Rhonda's Doings !

Thursday's Bride by Patricia Johns Book Description: For a proper young Amish widow struggling to begin again, encountering her reckless first love will test her forgiveness, resolve--and heart . . . Overwhelmed by grief and tending twin baby daughters, Rosmanda Lapp is without options. She still blames her brother-in-law, Levi, for her husband's accidental death--but she and her aging in-laws need him to keep their farm going. Yet as Levi takes on his responsibilities with a new determination and steadiness, she can't help but regret that she chose his serious-minded brother over him. For Levi is still very much the passionate man she loved--and Rosmanda now has even more reasons to keep him at arm's length . . . Levi can't blame Rosmanda for staying clear of him. He has mistakes to make up for and must finally do right by his parents. Still, he never got over his brother stealing Rosmanda away. And he can't deny the feelings that even now tempt them back...

Loving Jenna (Wells Landing #8) by Amy Lillard Book Description: In this new series set in the beloved Oklahoma Amish community of Wells Landing, three generations of women challenge themselves and each other to make a fresh start in faith, family—and love. Jenna Burkhart is tired of being “special” and hearing about what she can't do. Even though she suffered a head injury in a childhood swimming accident, she wants a life of her own just like any Amish woman. But now that she, her mamm, and her mammi have moved to Wells Landing, she's having a hard time fitting in. . . . Until she meets Buddy Miller, a boy just like her, who gives her the confidence to reach for the impossible . . . Like Jenna, Buddy is used to being the boy no one expects much from, the one people see as “different.” Still, being around Jenna’s lively, kind-hearted ways makes him strive ever-harder to become the self-sufficient Amish man she deserves. But in the face of family disapproval and the...

A Christmas Haven  (An Amish Christmas Romance #2) by Cindy Woodsmall & Erin Woodsmall Book Description: Old Order Amish Ivy Zook is wrestling with her need to shed her community's ways so she can grow the business of her dreams: planning parties.  As long as she's stuck living without modernization, she can barely get her business on its feet. But if she leaves too soon, she'd cause trouble for her sister, Holly, who is planning her wedding to Joshua Smucker.  All of their plans become twice as complicated when an old car crashes into the storefront of Greene's Pharmacy, carrying a Swartzentruber (Ultra-conservative order of Amish) Amish man, Arlan, and his very ill sister. The Zooks take in Arlan and Magda, tending to the woman's illness and Arlan begins helping around the family farm.  Ivy and Arlan are on different tracks, one wanting to leave her community and the other wanting to return to his. But both young people are trying to discover what God ...

The Bake Shop (An Amish Marketplace Novel #1) by Amy Clipston Return to Lancaster County with the first installment of Amy Clipston's charming new Amish Marketplace series. Christiana Kurtz loves to bake, but when her bake stand becomes too busy, her mother encourages her to move her business to the local market. Her new bake shop becomes so inundated with customers that the line blocks the leather and woodcraft shop next door, which is run by Jeffrey Stoltzfus. When Jeffrey complains that her stand is driving away business due to the lines, she complains to him that his personalization machine smells. Though their relationship starts off on bad footing, they eventually forge a friendship. When Christiana’s father makes a surprise visit to the market, he is upset to find that Jeffrey uses the building’s electricity to personalize his items. He tells Christiana that Jeffrey is too modern for her, and she’s forbidden from dating him. Christiana is crushed, but she knows she...

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 Faithful Gathering  (The Sisters of Lancaster County #3) by Leslie Gould Book Description: Leisel Bachmann left her Amish roots and beloved sisters to pursue a career in medicine without a second thought. She has an Englisch boyfriend, Nick Jordan, and dreams of a new life--but those dreams come crashing down when her sister Marie is diagnosed with cancer. Soon nothing is going as she planned--not her state boards, not her first nursing job, and certainly not her relationship with Nick. As she becomes increasingly discouraged, her aunt shares the story of Leisel's grandfather during World War II and the struggle he faced between returning to Lancaster or being with the woman he loved. Peace and a vision for the future are difficult to find, and when Nick leaves Pennsylvania for a completely new life, Leisel is faced with impossible choices. Will she stay in Lancaster, close to her family and the traditions of her past? Or learn from her grandfather's story and embrac...

Words from the Heart (An Amish Letters novel #3) by Kathleen Fuller Book Description: Her fingertips brushed against something else in the box of doilies. She lifted a bundle of letters, neatly tied with a thin red ribbon . . . Ivy Yoder hasn’t heard from John King in over a year. She knows it’s time to let go of the idea that they will one day marry, but she’s humiliated to be one of the oldest single women in her Amish community of Birch Creek. When quirky Cevilla Schlabach asks her to help clean out an attic, Ivy is grateful for the distraction. Noah Schlabach isn’t from Birch Creek, or even Ohio. His job as an auctioneer takes him around the country and away from a typical Amish life, but he still remains devoted to his family. So when his aging aunt asks him to help clean out her attic, he agrees. Plus, who knows what curious items he might find up there?  As Noah and Ivy work side by side, they come across a different kind of treasure: a packet of letters writt...

A Simple Singing  (The Sisters of Lancaster County #2) by Leslie Gould Book Description:  For years Marie Bachmann thought of herself as the "good" daughter. She was the most loving to their mother, the most dedicated to their Amish way of life. But when a Mennonite farmhand, Gordon Martin, shows interest in her she can't help but be flattered--until her mother sends her off to Florida. While there, Marie begins spending time with bad-boy Eli Jacob, the bishop's son from back home. When Gordon shows up in Florida to volunteer in a homeless shelter, her life becomes even more complicated. At the same time her aunt begins telling her of a Civil War-era ancestor and the woman's uncommon bravery . . . a story that begins to work at Marie's heart. Marie hopes returning home may simplify life, but Eli soon follows. As Marie grapples with whether she should court Eli or leave the church for Gordon, the story of Annie Bachmann shines a light...

A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill (The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill #8) by Jennifer Beckstrand Book Description:   There's nothing Huckleberry Hill, Wisconsin’s irrepressible eighty-somethings Anna and Felty Helmuth like better than a challenge. And the chance to matchmake their feisty granddaughter is their most delightful task yet… Elsie Helmuth’s plain-spoken ways got her in trouble once before, so she needs to make a good impression at her new teaching job in Huckleberry Hill. But she's not about to let disabled student Wally Sensenig work below his potential. And she definitely won’t put up with his hot-headed older brother sabotaging her efforts, no matter how handsome he is...  Sam is nearly at the end of his rope caring for his ailing, widowed mother, working their farm, and raising his siblings. He'll admit Elsie’s ideas are bringing Wally out of his angry shell — but why does she have to be as stubborn as she is pretty? Yet as it turns out, E...

Plain Retribution  (Amish Country Justice #2 ) by Dana R. Lynn Book Description AMISH ABDUCTION  Ten years ago while on rumspringa, Rebecca Miller and her friends were kidnapped and held captive…and now, living in the English world, she's nearly abducted again. One by one her friends who once helped send their abductor to jail are targeted, and she is next…unless police officer Miles Olsen can stop a killer. Deaf since birth, the only person on the force that Rebecca can communicate with is Miles, and he needs this case to redeem himself of past mistakes. When the relentless killer tracks them deep into the heart of Amish country, protecting Rebecca must be Miles's sole focus. Because a mistake this time will cost something worth more to him than his job—the woman he's falling for. MY BOOK REVIEW:   This is my first book by Dana R. Lynn but it won't be my last.  Even though this is the second book in a series, I read it as a standalone....