Four great novellas by some fantastic authors! I really enjoyed all of them. ( )

These four novellas, as the title implies, all have to do with baking. Sometimes overwhelmed with the demands of the season and their jobs, it was interesting to read about how these Amish women coped . . . and how they didn’t! There were some life lessons to be learned along the way, that’s for sure and certain. All these authors have written enjoyable tales of inspiration, with just the right touch of romance thrown in. There were some problems to solve, but that just made the endings sweeter. ( )

An Amish Christmas Bakery
This anthology contains 4 Christmas bakery stories.
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Cookies and Cheer by Amy Clipston
Alyssa this season starting right after Thanksgiving includes her working at home first, then at the bakery among redesigning the front window display for the shop.
Her window designs are unique and she gets the owner to ok her design for Christmas. She then asks Kyle the metal worker in town if he could help her make cookie cutters.
The newspaper gets wind of it and makes a story headline and puts the shop with so much business it makes Alyssa run out of time most days to get much else accomplished.
She's about falling asleep on her feet and has not done gifts or helping at home or even spending dinner with the family. She is also been out to dinner with Kyle and with his family at their house.
Love that the cutters are such a hit and so different from normal ones. She realizes that not only can they sell the cookies with scriptures but also cutters until Kyle can no longer make them-for this season cuz he's so busy with his own family work.
She realizes it and makes everybody happy with how she divides her time...
Wish there were recipes. great short story..
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Loaves of Love by Beth Wiseman
David from another district has been spending time with Katie and they go out often.
She's taking care of the bakery while her mother recuperates from surgery. Other's take care of the house and meals.
Henry's sisters has a guest for dinner, Clara who he ran into at an auction. So funny!
Henry had wanted to ask Katie out but couldn't do it, til it was too late.
David shows Katie all the modern conveniences she's missing out on... her family doesn't like modern conveniences...
Love ending and loaves of love and how they got wood stoves back, for the right flavor...
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Melting Hearts by Kathleen Fuller
This story starts out with Maddie and she's moved in with her uncle to help her aunt run the bakery.
It's around Christmas and she keeps busy with decorating the shop and baking and crocheting.
This I find fascinating as most just knitted that I've read about. Peter is due to also move in to help with improvements to the bakery.
The aunt is on bed rest now and she avoids Peter and he tries to avoid her also. Her freckles all over her face really get to him.
She's mad at him for something he did to Lizzie-a friend of Maddie's. She will learn the real story soon...
Love hearing of the craft/yarn store.
Very warm feeling when I hear of her teaching him how to wind yarn and the lessons she gives to the aunt...
Love that she also makes scarves for others in the winter for charity.
Love when she finds out for herself just how good of a friend Lizzie is to her. Her and Peter had a truce and are now friends.
Like the ending, didn't see it coming out this way.
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Cakes and Kisses by Kelly Irvin
Martha notices the local boys tripping Ambrose who's on an errand for the ex. priest who has left her commission.
She is getting married to Matt and is asking Martha to make the wedding cake. Martha has lost her father, then mother and is
taking care of all the siblings and working at the bakery. Her mother would compliment her telling her she can do whatever she sets out to do and do it well.
Love the encouragement and why so many help him to achieve his best.
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Wish there were recipes. ( )

An Amish Christmas Bakery is a set of Novellas that have the common theme of Amish Bakeries. It contains the following stories:

Cookies and Cheer By Amy Clipston
Loaves of Love by Beth Wiseman
Melting Hearts by Kathleen Fuller
Cakes and Kisses by Kelly Irvin

In Cookies and Cheer Alyssa is such a hard working and talented baker, but allows herself to become overwhelmed. I understood her dedication to completing a task that she has committed to. I also felt sorry for her working so hard. Clipston did a great job of writing a book filled with Christmas cheer and Scripture.

Loaves of Love was a great story with Katie who has been left to run her family bakery alone during the busiest season. I felt so bad for her trying to get everything done. It was a fun story as it showed the differences in Amish orders.

Melting Hearts is a story of how bullying and deception can color your perception of yourself and others. Mattie was such a great character, I would love to read more of her story.

Cakes and Kisses is the story of a man who has given up on a love of his own due to being different. This story was harder for me to read, I hated to see him hurt, but all over I enjoyed the story and how it shows how he has the same hopes and dreams.

Each of the stories were unique and entertaining, I would enjoy reading more of each story and more from each author. These were a great Christmas treat!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit, this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own. ( )

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, So combining that with stories about the Amish set in bakeries makes for a book completely worth reading. I love how the characters, settings, and stories all come together. Set in different bakeries in different parts of the country the stories weave together into one unforgettable story.

I think the first story sets the stage beautifully for this book. The idea of having a metalworker create Nativity scene inspired cookie cutters to create a Christmas display for a bakery leads to incredible scenes in my mind. Alyssa Byler finds herself so caught up in work that she loses sight of what is most important at Christmas – her family and her boyfriend. The story captured my attention.

Then to have a story about a young woman trying to run her family’s bakery alone while her mother recovers from surgery demonstrates how we sometimes miss what is directly in front of our face. It is easy to get caught up in doing what seems to be easy rather than doing what is right and true.

Truly this is a book worth reading. So check it out for yourself.

I received a copy of this book for my fair and honest review. ( )