sarah's Garden by Kelly Long

Sarah’s Garden by Kelly Long is the first book in her A Patch of Heaven series. Sarah King is a 20 year old, shy Amish woman who loves her garden. Sarah’s sister, who previously ran the family’s stand, got married and Sarah’s parents decide that Sarah will take over the stand. Sarah can’t imagine it since she is so shy and spends most of her time by herself in her garden. Her father also decides that Sarah will make her sister’s soon to come baby its first quilt. Sarah can’t imagine this either, because her creativity has been limited to her garden and she gave up quilting a long time ago. But Sarah decides to do her best in both. While working her first day at the stand, she meets an English man who she discovers is her new neighbor and a veterinarian. It seems to be love at first sight for her new neighbor, Grant. Sarah likes him too. As they spend more time together, they fall deeper in love, but they know the love is forbidden. She is Amish and will be shunned if she leaves the faith to marry him an Englisher. So, they must make some decisions about that love. Read the book to find out what happens.


I’ve had this book for awhile and can’t believe I waited so long to read it. This is the first book I have read by Kelly Long and I really like her writing style. I really enjoyed the Amish details she brought to life in the story. I really enjoyed seeing Sarah go from this shy garden loving girl to a very creative woman. I thought it was awful that her parents made her run the stand with her shyness, but as usual parent’s know best and it was really good for Sarah. I also loved the quilting theme in the book and how it was compared to the creative of working a garden. Sarah had used garden to help her relax and get guidance from the Lord. I think eventually that she uses quilting in the same way and learns to love it. The only thing I would have liked more was a better description of the quilt. It seemed like it was this awesome thing, but I just could not picture it in my mind. Overall I loved the book and can’t wait to read the second book in the series, Lily’s Wedding Quilt, which comes out in March.

The Journey by Wanda Brunstetter

The Journey written by Wanda Brunstetter is the first book in her new series Kentucky Brothers. Titus Fisher is 22 years old and still lives at home with his Amish parents. Titus lacks confidence in himself and feels like he is always being compared to his twin brother. He has been in love with Phoebe, an Amish woman who he has waited a long time to marry. Phoebe feels she still is not ready to settle down and become a member of the Amish church or get married. She breaks Titus’ heart when she moves California to pursue her interest in the English world. Titus decides to take an offer to move to Kentucky to work with an Amish woodworker and move away from his life and heartbreak. While there he meets Suzanne Yoder a 22 year old Amish woman who is not the average Amish woman. She lacks the ability to cook, mostly because her mother does not have the patience to teach her. She also really does not want to learn because she wants to work with her grandfather and brother in the woodworking shop, but they don’t really feel that’s a woman’s place. These two get off on the wrong foot from the start. Mostly, because Suzanne looks so much like Phoebe. They soon learn to be around each other. Suzanne’s friend Ester takes an interest in Titus. The whole mix gets even crazier when Phoebe comes to Kentucky and tries to get Titus to take her back and marry her. Will Titus pick Suzanne, Ester, or Phoebe? And will he stay in Kentucky permanently, even though his mother really wants him home? Read the wonderful book to find out.


I really loved this story. You can usually tell in stories like this that if the guy starts out hating the girl they usually end up together, but I was really left guessing who he would pick until the end. The story also contains a mystery about some money that is found that I found really interesting too. I liked seeing how Titus really grew throughout the book and started really find his way in life. He included God in helping him make those decisions and I think that really helped him in the end. Suzanne also grows in this story and people learn to accept her for who she really is and not who she is expected to be. I really loved this story and would recommend it to people who enjoy Amish fiction or inspirational fiction.

I was given an advance copy of this book from Barbour Publishing through NetGalley. I was not required to provide a positive review. The Journey comes out on April 1, 2011.

Book review: Sarah's Choice

Sarah's Choice by Wanda Brunstetter is the third book in the Brides of Lehigh Canal series.  I did not read the first two books at all, so this book is fine to read alone.  Sarah's Choice is about Sarah Turner a mother of  three.  Sarah's husband got killed in an accident working the canal locks.  Sarah is forced to take his hard labor job and do the best she can for her children.  She also sells bread to the boatmen to help bring in more money.  She also dreams of opening a bakery someday as she is an excellent baker.  Sarah gets help from family and church friends to help with watching her children.  We also meet Elias who inherits his grandfathers boat and decides to give up his newspaper job to run the boat since he felt his grandfather wanted him to care for it.  We also meet the town blacksmith who grew up with Sarah and always had an interest in her.  Sarah has decided too many accidents have happened on the canal and she grew walking the mules on the trail.  She has bad meomeries of the canal and vws to get her kids out of there.  That means she will not marry a boatman.  She is asked by both Elias and the town blacksmith to marry.  What will she choose?  That's the choice Sarah has to make.

I have read a lot of Wanda Brunstetter's books.  They have all been about the Amish, so this one was a little different for me.  I had a hard time reading at first for several reasons.  First, there was nothing to tell you that she was changing scenes.  Like in the beginning it goes from meeting Sarah and her kids to meeting Elias with his family.  That may be because this is an advanced copy of the book, but that took me a little while to get used to that happening.  I also was kind of lost when she started talking about mules leading the boats.  This could be because I did not read the previous books in the series.  I did learn about the canal from reading this book though.  I also liked how this was a romance but without all the romance.  The characters did not really spend a lot of time together but fell in love.  I really liked this book.  It was a quick read once I got into it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for allowing me to read this book.  I was given the galley to read but not paid for this review.   The book comes out on December 1st.  I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy Wanda Brunstetter's other books.

Book Review-Seek Me With All your Heart

Seek Me With All Your Heart is the first book in a new series, Land of Canaan, by Beth Wiseman.  I have been waiting for this book to come out every since I read the last book of the Daughters of the Promise series.  In that book we learn that several of the characters are going to move to Colorado to start over and go where there is more farm land.  We learn the reason for those moves in this book.  We also meet the Detweiler family who move to Canaan for their own reasons.  There are several stories going on in the book, but I think the main one was the story of Emily and David.  David was a character from another The Daughters of the Promise series who feels he can never marry because he had a kidney transplant and it he might not live a long life and Emily is an new character who we learn was raped and her family moved to get away from the situation.  Emily feels she is unworthy to marry because of the rape.  David and Emily have a rocky beginning but soon become good friends.    When that friendship feels more like love what will they do since both have decided marriage is not the route for them?  You will find out in this book.

I really enjoyed getting to see the characters from the Daughters of the Promise series and really enjoyed meeting the new characters as well.  I have waited so long to find out why they decided to leave all they knew and loved to go to Canaan.  I did have some issues with the rape storyline.  I thought the Amish did not take people to court.  They tried to handle things in their communities.  So, that part of the story had me wondering a little. I did like how her parents handled the rape.  In other Amish fiction stories I've read, it felt like the parents would not even believe the girl. Other than that I totally loved the book and would recommend it to people who love Amish fiction. I look forward to reading more in this series. This is the first book I have bought for my Kindle for Android and I really enjoyed reading it that way.

October Gone! November Reads...

I have been so busy with my kids that my reading time has not been as much as I would like it to be.  November is half over too.  I got a lot read in October, but only have a few November reads.  A lot of things that  wanted to read over on Netgalley got poofed away.  So, here's my plan for November. 

Seek Me With All Your Heart- Beth Wiseman
The Thorn- Beverly Lewis
Shadows of Lancaster County- Mindy Starns Clark
Sarah's Choice- Wanda Brunstetter