Read Series Books in Order

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I just finished a book by a well known Amish book author. Since I write an Amish series I don’t usually read many other books about the Amish. This one happened to be in a bunch I bought at a library book sale last summer. I found the book a good read and know the author is well educated to all things Amish. As I read pages jumping between three couples and two families with problems and back to the first couple to continue their problem and then on to the next couple and so on, I had trouble keeping up with each story. It occurred to me I hadn’t been a follower of the series from the beginning. If I had been more familiar with the characters it might have helped me keep up with the story lines in this book.

I’ve been told by readers that they found they should have read the Nurse Hal books in order after buying one of the later books in the series, and now I understand more clearly why. So with that in mind I thought it might be a good idea to remind readers that the latest Nurse Hal Among the Amish series book titled Joyful Wisdom is number ten in the series.

Number one is A Promise Is A Promise. Nurse Hal is assigned an Amish farmer as a patient. He is a widower with three children. Hal grows attached to the children and their father, but she realizes something happened in the family’s past that makes them afraid to let Hal stay in their lives. Finally, John confides in Hal.

Number two – A Rainbow’s End – An Englisher joining an Amish church is rare. If Hal is to marry John she has to prove she will be a devout Amish that obeys all the rules. One way to help the bishop and preachers decide in her favor is to build her a medical clinic on the side of John Lapp’s house so she can treat the Amish community which makes her a much needed asset.

Number three- Hal’s Worldly Temptations – After she marries John, Hal stalls about giving up her car and cell phone. The bishop tells John he will be in trouble along with Hal if she doesn’t obey the Ordnung. Hal talks John into letting her drive the family to The Old Thrasher’s Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and gets caught by Stella Strutt, an Old Order Amish woman who doesn’t like Hal. The church members have to vote on whether to let Hal stay Amish.

Number four – As Her Name Is So Is Redbird – Nurse Hal has her first baby, a girl John nicknamed Redbird, at the clinic that is considered a birthing clinic as well as medical. After one of her medical visits, Hal find a newborn baby in her buggy. An Amish compound ran by a overbearing man is scaring the community, trying to make them join his compound. He finds he has lost the mother and her baby and is searching the neighborhood, terrorizing people.

Number five – Emma’s Gossamer Dreams – John Lapp’s daughter is dating age and considered a very good catch for Amish bachelors. She has been taking care of the Lapp household for sometime before Nurse Hal joined the family. As the different young men date Emma, she becomes more confused about which one she’d pick. She becomes so troubled she has dreams about the men. When Emma is asked to become the school teacher she decides to accept.

Number six -The Courting Buggy – We are introduced to Hal’s parents and her Aunt Tootie. Hal’s father buys a buggy and horse, and the buggy just happens to be a courting buggy. Hal is extremely nervous about Aunt Tootie making a mistake that will offend someone Amish. When an elderly man takes a liking to Tootie, he takes her for a ride in lover’s lane along Bender Creek in Jim’s courting buggy. That was not a good idea.

Number seven -Doubting Thomas – This book is Emma’s romance and possible marriage. She was so busy planning her wedding she didn’t notice for a while the groom had been absent. Once she thought about it, she began to have doubts about him marrying her. He hired a pretty girl as sales clerk in his shop. So maybe he liked the sales clerk better than her.

Number eight – Amish Country Arson – When several fires are set in the Amish community no one wants to believe it is one of their own. Join the community as they try to figure out who the Arsonist was.

Number nine – Second Hand Goods – A man is attacking young girls in Wickenburg and the surrounding area. Second Hand Goods refers to a young woman expecting a baby before she is married.

Number ten – Joyful Wisdom – Hal’s parents and Aunt Tootie have retired and moved to an acreage near Hal’s farm. Jim and Nora take in a great niece that enjoys the friendship of Hal’s stepson Daniel which is not to Stella Strutt’s liking.

Now you have a very condensed synopsis of each book. At one time, I was writing just about the Lapp family and as the children grew up I’ve had to expand the books to include different people. If you have come across one of my books, you can easily find the rest of the series in the same place in paperback and ebook form.

Enjoy

Fay Risner