Christmas in Apple Ridge: Three-in-One Collection: The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing, The Dawn of Christmas by Cindy Woodsmall

Christmas in Apple Ridge: Three-in-One Collection: The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing, The Dawn of Christmas by Cindy Woodsmall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those three in one type of books - three shorter stories contained in one larger book.I like Cindy Woodsmall's writing style, having read Plain Wisdom before.

The first story, the Sound of Sleigh Bells, was my least favorite. I didn't really like any of the characters and really hated the fact that the two main female characters, Beth & Lizzie, had very similar but obviously different names (which went along with the storyline, but I was constantly forgetting which one was the older aunt and which one was the younger one). Beth's big "secret" was very obvious to me from the very first page, and it drove me crazy that she was making such a big deal out of something so small (and add to that the fact that she was encouraged to lie about it, and that she agreed to keep quiet about the true details).

The other two stories were much more enjoyable and believable for me. I don't really like reading holiday specific books, but this one was pretty nice.

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Letters to Katie

Letters to Katie by Kathleen Fuller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is the 3rd one in a series, the first two of which I didn't read - something that drives me crazy. But in this case, the book was well written and was OK to read without the first two books in the series.

Katie has to chose between two men she's loved all of her life, and the book follows her decision from there. I love reading Amish romance stories - even though in general, I can't stand to read romance books! Because the Amish life is so simple, honest, and clean, and the romance stories aren't romance stories so much as love stories - yes, there is a difference between the two.

Fuller does a lovely job writing about the characters and the interpersonal relationships. You can't help but feel for Johnny with all of his mistakes - they just make him more human.

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I received this book to read and review through the book sneeze program and was not paid for my honest review.

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