Review: Christmas at Pebble Creek by Vannetta Chapman

This short story e-romance is an exclusive bonus from The Pebble Creek Amish Series by Vannetta Chapman. Fans of the series will enjoy this chance to briefly revisit Pebble Creek, and new readers will be introduced to an Amish community that is more deeply explored in the three full novels, A Promise for Miriam, A Home for Lydia, and A Wedding for Julia.
As a bonus, this eBook also includes Amish homestyle recipes for chicken and dumplings, green beans, and fresh bread. Heavy snow blankets the southwestern Wisconsin Amish community as nineteen-year-old Grace Miller closes the schoolhouse for Christmas break. She’s looking forward to having extra time to help the family prepare for the holiday, and she is hoping to get a few more drawings in of the beautiful, snowy Pebble Creek landscape. Her courtship with Adam Lapp is going on six months, and Grace can’t wait to give him his present: a blue-and-brown buggy blanket she crocheted for him. Yes, this Christmas is going to be especially joyful. Yet, amid the cheer of snowshoe outings, church potlucks, and holiday festivities, Grace is given a bittersweet reminder of the Christmas story. Grief is present with celebration, and though the future is rarely certain, she is given a heartwarming glimpse that God knows our needs before we do and will provide.

Terri's Review

This was a story about a girl in an Amish community during the Christmas break.  Due to it's short length there is not a lot that I can mention about it without giving the storyline so I will stick with my overall thoughts.  The story was well written and good enough for me to consider looking at the full length Pebble Creek stories.  The issue that I had with this read is that the synopsis makes it sound like there is more to the story then there really is.  It mentions an underlying sense of grief while in the book it is merely mentioned and covered very quickly.  I had a hard time getting past this as there was not near a much substance as hinted.  That aside I did enjoy reading about some of the Amissh customs and relationships.  This book even comes with recipes to try which has gotten my stomach growling.  My overall impression is that the full length novels would have potential and more to offer than this story.

About the Author

Vannetta Chapman writes inspirational fiction full of grace. She has published over one hundred articles in Christian family magazines, receiving more than two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups. She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather’s birthplace of Albion, Pennsylvania.

Her novel, Falling to Pieces, was a 2012 ACFW Carol Award winner for best mystery. All of her books have been Christian Book Distributor bestsellers. She currently writes Amish fiction for Abingdon Press, Zondervan, and Harvest House. Chapman lives in the Texas hill country with her husband.

For more information, visit her at www.VannettaChapman.com or blog with her at http://vannettachapman.wordpress.com/. She can also be found at http://www.facebook.com/VannettaChapm