Christmas in Sugarcreek by Shelley Shepard Gray

Finally, an Amish Christmas book that actually involves more than a few pages of Christmas in the entire novel. While it wasn't a great book, it was an easy nice read and did have that Christmas feel to it.

This book somewhat centers around three different couples. The main couple, Ben and Judith, are thrown together when he comes to work at her store. Initially wary of him because of his past teasing in school, Judith isn't sure what to think but working with him starts to change her feelings. And Ben, well he's always thought Judith was perfect. To a smaller extent, there were two other couples featured as well. Rebecca is being pursued by Judith's brother Caleb, but she has a secret she isn't so sure she wants him to know. And finally, Lilly and her new husband are adjusting to life as Mennonites, a compromise between her Englisher and his Amish heritage. But she always feels like she isn't good enough for him, and knows that his family doesn't like her as well. But she wants so desperately to have a happy Christmas.

The characters were average in this book. I liked Judith but wasn't as thrilled with Ben. Sure he seemed compelling with his dark past, but he actually wasn't all that interesting. I just couldn't see the spark between them at all even though I was rooting for them to get together. The other characters in the other stories were also a little underdeveloped, and to be honest, I had trouble keeping them straight sometimes.

There was a lot going on in this book with the three different romances. In fact, it got confusing and I would have much preferred that the book focused only on Ben and Judith. There was enough material to work with that Gray could have written three books if need be. And there's was the most compelling romance. To throw them all together just wasn't a wise choice in this case. But they were nice heartwarming stories, and the writing was easy to read. Since it was Amish fiction it had just a touch of religion in it and you can be sure there wasn't anything offensive. A pretty tame read in other words. Which is nice sometimes. I do also like how Christmas was incorporated into this book. Too often its titled as being involved but then never really gets put into the story.

A nice read. Very pleasant and easy going. Its a good book for if you just want to relax or have some brain candy to take your mind off things.

Christmas in Sugarcreek
Copyright 211
245 pages

Wanted by Shelley Shepard Gray

My grandma and I seem to pass Amish books back and forth and when she gave me this one I was more than happy to start reading. A light Amish romance it has the usual components of these novels, but still is a lovely read. Technically the 2nd book in the series, you don't really need to read the first book first, as this one stands alone quite well.

Katie has some dark secrets in her past; things that she has done that she is not proud of during her time of rumspringa (Amish teens chance to see the English world). But she's put that behind her now and has nursed a secret crush on handsome widower Jonathan. He still pines away for his wife but when an opportunity arises for Katie to stay and take care of his children, things brew between the two of them that are unexpected. Katie knows she wants him, but isn't sure that he is ready to love her in return.

Katie's a great character. A bit dramatic at times but I realize that in my view, things the Amish view as very bad really aren't so bad at all so I need to think about that while reading. Jonathan I didn't find as likable of a character but he served his purpose as Katie's love interest. I did like his two daughters, they had a lot of personality and really added to the book, giving small problems here and there to keep it interesting.

The plot was actually pretty standard, I've seen the same in other Amish books. But there were enough little differences to make it seem its own and I still enjoyed it quite a bit. There were a couple of little plot twists that were resolved far too easily in my opinion, but I do have to keep in mind that this is a romance. Like most Amish books out there, it could be considered Christian fiction but it was not overly preachy and more used the nuances of religion as describing the Amish way of life.

Not a bad Amish book. I'll definitely check out more by this author.

Wanted
Copyright 2009
241 pages