Review: An Amish Second Christmas

Book Description 

 "Celebrate Second Christmas, a treasured, lighthearted time of community, with four Amish romances.

 “When Christmas Comes Again” by Beth Wiseman
 Katherine knows the first Christmas without Elias will be hard for her and the children. But when a mysterious Englischer appears with photographs of her late husband, Katherine begins to wonder what other blessings Christmas could have in store.

 “Her Christmas Pen Pal” by Ruth Reid
 Joy was expecting a wedding proposal from Henry; what she got instead was news of another woman. But when her heartfelt letter to a cousin ends up in the hands of a young cabinetmaker, an unexpected correspondence between two strangers gets interesting fast. 


“A Gift for Anne Marie” by Kathleen Fuller
 Anne Marie and Nathaniel have been best friends since they were kids. Now things are evolving . . . in ways everyone else predicted long ago. But when her mother suddenly decides to remarry in another state, Anne Marie’s new chapter with Nathaniel looks doomed to end before it begins.

 “The Christmas Aprons” by Tricia Goyer
 Vanilla crumb pie has been Esther’s mem’s calling card for decades. But when Esther finally gets her hands on the secret recipe, she discovers that vanilla crumb pie is more than just dessert . . . it’s bachelor bait.

An Amish Second Christmas contains 4 novellas from 4 talented authors.  As the name implies, Amish families celebrate two Christmases and the main part of each of these stories takes place on Second Christmas.  Each of the stories have a bit of sadness in them, but the main focus is on hope, joy, and of course romance popping up in unexpected places.  Sometimes God's blessings are not what we expect and always God will bring something good out of everything.

I thought the stories would be a bit more connected to each other.  Usually in these novellas, there are mentions of similar characters in each one and I didn't really notice that here.  But each story makes a great stand alone novel and there are intertwined by the Second Christmas theme.  My favorite story of the four was Tricia Goyer's The Christmas Aprons.  I started out really enjoying When Christmas Comes Again, as it had a very different plot from most Amish romance novels, but I have to admit I did not like the unanswered questions at the end.  A Gift For Anne Marie was a bit confusing to me. It contained characters with some of the same names and several details in An Amish Christmas, A Choice to Forgive, (too many to be a coincidence) but it was written by a different author, and a few of the names and several important details were different.  Her Christmas Pen Pal was a great story with love showing up in an unexpected way, but I have read a similar story by a different author.

Overall, I very much enjoyed reading An Amish Second Christmas.  It will be a great holiday read this year.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.