The Christmas Visitor

An Amish Romance

By: Linda Byler

Narrated by: Mandi Lee

One moment Ben Miller was high up in the rafters at his neighbor's barn raising. The next his foot slipped, and he plunged to his death, leaving behind a young wife and six children - the youngest born four months after his death. Ruth Miller is not alone. Her Amish neighbors help her to make the difficult transition from wife to widow. But while the community has been generous, raising six growing children, all grieving their father's death, is overwhelming. Devastated by her loss, Ruth isn't sure how she'll make ends meet or restore order to a house full of rambunctious kids. With help from her mother and her energetic but untidy neighbor, Mamie, Ruth finds a way to start over.

Preoccupied with the effort to create a new life and manage her shrinking bank account, Ruth barely notices John King, the handsome newcomer to her community. Besides, how could she - if she had a chance - replace Ben? Does one ever replace a husband? As Christmas approaches, Ruth knows she can't afford gifts for her children this year. It's hard enough to find money for groceries each week. But then banana boxes full of food, treats for the children, and even money begin to appear on her front porch. Who is leaving her these generous gifts? Is it a neighbor or a friend? Or, Ruth wonders, could it be John, who keeps unexpectedly appearing when Ruth most needs help?

©2013 Good Books (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Heartwarming book that read very quickly.

Love Amish stories! This is a Goot one! Bylers seem very common name in Lancaster

Commercials galore

Fruit loops, Cheerios, tide detergent, downy fabric softener.. it was a isn’t commercial inside in a book

Well Written

The characters were realistic and relatable. A well written, sweet little story that I highly recommend.

Way too much commercialism!!

It’s hard to tell how good this story is, I’m only on chapter 8 and the commercialism is so distracting I’m not sure if I can stomach the rest of it!
Every single item/prop is named by brand 🤦🏼‍♀️ Maybe she needed extra words to reach a specific word count....?

An Amish Christmas

An Amish widow with six children is concerned on how to financially and emotionally support her family. A newcomer to her community steps in to help and she realizes that she can love another. A good read for Christmas.

Not very Amish

it was not very Amish. the Amish do not do huge lavish Christmases they don't use dolls with faces they would not dream of Gameboys.

Young narrator

Although the voice of the narrator was very young she did a remarkable job with few mispronunciations. In authors typical style, the book ends abruptly .

Sweetly Romantic

I absolutely loved this love story. The characters were very well developed. I felt like I knew Ruth and I felt her pain and sorrow of her sudden and unexpected lose. The arrival John was a pleasant and unforeseen blessing at the right time. The joy and distraction he was able to provide to both Ruth and her children was perfect. I felt like these two were a great match and they complimented one another perfectly. John was unwilling to settle to satisfy anyone and remove the the pressure and Ruth was able to recognize her second chance at love and happiness. This was a great clean wholesome sweet love story with a wonderful HEA. I’m a sucker for epilogues so that would be the only suggestion I’d make, some update on how the new family has progressed. I would definitely recommend this book.

Moved slowly

Once you get through the first few chapters the story starts to take shape. Slow in the beginning than moves quickly.

Weary reading

I didn’t expect great novel. I was just looking for a sweet story that was engaging to listen to. This was just plain boring. Long descriptions of people moving around the room, colors of clothes, on and on. Impossible to engage with the characters and the narration it’s pretty bad. Her tone is sharp and unpleasant to listen to. I don’t think this story has much going for it.