A Season of Love by Amy Clipston book review

A Season of Love by Amy Clipston

Kauffman Amish Bakery series Book 5 

Book Review

In the fifth and final novel of the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series, three young women are about to change their lives. Lizzie Anne and Samuel have decided to get married, and Lindsay is about to be baptized in the Amish faith and is courting Matthew. While Katie Kauffman is happy for her friends who seem to have settled their futures, she is also finding herself something of a fifth wheel.When Lindsay's sister Jessica returns to Bird-in-Hand, she finds that Jake Miller has moved on with his life. He lost hope that Jessica would ever be satisfied to settle in rural Pennsylvania and takes comfort in becoming close friends with Katie. However, it's not an easy road as Jake is Mennonite and Katie has just been baptized in the Amish faith. Her father forbids them to see each other, adamant that his daughter marry an Amish man. A Season of Love is filled with surprising twists that will grip you to the very last words. As the stories of your favorite Amish community draw to a close, join Lindsay, her friends, and all the people of Bird-In-Hand for one last volume.

What I loved:  This book was such a sweet ending to the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series by Amy Clipston.  I felt like I was having coffee and Whoppie pies with old friends as I read.    Lizzie Anne and Lindsay seem to have everything going right for them and Katie seems to have so much conflict in her life.  I appreciated the honesty of Katie's feelings and the very real issues she faces with her strict and unrelenting parents, particularly her father.  

What I didn't like:  To be honest,  I hated for it to end when it did.  I won't spoil anything for readers but I wanted more!  I wanted to know what happened next for the characters I had grown to love and cherish!   Also, and this is a technical issue; I was reading on Adobe Digital Reader and it cut off the top portion of each page.  I could make it out enough but it was irritating.  I have read other books on this same reader and did not have this issue.   I also do not like the practice of "shunning" practiced by the Amish and this was carried out in the book.   I do not think it shows a forgiving nature and that is supposed to be a hallmark of the Amish culture and faith.    My heart hurt for the characters dealing with being shunned or their former family members having experienced it in the past.  

An Added Bonus:  Through out the book, each chapter features a recipe from the Kauffman Amish Bakery.   So we can all cook up some of our favorite Amish goodies and enjoy them while we read our next Amish fiction!   

My recommendation:  *****5 Stars!!  Read this book.  You won't be disappointed.  You will be left with a "feel good" emotion when you finish.   Thank you, Amy Clipston, for another wonderful book!  

About the Author

Amy has contracted for six full-length Kauffman books and two Christmas novellas. A Promise of Hope is book #2 in the series and was followed by A Place of Peace. Book #4, A Life of Joy, will debut in October 2011, followed by Books #5 and #6 in 2012 and 2013. The first Christmas novella, A Plain & Simple Christmas, hit bookshelves in 2010, and Naomi’s Gift: An Amish Christmas Story will be out in August 2011.

All of the books in my Kauffman Amish Bakery series have achieved the Christian Fiction bestseller lists, including the CBA (Christian Book Association) bestseller list and the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller list.

She loves writing about the Amish, and an Amish friend in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, reads her manuscripts for accuracy. Amy was always fascinated with the Amish when she was a child. She remembers visiting Lancaster County, and her father, who was a German immigrant, told her that the Amish speak the same dialect of German as my relatives. She was drawn to their simplicity and faith. Due to her own German heritage, she feels a loose connection to the Amish and their culture.

Her plots come straight from her heart and all involve family issues intertwined with faith.

Her website:  http://www.amyclipston.com

To buy her book:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_11/176-2385350-5043746?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=a+season+of+love+by+amy+clipston&sprefix=A+Season+of%2Cstripbooks%2C153

To read a sample of A Season of Love:  http://media.zondervan.com/media/samples/pdf/9780310319979_samptxt.pdf

To listen to an audio sample:  http://zondervan.com/9780310413103

I received a free copy of this book through netgalley and Zondervan publishing in exchange for my honest review.