Lancaster Brides: A Merry Heart/Looking for a Miracle/Plain and Fancy/The Hope Chest (Inspirational Romance Collection) [Paperback]

Wanda E. Brunstetter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

Travel the Pennsylvania back roads and buggy trails with four young women in the Amish community - women struggling to discover their own place in the world while finding true love in the process. In A Merry Heart, the man of Miriam Stolzfus's dreams has decided to marry another woman. Miriam's bitterness threatens to cloud her future until two special men enter her life - and she is forced to make a monumental decision. After a freak accident paralyzes her legs, Rebecca Stolzfus is Looking for a Miracle. Confined to a wheelchair, she longs to be loved for who she is - but she's forced to watch from the sidelines as the man who has stolen her heart is obviously infatuated with her best friend. When interior design student Laura Meade comes to Lancaster Valley, she falls in love with Eli Yoder, one of the "Plain People." Will Laura be able to choose between a Plain and Fancy life? Rachel Beachy wants something she can't have - her sister's boyfriend. Yet in The Hope Chest she finds her floundering dreams for love rekindled in a most unexpected way. Will she be the next of the Lancaster Brides?

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586608029
• ISBN-13: 978-1586608026
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #746,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wanda Brunstetter is an award-winning romance novelist who has led millions of readers to lose their heart in the Amish life. She is the author of almost 50 books with more than 5 million copies sold. Many of her books have landed on the top bestseller lists, including the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, CBA, ECPA, and CBD. Wanda is considered one of the founders of the Amish fiction genre, and her work has been covered by national publications, including Time Magazine and USA Today.

Wanda's fascination with the Amish culture developed when she met her husband, Richard, who grew up in a Mennonite church, and whose family has a Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. Meeting her new Mennonite sister-in-laws caused Wanda to yearn for the simpler life. In their travels, she and her husband have become close friends with many Amish people across America. Wanda's desire to explore their culture increased when she discovered that her great-great grandparents were part of the Anabaptist faith.

All of Wanda's novels are based on personal research intended to accurately portray the Amish way of life. Many of her books are well-read and trusted by the Amish, who credit her for giving readers a deeper understanding of the people and their customs.

Wanda's primary attraction to the Amish is their desire to live a devout Christian life that strives to honor God, work hard, and maintain close family ties. Whenever she visits her Amish friends, Wanda finds herself drawn to their peaceful lifestyle, sincerity, and close family ties, which is in stark contrast to the chaos and busyness that plagues so many modern "Englishers." Time and time again, Wanda loses her heart in the Amish life, and she hopes her readers will, too. For more information, visit: www.WandaBrunstetter.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Reading, November 27, 2003

By 

K. Morgan (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lancaster Brides: A Merry Heart/Looking for a Miracle/Plain and Fancy/The Hope Chest (Inspirational Romance Collection) (Paperback)

Lancaster Brides is a set of four stories about Amish life and loves. The first story is about Miriam, an Amish woman who has had her heart broken and doesn't trust men. The second story is about Rebekah, Miriam's niece. Rebekah is in a wheelchair because of a childhood accident. She must come to terms with her disability and risk her heart at finding love. (This story was my favorite!) The third story is about Laura Meade, a fancy woman, who goes to college in Lancaster and meets an Amish man that she wants to be with for the rest of her life. Can this spoiled worldly woman find happiness living a plain life? And finally, the fourth story is about Rachel, Rebekah's daughter. When her sister Anna gives Rachel her old hope chest will it give her hope that she can find love with the boy she dreams about?

These were four exciting and interesting stories. I don't usually read multiple-story books because I think the stories are too short and choppy. This book is definitely not that. Each story is well written and complete. Having Amish ancesters I found this book was very well researched and very respectful of the Amish. It was a great insight into the lives of these people who live their lives in such a plain and simple way. These stories will touch your heart and leave you feeling like you are neighbors with each of the characters in the book. Wanda Brunstetter did a wonderful job writing each of these stories. It is so good to read books about people who seem real and dimensional. I found this book and each of it's stories very refreshing to read. It is great to read a book without a lot of sex or violence in it and to read about people who have morals. This book is great for a young girl or teenager to read as well as a mother or grandmother.

Lancaster Brides is excellent reading with great characters and heartwarming stories. I can easily see this book as being passed down from mother to daughter as four treasured stories of love and happiness. I have loaned this book to my mother hoping she enjoys the stories as much as I have. This book is deserving of more than five stars and is a book to keep and read again and again!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Trip to Amish Country, January 13, 2004

By 

Jennifer J. Thompson "cute_moosie" (Colton, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lancaster Brides: A Merry Heart/Looking for a Miracle/Plain and Fancy/The Hope Chest (Inspirational Romance Collection) (Paperback)

I read this book having enjoyed two Heartsong Presents novels by Wanda E. Brunstetter and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Ms. Brunstetter takes us to Amish country and into the lives of one family over several generations in this collection of novellas.
It begins with A Merry Heart and Miriam Stolzfus's decision of whether to wed a widower after the man she is in love with marries another. In Looking for a Miracle, Rebecca Stolzfus begins her own business selling plants. Paralized she wonders if the man she's fallen in love with is in love with her best friend. In Plain and Fancy, Laura Meade has moved to Lancaster to pursue her education as a design student and finds herself falling in love with Eli Yoder. Will she be able to live a plain life? Finally in The Hope Chest, Rachel Beachy falls in love with her sister's boyfriend and learns about her own family history.
I enjoyed this book because each story flows into the next as we pass from one generation to the other. The secondary characters in each previous story find themselves at the forefront in the next. And as you read you find yourself caring about this family and the culture of the Amish. A good light-hearted weekend read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Couldn't Put it Down!!, April 22, 2004

By 

Katrina Prado, author of bestseller Boxes of ... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lancaster Brides: A Merry Heart/Looking for a Miracle/Plain and Fancy/The Hope Chest (Inspirational Romance Collection) (Paperback)

Okay, I hardly EVER buy books that have multiple stories in them, but had heard that this one was very good. I was not disappointed. It is four stories about four women, Miriam is the first heroine, Rebekah is the second (she's in a wheelchair), Laura is the third and Rachel is the main character in the fourth.
What I liked so much about each of these stories, was, not only were they engaging and interesting, but I learned a lot about the Amish and their way of life. I'd recommend this book highly to anyone who enjoys these kinds of stories.