Rhonda's Doings !

Strong families. Caring communities. The nearly nine in ten youth who join the church. How do the Amish do it? In  Amish Voices , Amish writers share news and advice from their communities and reflect on their daily lives, work, and faith. Brad Igou, publisher of  Amish Country News , gives readers a behind-the-scenes tour of Amish life by compiling writing from  Family Life , a popular monthly magazine that thousands of Amish people read. Learn about how the Amish began and what they value. Hear what they think about technology, happiness, community, obedience, success, and change. Listen in as they discuss shunning and rumspringa and forgiveness. Find out what sustains them in difficult seasons, and how they try to trust God in all things. Why learn about the Amish from outsiders when you can learn from the Amish themselves? And why just learn  about  them when you can learn  from  them? MY BOOK REVIEW:    4 Stars: 4/5 stars This boo...

Andrew  (The Petersheim Brothers #1) by Jennifer Beckstrand Book Description: Andrew, Abraham, and Austin Petersheim’s family business has earned them the nickname The Peanut Butter Brothers. But if their matchmaking younger siblings have their way, all three may soon bear another title: husband . . .   Handsome, hardworking, and godly, Andrew Petersheim has always been sure of his place in his Wisconsin Amish community. He’ll be a welcome catch for the local girl who finally captures his heart. Mary Coblenz certainly isn’t that girl. Two years after “jumping the fence” for the  Englischer  world, she’s returned, unmarried and pregnant. Yet instead of hiding in shame as others in the community expect, she’s working at the Honeybee Farm, ignoring the gossips—and winning over Andrew’s eight-year-old twin brothers . . . For all Andrew’s certainty about right and wrong, it seems he has a lot to learn from Mary’s courage, grace, and resilience. She’s...

A sweet tooth for murder . . .   Bailey King’s in New York wrapping up a six-week shoot on her first cable TV show,  Bailey’s Amish Sweets,  when she gets a call from her Ohio town’s resident busybody. With Easter around the corner, Bailey’s been recruited to create a giant toffee bunny for the weeklong springtime festival that will also feature live white rabbits. But back home in Harvest, death becomes the main attraction when Stephen Raber keels over from an apparent heart attack—with Bailey and Raber’s pet bunny as witnesses. .  Except it wasn’t Raber’s heart that suddenly gave out—a lethal dose of lily of the valley was mixed into a tasty piece of toffee. Who’d want to poison a jovial rabbit farmer who reminded Bailey of an Amish Santa Claus? To solve the murder, she and her sheriff deputy boyfriend Aiden must uncover a twenty-year-old secret. She’ll need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep a healthy distance from toxic people, including one venomou...

It could have been me. Snow whirls around an elevated train platform in Chicago. A distracted woman boards the train, takes her seat, and moments later a fiery explosion rips through the frigid air, tearing the car apart in a horrific attack on the city’s transit system. One life is spared. Twenty-two are lost. A year later, Autumn Manning can’t remember the day of the bombing and she is tormented by grief—by guilt. Twelve months of the question constantly echoing.  Why? Why? Why? Searching for answers, she haunts the lives of the victims, unable to rest.  Paul Elliott lost his wife in the train bombing and wants to let the dead rest in peace, undisturbed and unable to cause more pain for his loved ones. He wants normalcy for his twelve-year-old daughter and young son, to see them move beyond the heartbreak. But when the Elliotts and Autumn are unexpectedly forced together, he fears she’ll bring more wreckage in her wake.  In  Life After , Katie Ganshert’s most com...

WHAT YOU  DO  WITH AN OBSESSION COUNTS "I, KARENNA ELIZABETH Ashe, being of sound mind, do…  But that’s it, isn’t it? Being here proves I am not of sound mind… ” So begins Book 1 of the  Pride’s Children  trilogy: Kary immediately regrets the misplaced sense of  noblesse oblige  which compels her to appear, live on national television—at exorbitant personal cost. What she cannot anticipate is an entanglement with Hollywood that may destroy her carefully-constructed solitudinarian life. A contemporary mainstream love story, in the epic tradition of  Jane Eyre , and Dorothy L. Sayers’ four-novel bond between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane,  Pride’s Children  starts with a very public chance encounter, and will eventually stretch over three separate continents. MY THOUGHTS:     2 Stars:  2 /5 rating scale I could not get into this book and did not particularly enjoy it.  Too much seemed to be goin...

New Compilation of the Recipes that Bring the Amish Together   Brand new, from  New York Times  bestselling author of Amish fiction, Wanda E. Brunstetter, is a collection of over 200 recipes that are great for taking along and sharing where people meet to worship, work, and play. Included are tips for traveling with and serving food as well as personal stories of how gatherings are at the heart of the Amish community. The well-organized book boasts contributions from Amish and Mennonites from across the United States. Categories include Beverages, Snacks, Breads and Rolls, Salads, Side Dishes, Main Dishes, Desserts, and Feeding a Crowd. Encased in a lay-flat binding and presented in full color, home cooks from all backgrounds will want to add this cookbook to their collection.  Wanda E. Brunstetter’s Amish Friends Gatherings Cookbook  is sure to become a treasured resource. MY BOOK REVIEW: 5 Stars:  5/5 star rating Anyone who has ever tasted Am...

3 Short Stories of Love in a Unique Amish Community In an area of Pennsylvania called The Big Valley, a uniquely blended Amish community thrives in which 3 distinct groups of Amish identify themselves by the colors of their buggy’s top—white, black, or yellow. Join  New York Times  Bestselling Author Wanda E. Brunstetter, her daughter-in-law, and granddaughter in experiencing the stories of three young women who search for faith and love within this special place. Deanna is a widow who sees her second chance of love slipping away. Rose Mary is at a point in life where she must choose the path of her faith and the right man to walk with her on it. Leila is burdened with family responsibilities and wonders when she will ever start a family of her own. MY BOOK REVIEW: 5 stars for all 3 novellas:  5/5 star rating  Deanna's Determination by Wanda E. Brunstetter--the novella collection involves Mifflin County, Pennsylvania in the area known as the Big Valley. ...