Customer Reviews

Lydia's Charm: An Amish Widow Starts Over in Charm, Ohio

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lydia's Charm

By Wanda Brunstetter

Lydia King moves to Charm, Ohio to live with her mother and grandfather after loosing her job in a down economy. Widowed and the mother of a four year old boy, Lydia hopes to find work and lend a hand to her exhausted mother who is the sole caregiver to her disabled grandfather. Her mother hopes Lydia will soon re-marry so she will be taken care of financially and materially without the need to continue working. Lydia however; being pursued by one man, is attracted to another who is emotionally unavailable and clearly disliked by her mother.

Widower Menno Troyer has one goal: finding a wife who will take care of his four mischievous boys, cook, clean and manage his home. Hard working and well meaning, Menno is not looking for love, and when Lydia King moves into town he thinks he's found the perfect woman for the job.

Levi Stutzman is the only `regular' sized member of his family and feels a responsibility to care for and protect them. Much to the chagrin of his mother, father, brother and sisters (all little people), Levi is dead set against creating any kind of life of his own. Fearing his family will not be able to get along without him, and having to face the possibility of his own children being born `little,' Levi is unwilling to risk their future, or his heart. His mother on the other hand, has plans for her son and they definitely include Lydia King.

Lydia's Charm is filled with unexpected twists, turns, tragedy, sorrow, hope and ultimately happiness. Brunstetter does a masterful job exploring the "Plan B" scenarios that each of us face during our life. The clear message is to trust that our loving God has a plan for our lives, and allow Him to work His will, in His timing.

Sometimes there are certain authors with whom you just don't connect. This is the second Wanda Brunstetter book I've read and I just didn't like it. I read White Christmas Pie and thought it was very light and fluffy, nothing special. When I saw Lydia's Charm, I figured I'd give Wanda Brunstetter another chance, because the story sounded appealing, but ultimately wasn't. I found the characters to be one-dimensional. Menno was selfish and Lydia's mother Mae was downright horrible. The Stutzman family was wonderful, but Levi was annoying. The story was contrived and the writing very pedestrian. I only finished the book to find out if I was right about the anonymous gift giver.

I have no doubt that Wanda Brunstetter fans will love it. It has mostly 4 and 5 stars everywhere. It just wasn't for me.

I found Lydia's Charm to be another winner in my book for Wanda Brunstetter! She portrays the Amish way of life so wonderfully! In this book, the widow Lydia moves to Charm, Ohio to be closer to her mother. More tragedy befalls her there, and she does not know what to do with her life. She meets up with two men who both are interested in her. One is a widower with 4 boys, the other an unmarried bachelor. Who will she choose? It is really very heartwarming! Charm is a "Charm"! I found this one very interesting as I have also been to Charm, Ohio, where this book takes place. Another enjoyable read from Wanda Brunstetter!

This Amish book takes on more weighty issues than most I have read. It's a melancholy read. Lydia faces so much loss and family angst at such a young age. Even though it has a good ending, it leaves the reader with a bittersweet aftertaste. It harbors a lot of real life within it's pages. I recommend it, it's a good book and carries a good message of hope even amid devastating loss.

I was pulled up short several times by the actions of the children in the story. The level of disobedience tolerated is not something that rang true for me. Living in an Amish community, I can't imagine any of my neighbors allowing their children to behave that way. The children in my neighborhood are incredibly polite and respectful.

The life changing tragedies that Lydia King's character deals with in this book would bring some people to their knees. It is because of her inner strength to go on that makes her in my opinion a strong character. I was definitely rooting for her throughout the whole book.

I did like how the author handled the issue of Dwarfism. She didn't make the Stutzman family victims in the book, but showed them as able bodied, hard working, and happy individuals. Did they face some prejudice from others? Yes, but they did not let that get them down.

This book did seem to move along a little slower than some of Wanda Brunstetter's other books; However, I still found the book worth reading.

DISCLOSURE: I was provided a copy of Lydia's Charm by the publisher. I was not paid nor required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

I enjoyed this book so much that I passed it on to a friend in a nursing home to read and share. Keep on writing

these wonderful books. This is a must read.

I love Wanda Brunstetter's book's but this one was very slow, and not as interesting as her books usually are. While I didn't really enjoy this book, I will definitely purchase her books again.

Lydia's charm is a fantastic read, it draws you in and keep you reading. You want to find out what comes next in Lydia's life, she suffers great lost but learns to lean on the Lord. She follows the Lord's leading to find a new soul mate. Great Job Wanda :)

I have read a few of Wanda's books, somehow hoping the next one will be better, and they all seem to follow the same formula - have one character say something in Pennsylvania Dutch and then one or two sentences later, another character repeats basically the same thing but in English. She does this to help the readers know what the German word means, but come on - most of us are intelligent enough to figure out what it means by the context clues. She could try putting a glossary at the back if one simply cannot figure it out. For example, in this book, Josh constantly talks about "busslin", which are kittens. He says something along the lines of, "I like the busslin," and the next person says, "Yes, I am glad you like the kittens." He also says, "Read me a schtori." Levi then says, "I will be happy to read you a story." How flat and contrived does that sound?? She also seems to force the dialogue by placing in facts and it makes the dialogue seem one dimensional.

Another similar example of what she does with her dialogue: "My brother so and so is going to visit our aunt so and so in Charm, Ohio. How is your brother Andy in Arthur, Illinois doing?" She constantly drops facts into dialogue and that is not an effective way of informing readers! Her storyline is so predictable. I will never buy any of her books. For more realistic portrayal of the Amish lifestyle, I recommend Kathleen Fuller, Beth Wiseman, Marta Perry....anyone but Wanda Brunstetter! You will be very disappointed by the condescending tone of her books!

Very aptly named book. Great summer read, light, "charming", as well as authentic to the Amish way of life. Fun read.