Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Summary from BN.com: Amish-raised Ada Rupp knows it's time to make a commitment to the faith and join the church, especially if she wants a future with the handsome Amish widower Will Gundy. But when she has the chance to travel to Switzerland as the caregiver of a young child, she leaps at the opportunity. Anxious to learn more about her forebears, Ada enlists the help of a young Mennonite scholar named Daniel, but even as she develops feelings for him, she cannot get Will from her mind—or her heart. At a crossroads, Ada must decide what she is willing to give up from the past in order to embrace her future. First off, I'm just going to say that I am not a fan of the title of this book nor am I of the cover. Both do really nothing for the story and in fact have good potential to turn readers away. I really didn't feel like a nanny is best way to describe Ada throughout the story. That being said, the story is a great book. The authors take this book into new levels w...

Summary from BN.com: A dusty carved box containing two locks of hair and a century-old letter regarding property in Switzerland, and a burning desire to learn about her biological family lead nurse-midwife Lexie Jaeger from her home in Oregon to the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country. There she meets Marta Bayer, a mysterious lay-midwife who desperately needs help after an Amish client and her baby die. Lexie steps in to assume Marta's patient load even as she continues the search for her birth family, and from her patients she learns the true meaning of the Pennsylvania Dutch word demut, which means 'to let be' as she changes from a woman who wants to control everything to a woman who depends on God. I shouldn't have been surprised at how much I enjoy this book. Every Mindy Starns Clark book that I've read includes such a good mystery story that I find myself completely sucked in as I try to solve it along with the characters. Lexie's search to find out w...

The kids are starting to settle in at Heather Creek Farm. Emily is making new friends, while Christopher has picked up a new hobby and Sam is getting into athletics at school. Emily has been invited to a friend’s lake house, but Charlotte has doubts that the girl — and her cute older brother — are a good influence on Emily. Can she put her foot down without losing her granddaughter’s love? Will Emily listen to her either way? And when the weather service warns that a tornado is on its way toward Bedford, a scary near-miss and a dramatic rescue remind them all about the importance of family. Book Three in the Heather Creek series is written by a different author from the previous two, but the storyline blends in so seamlessly that you would think they're all written by the same person. I enjoyed returning to this small town in Nebraska with a different type of blended family. Once again, all the reasons of why I enjoy this series came rushing back: the comforting story...