An Amish Singing by Amy Clipston Review

Hello Friends :)

I hope you're all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

Are you the type of person who can list a single author when someone asks you who your favorite is? Or are you the type of reader that has a whole list of all the authors you consider your personal favorites?

I am definitely the second kind, as there are just so many authors whose books I honestly adore. This list does expand and change continuously, but there are some authors who have basically been on the list since I read one of their books for the very first time.

Amy Clipston is definitely one of those authors, and even though I've been book blogging for almost five years now, I still get overly excited every single time I get to advance read one of her beautiful stories.

Recently I had the chance to read her upcoming September release which is a lovely Amish Fiction novella collection, and today I can't wait to share with you all what I ended up thinking about it.

An Amish Singing by Amy Clipston:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: September 1st, 2020

Genre: Christian Fiction/Amish Fiction

Synopsis:

Romance is bound strike a chord when the young people of Bird-in-Hand join together to bring their community the gift of song. 

Hymn of Praise

Sharon Lambert and Jay Smoker have been friends for a long time, but lately Jay has seen Sharon in a new light. They begin spending time together, and Sharon invites Jay to her family’s home to serve dinner and sing traditional hymns for their English guests. When Jay decides that this tramples upon his doctrinal beliefs, can these two dear friends compromise and find love? Or will Jay’s strict views keep them apart? 

Amazing Grace

Dave Esh is broken with guilt after a recent tragedy. When Alice Blank, an acquaintance from school and youth group, invites him to join an informal singing group that performs for community members in need, Dave doubts he will enjoy himself—let alone find peace. Will Alice’s friendship help Dave learn how to forgive himself the way God already has? 

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Darlene Bender’s mother has been battling cancer, and Darlene can’t understand why God would allow someone so wonderful to go through such a terrible time. She finds strength in her singing group and friends, and when Andrew Detweiler senses that Darlene needs a confidant, he approaches and befriends her. As love blossoms between them, Darlene might soon realize that God was with her all along. 

O Holy Night

Elaine Lantz and her parents have just moved to town from New Wilmington. After leaving behind some painful events and a group of deceitful friends, Elaine worries she’ll never be able to trust again. But the young people of Bird-in-Hand don’t give up, and Calvin King takes it upon himself to make Elaine feel welcome. Perhaps friendship and love await Elaine in her new hometown. 

“Well-written, well-developed, and beautifully romantic, Amy’s books are at the top of the Amish genre.” —New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray 


Sweet, inspirational Amish reads
Collection includes four stories (23K words each) that can be read together or as standalones
Includes discussion questions for book clubs

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Amy Clipston is one of my all time favorite authors, and I truly adore each and everyone of her stories. She's become my top pick for Amish fiction stories, and I always look forward to her new releases. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this one was a novella collection before I started it, as I'm not always the biggest fan of these type of collections. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this one, and I will definitely be recommending it.

I think one thing that made this one work for me is that while it is four individual stories, each story revolves around the same group of young people that's introduced at the start, with the exception of one character. While a certain couple takes the center stage of each individual story, most of the characters put in appearances in each and every story, and I thought that this helped strengthen the plot of each short novella. I thought it was an interesting idea to have the whole collection focus around the friends singing to help spread the word of God, and I thought this was represented beautifully throughout each of the four separate stories. It's always refreshing to read about people who are eager to share the Gospel with others, and that was definitely one of my favorite parts of this collection. 

I've come to expect great things whenever I pick up a novel by this talented lady, and An Amish Singing was no exception. With how short of a word count each of these individual stories had, I ended up being quite impressed with how well developed each of the individual stories and corresponding romances were. 

 The reader can tell that Amy Clipston truly writes from the heart, and I loved the focus on friendship, first love, faith, grace and redemption. The kindness of the Amish culture is always something that I love getting to read about, and I enjoyed it even more with all the hurt and smallness that exists within our current world. 

Final Rating: 4/5.

I truly adored this collection, and I already can't wait for Amy's next release.

Thanks so much to Zondervan for allowing me to read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Zondervan) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.