"The Christmas Visitor" by Linda Byler

"The Christmas Visitor" by Linda Byler gets five stars from me. I really liked the story and the plot but I had questions while reading, this book was a book I read for an online bookclub that I am a member of. Other members had no problem with this book and others had questions like me! I will tell you some of the things that bothered me and it could be that they are normal for an Amish family (yes this is an Amish story), I will be the first to admit that I am not really familiar with the Amish, only what I have read in books and they have all been fiction, which this book is also, so it might be that this book is more "real" than the others have been because the author is Amish. The first problem is there  is a lot of name brand products used in the story and the Christmas shopping and Ruth (one of the main characters buying a doll, I thought the Amish had faceless dolls). I asked a friend who isn't Amish or a member of the bookclub and doesn't use Facebook about my questions, I thought she was qualified to answer some of my questions, even through she has none of these things to qualify to know the answers but she is friends with the Amish in Arthur Illinois and spends many hours with them and she is the friend that got me reading Amish genre and she answered my questions with "yes that is what some of my friends do". So you are probably asking  "ok why are you telling this if  the book is really like it is in some Amish homes." I am telling you this so you can be prepared and not let your preconceived ideals of the Amish put a damper on enjoying the book, which it did for me at first, till we had the discussion and I talked to my friend. And after doing all this typing I just want to say I love the story.

Now let's get to the story! Ruth"s husband fall off a roof and was killed. Ruth has a family to raise and is struggling to make ends meet and surprise "bananas boxes are left on her porch and a letter arrives with money in it. But who is doing this? There is a new comer to town, is it him or someone else.

Ruth's best friend is not like anyone else in the Amish community and Ruth is constantly reminding herself of this but she is also thankful and appreciates her friendship with Mamie.

This book is a book about heartaches and struggles and yes love and romance. If you like Amish stories and Christmas stories, then you will love this story.