The Amish Christmas Kitchen

September 5, 2016
Kensington offers a tasting menu of Christmas baking–themed Amish romance novellas, complete with
companion recipes, from two of their established series authors, plus their newest debut. Long’s “Baking Love on Ice Mountain” blooms with cautious sweetness as a reclusive young widow slowly embraces the idea that God wants her to have joy again, even if her suitor is her late husband’s best friend. Beckstrand’s joyful, nearly slapstick “The Christmas Bakery on Huckleberry Hill” features wily grandparents and an overenthusiastic goat helping a clumsy but good-hearted poet win the heart of a young woman who thinks her only escape route out of spinsterhood is via an unpleasant, intimidating fellow who hates her cooking. But Baker’s “The Special Christmas Cookie” falls deeply into saccharine territory with the story of a little boy who needs heart surgery, his doting tutor, and his older brother, whose pride in caring for his family makes it hard for him to accept the generosity of a charity cookie auction. Readers will be eager to pick up Long and Beckstrand’s backlists; the other tale is less compelling.

October 15, 2016

The life of the Amish takes on a warm (and delicious) glow as three winning couples find their way to love in this food-focused anthology by a talented team of authors. A lonely young widow lets go of the past and reaches for happiness with her late husband's best friend in Long's poignant "Baking Love on Ice Mountain"; a couple's plan to see their 24-year-old daughter wed takes an unexpected turn when she falls for a gentleman who is not the intended groom in Jennifer Beckstrand's delectable "The Christmas Bakery on Huckleberry Hill"; and a charity auction to save the life of a young boy sparks conflict and attraction between the child's teacher and his stubborn older brother in Lisa Jones Baker's heartfelt "The Special Christmas Cookie." VERDICT Tender, redolent of nutmeg and cinnamon, and graced by the occasional goat, this trio of smile-inducing romances will appeal to inspirational fiction and Amish culture fans, while bakers will appreciate the recipes at the end of each story. Long, Beckstrand, and Baker live in Hummelstown, PA; Centerville, UT; and Bloomington, IL, respectively.

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