“Christmas in Apple Ridge” Review

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for this review from Blogging for Books. All opinions expressed are my own.

You all know by now that I am a fan of Amish fiction, and Cindy Woodsmall is one of my favorite authors for this genre. Christmas in Apple Ridge is a collection of three novellas: The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing and (new!) The Dawn of Christmas. When my book arrived, I was a little overwhelmed at how thick this book is and thought I would get bored by the end.


But I was pleasantly surprised. Each of the novellas focuses on a different set of characters, but they build on the previous stories. The characters in the three novellas are from the same community and are either related or friends. This allows the reader to follow along with the characters they have already come to know, while they get to know the new characters better.

One of my qualms with reading Amish fiction is the fact that all of the authors use the same names (since there aren’t a lot of names to choose from in Amish communities). It’s a bit confusing for me, so it was refreshing to read three “different” stories where I already know the characters and there’s some continuity.
Overall, this is a fun book to read in preparation for Christmas. I enjoyed the stories and was did not find the book tedious or boring to read.