Christmas in Apple Ridge: Three-in-One Collection: The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing, NEW! The Dawn of Christmas by
Cindy Woodsmall
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
Three great books written by one of my favorite authors Cindy Woodsmall. I have never read a bad book from Cindy Woodsmall and all three of the novels included in this book are 5 star stories. They follow the lives of 5 different couples, I will only write of the main 3 couples though, you must read the books to know the rest, in the fictional Amish settlement of Apple Ridge, their ups and downs and finding love in just the right mate.
The Sound of Sleigh Bells is about trusting God after suffering a drastic loss, for Beth this was the loss of her fiancé to death, for Jonah it is the loss of 2 fingers and full use of his leg in a sleigh accident. When they both finally meet it is the loss of trust and believing in themselves. Beth is a no nonsense business woman who sells Amish crafts in her dry goods store. She also finds other Amish and English stores to buy and sell her Amish clients goods. While on a buying trip she steps into Pete's antiques and it changes her life. She finds a hand-carved piece that speaks to her and haunts her dreams after she purchases it. she must find a way to help "the old man" sell his carvings. She sends her aunt and namesake to talk to him and try to convince Jonah and her bishop to allow her to sell his beautiful carvings. Jonah called the "old Man" by Pete because of his wisdom, carving talent and use of a cane is actually Beth's age. Jonah is talked into writing to Beth, thinking she is her older Aunt Lizzy. Lizzy talks her niece Beth into writing to the "old man" whose carvings speak to her because the carvings have brought life back into her beloved niece’s life. They write to each other not knowing that they are actually the same age, Lizzy is torn by her deception and tries to get Jonah to meet Beth, hoping they will at least be friends. It all backfires and Jonah thinks Beth is in on the deception and he vows not to write her anymore, yet he is drawn. When Beth shows up at Jonah's house to convince him to sell his items she too leans of the deception. They vow to never speak again even though they both have fallen in love with their pen pal. By trusting God can Beth and Jonah find healing from their losses and love in each other or will they live their lives never knowing if they were each other’s true love?
The Christmas Singing is about forgiveness of yourself, others and even God. Mattie an absent minded forgetful Amish woman is broken hearted over her love since childhood Gideon, who she catches with an Englisher woman on Christmas Eve, which is also her birthday. She moves to Berlin, Ohio and opens up her own business Mattie Cakes. She thinks she has found happiness in her thriving business and her new beau Sol. She isn't romantically in love with Sol but he is safe and would never break her heart the way Gideon did. Gideon is hiding a deep and deadly secret from his whole Amish community, his reason for allowing Mattie to believe he was in love with an English woman and cheating on her. He tries hard to keep the secret but he always fears that the illness that took his English friend, the one Mattie caught him with, will take his life as well. When Absent minded Mattie's cake shop burns to the ground, possibly at her own forgetful hand, she moves back home to Apple Ridge and is faced with Gideon. Will she be able to forgive herself for possibly leaving her journal on the wood stove, and forgive Gideon for breaking her heart and be able to become his friend or maybe more... Read this awesome book by Cindy Woodsmall and find out.
Third book included in this collection is The Dawn of Christmas where Sadie and Levi must overcome distrust of love and the opposite sex if they are ever to have families of their own. Sadie finds her fiancé Daniel in the arms of her beautiful cousin on the eve of their wedding. Daniel and Aquilla both claim it was innocent and not what Sadie believes she saw. The Brim Amish community believes Daniel and Aquilla but Sadie's father believes her and allows her to move away and heal from the devastation. Levi watched his brother suffer through his wife leaving him and his young son for no apparent reason and his friend and business partner Daniel, yes Sadie's Daniel, was jilted on the eve of his wedding, now Levi swears never to marry, women are to untrustworthy. Four years later on the 4th of July Sadie is called to Apple Ridge where her Mammi Lee lives. After fighting with her family Sadie is "grounded" to her grandmother’s house while her parents are out. Levi is tired of his family trying to set him up and agrees to go to a singing, only to get them to leave him alone. He leaves early bareback on the horse he has trained, little does he know the horse is petrified of fireworks and upon hearing them goes crazy, Levi is thrown and injured. Sadie is good at listening to God, just not her parents so she heads out on her grandmas horse. On her ride she becomes disoriented and finds the injured Levi. She rescues him by calling 911 and while waiting for the ambulance they talk and strike up a friendship. How far will this friendship go? Will they ever trust each other enough for a real friendship? Will Daniel come back into Sadie's life? If he does will he be a help or a hindrance? I won't tell but the book will.
Read this three book collection and you will find out what happens to these 3 main couples and a few more. I really love how the couples are not in just their main book but in all 3 books so you see how their lives are intertwined and how the Amish community supports them or hinders them. They all have a clean, family oriented story line that is safe and enjoyable for all to read. I loved these 3 stories so much I am searching to see if Cindy has written anymore books based in Apple Ridge. Join me and read all of her great books.
View all my reviews
My Amish Childhood: A True Story of Faith, Family, and the Simple Life by Jerry S. Eicher
