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33rd out of 58 books
—
35 voters
Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa (Love Finds You)
by
Melanie Dobson (Goodreads Author)
As the rest of the nation is embroiled in Civil War, the Amana Colonies remain peaceful. Amalie Wiesearrives in the newly built village of Amana in 1863only to find that her betrothed, Friedrich, has left tofight with the Union army. Amalie tries to overcomeher worries as she sets up a communal kitchen. Shehopes that working alongside Friedrich?'s best friendwill provide s...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
June 1st 2011
by Summerside Press
(first published January 1st 2011)
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Amalie Weise has been waiting for three years for this moment. She’s endured the hardships of the elements to reach the new colony of Amana. Here she will be in chart of her own kitchen, a dream come true. More importantly though, she will finally be reunited with her sweetheart Friedrich. Soon, they will be married and start their own family.
But the Civil War even reaches places like Amana. Just a few weeks before the happy reunion is to take place, Friedrich and his best friend Matthias are c...more
But the Civil War even reaches places like Amana. Just a few weeks before the happy reunion is to take place, Friedrich and his best friend Matthias are c...more
I liked the fact that I learned so much of the culture in Amana, especially after I traveled there after Thanksgiving - it provided a clear window into their thought processes. I thought the dialogue was done well, the phrasing of the characters' speech was as if it was translated directly from German which I enjoyed.
On a more negative note, I was disappointed that it TOLD the reader so much and didn't SHOW with better description. Also, everything was neatly bundled up in the end, which isn't...more
On a more negative note, I was disappointed that it TOLD the reader so much and didn't SHOW with better description. Also, everything was neatly bundled up in the end, which isn't...more
I had never heard of Inspirationalist until I read this book. The story takes place during the civil war and the Inspirationalist over several years were moving the the east coast more to the mid west. Another group was headed west and two young women went with this group because Amalie's fiance had left 3 years earlier to help start building and planting crops to ready for the other settlers in Amana. Amalie and her friend Karoline were going to supervise and cook in one of the kitchens that wa...more
Title: LOVE FINDS YOU IN AMANA, IOWA
Author: Melanie Dobson
Publisher: Summerside Press
June 2011
ISBN: 978-1609361358
Genre: Inspirational/historical
Amalie Wiese is traveling from New York to Iowa to join the new Amana communities as a head cook. She’s also engaged to marry Friedrich, another man in the Amana community. It takes five weeks of brutal travel by wagon train to reach Iowa, and Amalie’s train is almost stopped by Rebel soldiers burning Yankee cities and towns and running the wagon train...more
Author: Melanie Dobson
Publisher: Summerside Press
June 2011
ISBN: 978-1609361358
Genre: Inspirational/historical
Amalie Wiese is traveling from New York to Iowa to join the new Amana communities as a head cook. She’s also engaged to marry Friedrich, another man in the Amana community. It takes five weeks of brutal travel by wagon train to reach Iowa, and Amalie’s train is almost stopped by Rebel soldiers burning Yankee cities and towns and running the wagon train...more
Amalie Wiese is a young woman who travels from New York with a group settling into the newly formed Amana Colonies in Iowa, during the time of the Civil War. She is engaged to marry Friedrich, another man living in the Amana community. She is anxious to see Friedrich, but when she arrives at the colony, he is nowhere to be found. She learns that he went off, against the wishes of the elders, to fight in the war after being conscripted. His best friend, Matthias, is still there, but he is distant...more
Jul 29, 2012
Highland-dreamer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
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This is a new author for me. This was a very enjoyable book. I really liked all the characters. Books with the Amish, Mennonites, Mormons, Shakers religion seem to be pretty poplar right now. My book club just read one. The story is all about a subtle love triangle between Amalie, her fiance Fredrich and his best friend Matthias. The Amana Colonies were a different type of religious sect. From the cover I assumed it to be Amish, but it never tells what religious sect they belong to. I would like...more
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In Amana, Iowa in 1863, there waits a man by the name of Friedrich Vinzenz. He's been working as a clockmaker in the Kolonie as his beloved, Amalie Wiese who is headed by wagon train to make a new life together after being separated for almost a year. In order for any of the Inspirationalists men to marry, they have to wait until they are twenty-four and then be separated for a year before they can marry. Just knowing that Amalie will soon be here and has waited for him since he had left, is mor...more
Friedrich Vinzenz is a construction worker in the new Kolinie of Amana, Iowa. It’s 1863; and while Friedrich’s fiancé, Amalie, is traveling from the East to Iowa, the North and South are battling over slavery. They belong to the Inspirationist religious sect that prays for peace but refuses to fight; instead upon notice of conscription, their Elders pay for another to be a substitute in their place within the Union Army. During the journey, Friedrich meets Joseph, a slave whose body bears the sc...more
Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa by Melanie Dobson is the latest historical romance in the nationwide series. Amalie Wiese loves her life in the Amana colonies, and she volunteered to be one of the few women traveling from New York to the new community home in Iowa in order to finally marry her sweetheart, Friedrich Vincenz, and have her own kitchen house. The couple has been separated for a few years while waiting for Friedrich to come of age to marry, but their time apart has not changed the dept...more
“Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa” is a love story, a story of courage and triumph and a story of overcoming life’s obstacles, some of which we tend to create.
The book starts off from the viewpoint of three characters, the heroine and what seems to be two heroes. This always throws me a little bit, because I’m unsure which one the heroine is going to “go with”, but I also love this plot twist and I personally think it makes the ending more unpredictable.
The story included one of my favorite eras of...more
The book starts off from the viewpoint of three characters, the heroine and what seems to be two heroes. This always throws me a little bit, because I’m unsure which one the heroine is going to “go with”, but I also love this plot twist and I personally think it makes the ending more unpredictable.
The story included one of my favorite eras of...more
Oct 20, 2012
Sonia
added it
This was a very good read. The characters are easy to fall in love with and you feel their struggles. Amalie is one of the main characters. She is a stong, hardworking woman. She feels pain and disappointment but she doesnt give in to any of it. Even though the book is somewhat predictable, it does NOT make the book any less enjoyable. I love that the characters turn to God to seek guidance and comfort. It is a page turner for sure. If you enjoy a true love story, this is a definite read.
This was a sweet book. Like most romances, secular or religious, it was rather predictable. Like most Christian fiction it was somewhat heavy handed in the theology. But the characters were sweet, the setting was peaceful (in Amana, that is), the story charming. It was just what I needed after a few darker stories. I also thought this was better written than her other book, Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa.
I enjoy reading historical fiction, and especially am intrigued by stories about groups of so-called Plain people. I'm not sure that the 'Society of True Inspiration' would count as a Plain people, but to read about them was interesting nonetheless! :)
This is a sweet romance, with twists and turns along the way. Some of the plot lines were obvious, others less so. All-in-all, a very enjoyable read!
This is a sweet romance, with twists and turns along the way. Some of the plot lines were obvious, others less so. All-in-all, a very enjoyable read!
I really appreciate the newest books about groups like the Amish, Quakers and others that have graced the shelves the past few years. The good ones definitely provide a wonderful understanding of these sects and an amazing insight into cultures that are very different yet have found ways to co-exist with others.
And this book by Melanie Dobson is right up there among the good ones!
Set amidst the turmoil of the Civil War, Amalie Wiese has traveled for many days to the village of Amana to marry the...more
And this book by Melanie Dobson is right up there among the good ones!
Set amidst the turmoil of the Civil War, Amalie Wiese has traveled for many days to the village of Amana to marry the...more
Free download. This was the second novel I've read about the Amana Colonies. I find the whole communal living idea really interesting, but can't believe it worked for as long as it did. This book, thankfully, did provide some background info on what the Amana Colonies were prior to the start of the story (unlike the other one I read.)
A touching story of love and loss set during the American Civil War and during the early days of the Amana Colonies. I like Dobson's discussion of conscientious objection vs. "right" wars and the different ways God calls us to play a role in our society. I learned a lot about the True Inspirations, which was interesting.
Are you looking for a nice, clean, easy, romantic read? Here you go. This very sweet and touching. The theme was also on the Civil War and slavery in relation to the Inspiration colony in Iowa. I had never heard of such a community and it was very interesting to read there perspective on life and the times of the Civil War.
I was unfamiliar with this religious group (inspirationalists) and found this story to be interesting and informative. I particularly enjoyed the aftword when the author described the effects this group had on the Union effort during the Civil War.
The love story itself was predictable, but sweet.
The love story itself was predictable, but sweet.
Melanie Dobson writes another riveting story with her most recent book Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa. The Inspirationalist colonies in Iowa valued peace at all cost, but the Civil War came knocking on their door. Can God call one person to peace and another to fight? Can both paths be honoring Him?
Dobson’s storytelling marries historical facts with well-developed fictional characters in a way that makes learning fun. She mixes an intriguing love story into the growing conflict between peace and...more
Dobson’s storytelling marries historical facts with well-developed fictional characters in a way that makes learning fun. She mixes an intriguing love story into the growing conflict between peace and...more
I love the Amana Colonies and reading about how things were there way back when so this book was right up my alley. I loved the setting being the Amana Colonies as they were just getting started and it being in the middle of the Civil War but since it was in Iowa how did that affect a bunch of people opposed to war? This book answers that question. And what about if one man from Amana felt God leading him to enter the war even though it went against everything he had been raised to believe? This...more
Really a 3.5. It took me a bit longer to get through this one, but mainly it was because of the setting of the community and their way of life. But once I got about a third of the way through the story picked up for me. By the end I was rooting for them all.
Amalie belongs to an Inspirational society, which believes in praying for peace and living communally during the Civil War. Her intended, Frederich, leaves to go build up the new colony in Iowa and is drafted to go fight. He feels he needs to go and leaves just a short time before Amalie arrives. He asks his best friend, Matthias, to look after Amalie, but Mattias harbors some feelings for Amalie himself.
This story had an interesting view to this way of life, but failed to live up to it's market...more
This story had an interesting view to this way of life, but failed to live up to it's market...more
While in an interesting setting, this story lacked any warmth to make it a compelling read. I liked it and with a tweak in the writing style would have given it a higher rating.
I like these kind of books. Its fun to read about how people lived in the past. I love the details of day to day life in another culture.
Love! Everyone wants to be loved in the way the book portrays it. Simple and plain life with deep importance on relationship.
A satisfactory book. Nothing wrong with it, but there was nothing really great about it either that made me want to read more.
I really enjoyed the characters and story in this one. It started pretty slowly, but definitely picks up towards the middle, and I was glad I stuck with it.
Can't wait to read this one! I love reading about the Amana Colonies!
It's Amish stuff.... neutral comment
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Writing novels is a fun excuse for Melanie to explore ghost towns and old houses, travel to unusual places, and spend hours reading dusty books and journals. She writes both contemporary and historical fiction with threads of romance and suspense.
Two of Melanie's books recently won a Carol Award (The Silent Order and Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa), and Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana won a...more
More about Melanie Dobson...
Two of Melanie's books recently won a Carol Award (The Silent Order and Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa), and Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana won a...more
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