OK, this book totally works in my Salute to Christmas Reads! Which is AWESOME! …mostly because the book is awesome and I want to give it as much attention as I possibly can!


WOW!

I didn’t think Rosalind Lauer could get any better! But it seems like every book of hers I read is even better than the last one!

With the first three books Rosalind wrote; A Simple Winter, A Simple Spring and A Simple Autumn – Rosalind introduced us to the wonderful community of Halfway and I didn’t get the chance to freak about it because I didn’t actually discover her wonderful books until the second series had already started.

I did start by reading the first series and then I was blessed to be able to go right into the next… until I had to wait for this one – A Simple Charity.

And now I’m freaking out because I don’t want it to end!

I’m hoping that either Rosalind has more planned for this series or else she’s going to start another series but with these same characters! They’re too amazing to let go of!

And Rosalind Lauer has a particular talent for blending the Amish community with the English community that makes her books so much more appealing. For those of us who don’t necessarily want to make such a drastic change, it’s exciting to think that we could just move into the community and live alongside the plain people.

It’s certainly on my own wish list!

Of course it’s also tricky because I have fallen completely and totally in love with THESE people and THIS community! It’s just too well-written! Rosalind makes her characters so real, I feel like I could go to Halfway and meet them all!

Oh well… I’ll just have to be content with them in my imagination.

I was blessed with a free copy of this book! ( )

I was happy to find an author previously unknown to me who wrote a book in an Amish setting, and published by a company I’d not associated with these stories. “A Simple Charity” (Rosalind Lauer, Ballantine Books) includes several elements that make the story unique. The characters are delightful, each and every one, and develop consistently throughout the book.

I have just one complaint about this book. In the 366 pages of book holding tens of thousands of words, there is ONE use of the word “hell”. It is used by a police officer who has been asked if he will be reporting a crime.

Don’t stop reading this review; I am not against the use of this word in a story. What I’m against is the INCONSISTENCY of the word. In all the conversations by the many characters, only ONCE is this word used. It feels … artificial. Really? The police officer would say that one time but not any other time?

To me it’s like the author (or perhaps the publisher) said, “This book is too clean. Let’s add some spice. A sex scene would be highly inappropriate. Instead let’s add some language to shake things up.” So they arbitrarily picked a spot to insert this one word.

When I read a book that uses profanity and/or vulgarities, I am aware of such. I do not use such in my normal speaking or writing, and pick up on it when it’s spoken or written by others.

I’ll be reading Lauer’s other Amish stories, both for the stories and to see if this same type of inconsistency holds true. ( )

This book was a very nice book. I enjoyed reading it. ( )

This was a very book. I really enjoyed having Amish as well as English sides of the story. This is about a young woman looking for a new life as she is a recent widow. It was a very interesting as starting a new life as a midwife and also having a new relationship to deal with.
Very interesting reaction with her community reactions and working with an older midwife as well as a new English girl who is looking for a new life and also a romance there also.
It was a very well done story line and I really liked being with them as they went about their lives. ( )

[A Simple Charity] by [[Rosalind Lauer]] is a very good book with heartwarming characters. It is book 3 in the Lancaster Crossroads Series and can be read alone or in order of the series. I read it as a standalone book and it was not hard to follow the characters through their trials, challenges, wins, and loves. It was a very good book and I look forward to reading the first 2 books in this series: [A Simple Hope] and [A Simple Faith]. ( )