An Amish Cradle by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller & Vannetta Chapman (Book Review)

Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own. 

About the book-

In the Father's Arms by Beth Wiseman
Ruth Anne Zook is excited that she and her best friend are due with their children the same week. But when Ruth Anne's baby is born with Down Syndrome, she and her husband struggle to understand God's plan.

A Son for Always by Amy Clipston
Carolyn and her husband Joshua are thrilled to be pregnant with their first child. A teenager when she had her son Benjamin, Carolyn still feels obligated to work to secure Ben's future, even though Josh adopted Ben. She struggles to realize that Josh will love and protect both of their children equally.

A Heart Full of Love by Kathleen Fuller
Ellie's mother loves to meddle in her personal life-especially now that Ellie's pregnant. Since Ellie is blind, her mother worries that she won't be able to handle the baby. When Ellie gives birth to twins, her mother insists on moving in. Just as everyone reaches the breaking point, a miracle draws them closer to each other and to God.

An Unexpected Blessing by Vannetta Chapman
At 42, Etta thought her time of having children was over, but she's pregnant again. She goes into labor during a blizzard, and complications with the delivery raise fear. Etta struggles to acceptGotte's wille for the baby and her son, David, who moved away two years earlier in search of what he would do with his life.

My thoughts- 

I don't read compilation novellas that often because I usually prefer one long flowing story, but I couldn't seem to pass up the opportunity to read this book. An Amish Cradle is about 4 different Amish families, each who end up having a child with special needs or have a special circumstance in the pregnancy. This premise was so different from any other Amish fiction I have read that I really found myself interested in reading the novellas. I liked that each story introduced us to a new family with a different circumstance and four different sets of parents will deal with things in four different ways, so it really did feel like four separate stories.  For me, that was both good and bad. I love that each author had their own voice, but it would have been nice to see some of the characters be connected in some way. I read An Amish Cradle very quickly, in just a few days' time, so this is a great book if you want a fast read! I think any parent at all will be able to relate to each of these stories, but especially parents with special needs children. Of all of the stories, I enjoyed the first one by Beth Wiseman the most, but the three that follow were good stories as well. My only complaint about the book is that I want to know more about how things turned out for the families! I felt like there could have been much more to each story, a novel's worth perhaps? I get so attached to stories and characters it is difficult to leave them after a short time, but each story definitely had a resolution by the end. Maybe there could be a second compliation by the same authors' that let's us peek into their lives a year later or something like that! I would read it!! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Amish fiction.