Amish Fiction Book Review: An Amish Barn Raising: Three Stories

About the Book

Title: An Amish Barn Raising: Three Stories 

Authors: Amy Clipston, Kelly Irvin, Kathleen Fuller 

Genre: Amish Fiction/Amish Romance 

Publisher: Zondervan 

Release Date: April 6, 2021

Click here to purchase a copy of this book.

Publisher's Book Description 

“From bestselling authors in the Amish genre come three sweet stories centered around Amish traditions and the possibility of romance.  

Building a Dream by Amy Clipston 

Though they’ve known each other a long time, Kathryn and Anthony have finally decided to try  

becoming more than friends—but they are devastated when Kathryn’s father won’t allow them to date. He wants his daughter to m 

arry a man with a more respectable job than building gazebos for Englishers. But when Kathryn’s father’s dairy barn burns down during a thunderstorm, Anthony is the one to arrange a barn raising. Will Kathryn’s father realize he has misjudged Anthony? 

To Raise a Home by Kelly Irvin 

A year after the wildfires, life has returned to normal for the West Kootenai Amish community. Evan Eicher, son of Deacon Tobias Eicher, has done his best to move on too. Helping his neighbors and friends rebuild has helped soothe a heart broken when Delilah Mast—the woman he loves but never had the courage to approach—moved with her family back to Kansas. At his father’s urging he courts Anna Burkholder, a sweet woman who adores him. But when Delilah moves back to teach school, Evan must wrestle with feelings he’s tried so hard to put in the past. And an accident at a barn raising will force Anna, Delilah, and Evan to face the truth about their hearts. 

Love’s Solid Foundation by Kathleen Fuller 

Devon Bontrager only returned to his old hometown to make good on a past misdeed. He hadn’t counted on reconnecting with Nettie Yoder, especially since she strung along his younger twin brothers some years ago. Nettie knows she’s made some mistakes in the past, but she’s determined to be an asset to her community from now on. But just as she’s making headway, her family’s barn burns to the ground. Why does it seem like God is punishing her family when she’s finally starting to turn her life around? Can she convince Devon that she has changed? Can Devon trust the woman who broke his brothers’ hearts?”

 

My Review

An Amish Barn Raising is a tenderhearted novella collection featuring stories by Amy Clipston, Kelly Irvin, and Kathleen Fuller. Three different Amish communities form the backdrops for these touching tales of family, loss, love, and second chances. Page after page, this book offers moving stories of faith and forgiveness with themes of community, barn raising, and hope threaded throughout each novella. 
 

In all three of these novellas, the authors have crafted uplifting stories that are thoughtful and engaging. Swiftly invested in the plot of each novella, I was easily drawn to the characters within each story. These characters are interesting and authentic. With faithful perseverance, they confront their own insecurities, misunderstandings, and heartaches. They pursue forgiveness, nurture humility, and endeavor to find contentment in the grace and goodness of God. Their honest struggles as well as their desire to do what is right are thoroughly meaningful and encouraging. There is also a relevant harmony among these three stories as they each affirm the value of grace, kindness, faith, family, and community. 
 

An Amish Barn Raising is a special, inspirational book with three edifying stories that will certainly delight and entertain Amish fiction fans. Enriching and heartwarming from start to finish, I gladly recommend this book to all readers. 

 

*I was given a copy of this book by the author. A review was not required. The review I have written is voluntary and contains opinions that are entirely my own.

About the Authors

  

Amy Clipston

"Amy Clipston has been writing for as long as she can remember. Her fiction writing "career" began in elementary school when she and a close friend wrote and shared silly stories. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and is a member of the Authors Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery series with Zondervan, which is part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. An advocate for organ and blood donation, Amy donated a kidney in 2011 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Through her donation, her husband received a second kidney transplant. Amy and her husband matched another couple and swapped kidneys with them. Amy's memoir, A Gift of Love, will be available in early 2014. She hopes her story inspires others to become organ and blood donors. Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, mother, and four spoiled rotten cats.” --Biography from Amy Clipston’s author page on Amazon.com.

Click here to visit Amy Clipston's website. 

Kelly Irvin

"Best-selling novelist Kelly Irvin's latest series, The Amish of Sky Country, features an Amish community in Northwest Montana affected by wildfires that destroyed thousands of acres in the state in recent years. The first book, Mountains of Grace, debuted in August 2019, and delves into the impact on not only an Amish man and woman, but also a smoke jumper, a sheriff's deputy, and a young English woman forced to confront her past because of the fires.  

 
Kelly also writes romantic suspense novels. Her most recent forays into this genre include Tell Her No Lies and Over the Line, both set in San Antonio and South Texas. Of Tell Her No Lies, The Library Journal says, "Irvin creates a complex web with enough twists and turns to keep even the most savvy romantic suspense readers guessing until the end. Known for her Amish novels, this two-time Carol Award finalist shows that her talents span subgenres from tranquil Amish stories to rapidly paced breathless suspense." 
 
Kelly is also the author of the Every Amish Season series, which included four books that chronicle the lives of Amish widows who are in different seasons in their lives. These women are linked by life altering experiences that bring them together as wives, mothers, and grandmothers in the small town of Jamesport, Mo. The first book, Upon a Spring Breeze, received critical acclaim from the Library Journal: "A moving and compelling tale about the power of grace and forgiveness that reminds us how we become strongest in our most broken moments." 
 
Kelly Irvin is also the author of The Amish of Bee County series, which includes the critically acclaimed The Beekeeper's Son. Publishers Weekly called the first book in the series a beautifully woven masterpiece and Romantic Times Magazine called Kelly a storyteller extraordinaire. It was followed by The Bishop's Son and The Saddle Maker's Son, which is an ECPA bestseller. 
 
A two-time ACFW Carol finalist, Kelly's novellas have been included in numerous anthologies, including An Amish Summer, The Amish Christmas Gift, An Amish Market, an Amish Christmas Love, and Amish Quilt, An Amish Reunion, An Amish Picnic, and An Amish Christmas Bakery. 
 
She also penned the Bliss Creek Amish series and the New Hope Amish series, both published by Harvest House Publishers. Love Still Stands, the first book in the New Hope series, debuted in September 2012, and the follow-up, Love Redeemed, released March 1, 2014. The final book in the series, set in Branson, MO., was A Plain Love Song, released in July 2014.  
 
The Bliss Creek Amish series, set in Kansas, includes To Love and to Cherish, A Heart Made New, and Love's Journey Home.  
 
In the New Hope series, familiar characters from Bliss Creek move to Missouri to start a new district and a new life. 
 
Kelly is also the author of two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine, set in San Antonio, Texas. Two more romantic suspense novels are on the horizon, with the first, Tell Her No Lies, slated for publication by Thomas Nelson Publishing in January 2019. 
 
 
The Kansas native is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and the ACFW San Antonio local chapter Alamo City Christian Fiction Writers, as well as Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Sisters in Crime.  
 
A graduate of the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism, Kelly wrote nonfiction professionally for thirty years. She studied for three semesters at the University of Costa Rica, learning the Spanish language. As a journalist, she worked six years in the border towns of Laredo and El Paso, where she was exposed to culture and language that serves as fodder for her fiction writing. She has written hard news, features, entertainment pieces, restaurant critiques, editorials, and weekly columns. Writing awards include the Silver Star Award from the Texas Mental Health Association for articles pertaining to mental health and numerous awards in news, feature, and editorial writing from the Texas Press Association and Texas Press Women. 
 
Kelly retired in 2016 from her position of 22 years as public relations manager for the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department, where her duties included writing and designing an employee newsletter, writing news releases, collaborating on marketing campaigns, coordinating ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings, coordinating press conferences, updating the web site, and acting as a media spokesperson.  
 
Kelly has been married to photographer Tim Irvin for more than 30 years, and they have two young adult children and three grandchildren. In her spare time, she likes to write short stories, read books by her favorite authors, and visit the babies.” --Biography from Kelly Irvin’s author page on Amazon.com.

Click here to visit Kelly Irvin's website. 

Kathleen Fuller 

“Kathleen Fuller is a best-selling author of Amish fiction. She is also a wife, mother, crafter, coffee addict, football fan, and chocolate aficionado.” --Biography from Kathleen Fuller’s author page on Amazon.com.

Click here to visit Kathleen Fuller's website.