I read this book as part of the Pennsylvania Patchwork blog tour, and is the second book a series. Leaving Lancester I reviewed earlier and is the first book.

In a nutshell, this book is about decisions, how we make decisions and live with the decisions. The book takes place immediately after the first book ends, and the characters are still immature, whining, and self-loathing. The mother, Ester, is especially full of self-loathing and you really wish you were there to smack her in the face and tell her to grow up and move on already. I was really disappointed that once again, the characters do not grow at all. Once again, I couldn't connect with any of the characters, and all the bickering, fighting, drama, and arguing just made me frustrated. And the fact that Larry, a friend, just shows up at random, is so far fetched as to be completely unbelievable.

That being said, I did like the book - I just didn't love it - and I did want to find how everything was resolved, though there's still a lot of questions that are left unanswered, like with any series. I don't think I'll read any more of the series, however, as I just don't like any of the characters.

I actually somehow with 2 review copies of this book - an e-book (netgalley) and a paperback (litfuse tours) copy. Not sure how that happened ;/. ( )

I first want to say that I am a big fan of Amish fiction. I have many favorite authors in this genre and was happy to be able to find an Amish story that was available for review. Unfortunately with Pennsylvania Patchwork by Kate Lloyd, I was unable to connect with the characters as I normally can, and I found myself often confused with what was going on in the story and kept having to go back through pages that I had already read to try to figure out if I had missed something. The story was very busy - there were four suitors and three generations of women that I was trying to keep track of, and not realizing that this was the second book of a trilogy, I spent most of my time trying to figure out what was going on.

The story is about a 30 yr old woman named Holly who recently finds out that her mother was raised Amish, but had left the community before Holy was born. Her mother,Esther, has kept this a secret from her daughter all these years. They then move back to Lancaster to live with Holly's Amish grandmother, who Holly had been told by Beth was dead. Can you see why I might be a little confused?

In the midst of all this, we have Esther (Holly's Mother), who is supposed to be getting married to an Amish man, while her daughter Holly is juggling 3 potential suitors - , Zach, who is a Mennonite veterinarian who has proposed to her after only knowing her a few weeks, then there is an attractive Amish man that she is suddenly interested in, and to top that off, we have the return of an old English boyfriend.!! We also meet Anna, who is Holly's feisty Amish grandmother, and who is also battling dementia, which is getting worse with each passing day. Holly's grandmother and mother feel like Holly is rushing into everything too fast (you think??) and therefore there is lots of drama going on in the household,

I feel that if I had read the first book in the Legacy of Lancaster series, Leaving Lancaster, I might not have been so totally confused with this story. I spent so much time back-tracking and trying to remember who was who and which guy went with which woman, that it made the story a lot less enjoyable than it probably would have been. I know that a lot of series books are written so that they can be read as a stand-alone story, but I do not feel that was possible with this series.

I might go back at some point and try to read the first book to see if I can make sense of it all, but until then, I unfortunately have to say that this was not one of my favorite books.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for my honest review. ( )

Amish Fiction You Can’t Put Down!

Pennsylvania Patchwork is the second book by author Kate Lloyd that I have read. I loved book one in this series, Leaving Lancaster, and didn’t see how Pennsylvania Patchwork could top it. Guess what? It did! I was glued to each and every page to see how this story would play out.

This book continues with the life of Holly Fisher and her Mom Esther Fisher. I thought I had this story all figured out. I was wrong and really surprised at the ending. If you love a few twists, turns, and some mystery, you will love this book.

Relationships are on the mend and emotions are on the rise. I must say after the last page I read, I sat and pondered it for awhile. I had tears in my eyes and I’d love to explain why but I can’t because what I would reveal would spoil it for anyone who has not read this book yet.

I urge everyone to buy this book. I highly recommend that you buy and read the first one, Leaving Lancaster, before reading this one. I wouldn’t want you to miss a thing! I can’t wait to read the last book in this trilogy, Forever Amish. ( )

I love this series of books. I was so excited when this one came out but was disappointed.

We spent much of this book with Holly and her three suitors - the guy she got engaged to in the first book, Larry from Seattle (that we met in book one) and the Amish brother of Nathaniel. But after so many questions about which one was best, it was tied up with a bow so fast, it made me wonder.

There was a story for Ester and Nathaniel as well, which we got a fair conclusion to.

Maybe I missed what happened to Rascal....


It was a decent book but there seems like there should of been a better way. ( )

Esther, a repentant prodigal daughter returns to her Amish family hoping to find forgiveness and healing for a past she cannot change. To a faith she left behind. Holly, her daughter, who was raised not knowing much of anything about her mother's family, is enthralled to be welcomed into her Amish grandmother's open arms and she's excited to finally have an extended family. Once a city girl, can Holly find peace and contentment with a simple life? And will Zach, her Mennonite fiance be all he's supposed to be, or is he hiding a secret so painful that she can't get over it?

Pennsylvania Patchwork is the perfect title to this book. Flawed, patched, and imperfect human beings who need forgiveness from those they've wronged as well as from themselves. This is a different kind of Amish book. Englishers, Amish, and Mennonite alike learn to accept others for who they are, mistakes and all, and love them anyway. This is the second book in Ms. Lloyd's series, and though I haven't read the first, this was written in a way that you could understand what was going on without much trouble. It did make me want to read the first book to learn the backstory of each character. I was kind of surprised that I felt more of a connection to Zach and Esther's characters than I did the main character, Holly. There were times I thought Holly acted too childish for her age, and Esther's mother Anna I found abrasive and uncaring. I could sympathize and understand why Esther felt compelled to leave in the first place.
Overall, I liked the book.

*My thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. This was not required to be favorable and it is my own.*
( )