Andrew, Abraham, and Austin Petersheim’s family business has earned them the nickname The Peanut Butter Brothers. But if their matchmaking younger siblings have their way, all three may soon bear another title: husband . . . Handsome, hardworking, and godly, Andrew Petersheim has always been sure of his place in his Wisconsin Amish community. He’ll be a welcome catch for the local girl who … for the local girl who finally captures his heart. Mary Coblenz certainly isn’t that girl. Two years after “jumping the fence” for the Englischer world, she’s returned, unmarried and pregnant. Yet instead of hiding in shame as others in the community expect, she’s working at the Honeybee Farm, ignoring the gossips—and winning over Andrew’s eight-year-old twin brothers . . .
For all Andrew’s certainty about right and wrong, it seems he has a lot to learn from Mary’s courage, grace, and resilience. She’s changing his notions about forgiveness and love, but will she in turn accept the challenge of starting over and choose to stay—with him?
Praise for Jennifer Beckstrand and her Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series
“Full of kind, sincere characters struggling with the best ways to stay true to themselves and their beliefs.” —Publishers Weekly
“A heart-warming story of faith, hope, and second chances. The story will captivate readers who love the Amish culture and enjoy an endearing romance.”
—Amy Clipston, bestselling author of A Place at Our Table
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A heart-warming story of faith, hope, and second chances. The story will captivate readers who love the Amish culture and enjoy an endearing romance.
Andrew is a delightful Amish romance novel. This story had me chuckling from beginning to end. We get to return to The Honeybee Farm owned by Bitsy Kiem Weaver who still changes the color of her hair regularly, has her shotgun at the ready and talks out loud to God. She willingly takes in Mary Coblentz when she returns to town unwed and pregnant. Bitsy is a wonderful character who I wished lived was my neighbor (minus the bees). I loved it when Mary said, “Bitsy isn’t afraid to love people who don’t fit in”. Mary is a nineteen year old who left the community and regrets her decision. She is a brave young woman who is not going to be bullied or hide inside just so other people will be satisfied. Andrew is taken with Mary until he sees that she is pregnant. But, thanks to the twins, he keeps encountering Mary. Andrew’s idea of right and wrong are going to be put to the test. Alfie and Benji were hilarious with their antics. I loved their simplistic outlook of situations. There are judgmental members of the Amish community who need to learn Christian charity. I like the Christian values and life lessons presented in Andrew (faith, forgiveness, redemption, grace, patience, second chances, honesty). We are all sinners and make mistakes. Everyone deserves forgiveness and a second chance. I thought the book was well-written and it proceeded at a steady pace. It seems like I barely began the book when I finished it (with many smiles and giggles along the way). It was interesting to learn more about creating homemade peanut butter. It is cute that the Petersheim brothers are called The Peanut Butter Brothers by locals. I cannot wait to read the next two books in The Petersheim Brothers series. If you have not read The Honeybee Sisters (though you really should), you will not be at a disadvantage. Andrew is a heartwarming story with the colorful, shotgun toting Bitsy, yummy honey, impish twins, homemade peanut butter, and merry mishaps.
A great book to show what true forgiveness of one’s sins means. There is only one true judge and He is in the heavens above. I also think it shows us bravery. It takes a strong woman to decide to walk through pregnancy on her own without the man she thought was her forever. It takes bravery to leave a bad situation.
I enjoy Beckstrand’s creative license with some of her Amish characters. Fans of Beckstrand all know the quirky grandma, Anna, from her Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series and now we have Bitsy, who definitely marches to her drummer. These characters make her books fun and entertaining.
I am looking forward to reading book two, Abraham, releasing November 2019.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, Kensington Books, through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.
Jennifer Beckstrand and stories with matchmaking schemes go hand in hand! From the intuitive wisdom that comes with age, to the enthusiastic persistence of youth, Beckstrand weaves subtle and often laugh-out-loud humor with spiritual themes that touch our daily faith walk. Andrew begins a new series that brings us back to the Honeybee Farm and the delightful gun-toting Aunt Bitsy – now married, but still with the colorful hair.
Age knows no boundaries when it comes to matchmaking. First, it was Anna and Felty, two of my favorite fictional characters, and now it’s the incorrigible boys, Alfie and Benji Petersheim. With their grandparents having moved into their house because of health needs, the two boys have been relegated to sleeping in the cellar – hence their desire to marry off three older siblings and get their bedroom room back.
On the surface, Andrew is a cute and delightfully entertaining romance, but there’s much more complexity to this story. Mary returns to her Amish community after having left it for the English world, and finds acceptance – not from family and friends, but from Aunt Bitsy. Andrew, initially attracted to Mary until he realized she was pregnant, reflects the judgementalism of the Amish community. I loved his spiritual journey of learning a lot about grace and forgiveness, that things aren’t always black and white.
Beckstrand has crafted yet another wonderful story with easily relatable characters and life lessons of acceptance, redemption and second chances. I am eager to spend more time with the mischievous Alfie and Benji, as well as their remaining older brothers. Abraham releases in November of 2019.
Highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book through Celebrate Lit. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
I loved Alfi, Bitzy, and Benji, they hand down were my favorite characters they added a element to the story. This story has your emotions all over the place for sure. The author has you laughing, crying and wanting to punch someone all in the same chapter. I love how strong and stubborn Mary was she had a way of just shining off the pages. Andrew is one I had a love/hate relationship with some moments I wanted to hate him and then he would do something and I would love. I really loved how the author did not try and make the Amish these perfect people that some authors do, because of that the story makes it feel like I’m catching up with friends instead of fictional people. I really liked everything about this book. I loved that it was a good clean read and perfect for all, and that you find yourself not wanting to put it down. I hope there is more to come with this fun family, I really can’t imagine what the twins will cook up next. I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to post a review and have given my honest opinion
This was a sweet Amish romance, book one in the Petersheim Brothers series. Andrew Petersheim is Amish and is proud to be a member of his community. His family farms and makes peanut butter. In fact, he and his brothers are known as the Peanut Butter Brothers but he does not want to make peanut butter, he would rather make beautiful furniture out of wood but does not want to disappoint his family. Mary Coblenz jumped the fence and left the Amish community two years previously. Mary comes back to the community unmarried and pregnant. Upon her return, her parents slam the door in her face and refuse to speak to her but Bitsy Kiem, who owns Honeybee Farms, welcomes Mary into her life and home. Andrew is love struck at his first sighting of Mary but when he realizes she is pregnant and unmarried, his judgment prevents him from acting on his feelings. Mary is trying to give the community a chance to welcome her back into the fold despite her bad choices and sins before she decides she no longer fits in with the Amish. On their way to their happily ever after Andrew and Mary experience a number of missteps, Andrew has to find his way to grace, acceptance and courage, and Mary has to realize that guidelines and beliefs that you embrace do not really make a stifling cage. Andrew’s 8 year old twin brothers, Alfie and Benji, provide good natured comic relief as they try desperately with ever more crazy schemes to get Andrew and Mary to fall in love. The chapters from the twin’s points of view were a unique twist and added quite a bit of humor to the story. This was a beautiful story of second chances, grace, and love while trying to embrace and follow your beliefs. Andrew a beautiful tale – expect to giggle, gasp, cry and swoon. With Andrew, Jennifer Beckstrand proves once again that she is a master storyteller.
I really enjoyed reading this book It was hard to put it down
I love all of Jennifer’s books and gobble them up the minute I can get my hands on them. Her books are entertaining and funny and sweet, and I love ending my day by reading them. It makes all the cares of the day just disappear for a while!
This book was absolutely delightful!!! The show was totally stolen by Andrew’s eight year old brothers, Alfie and Benji, who are the most entertaining matchmakers ever! Their perspective and hilariously clever antics were my favorite parts that had me smiling and giggling out loud. Mary’s confusing presence in Andrew’s life challenges the way he thinks and even though he tries to avoid dealing with his conflicting feelings, his little brothers make sure he keeps having interactions with Mary. As he stumbles through his journey of enlightenment on judgement, repentance, and forgiveness, he also learns from Mary’s example about compassion, kindness, understanding, and love. Mary also sees the goodness in Andrew and his genuine efforts to reconcile traditional Amish ways with putting into action the teachings of Christ. It’s a slow-growing sweet romance, with nice character arcs for both Andrew and Mary, and an amazing supporting cast with Mary’s champion Aunt Bitsy (from the Honeybee Sisters series) and Andrew’s sincere yet incorrigible brothers.
(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)
On my light reading list…enjoyed the Amish theme.
Laughed at antics of the 8 year old twins
Great book!
This is my first Jennifer Beckstrand book but it will not be the last!
The synopsis doesn’t include information about Andrew’s youngest brothers, Alfie and Benji. These eight-year-old twins are determined to get their older brothers married off so they can move out of the cellar bedroom they were relegated to when Mammi and Dawdi had to move in with their family. Their plan is to marry off their three older brothers so a room will become vacant for them. Yeah, when I read a review that explained that, I knew I had to read this series!
I love the way the author didn’t just make this a cute story about matchmaking boys. Instead, she tackled some heavy spiritual matters. Gossip. Judgement. Unforgiveness.
It must have been so difficult for Mary to return to her community, knowing how the gossips would be. And yet, she desired to have her baby in the safety of her family. So when she was rejected by her parents, she was crushed. My heart went out to her, longing to hug her and love her through her pain!
Despite Andrew’s initial judgemental attitude towards Mary, enough of his tender heart shone through so I didn’t despise him. It was clear that his expectations of “seeing” signs of repentance in her were out of a desire for holiness and not simply meanness or pride. Moreover, he did champion her when others were unkind. Where he truly made me like him was in his relationship with his little brothers and the deep love he had for them, even when they did crazy things!
The conversations Mary and Andrew had regarding her sin and what he perceived as a lack of repentance were very insightful and thought provoking. The entire community expected to “see” her repentance – yet what would that look like? Should she go around in sackcloth and ashes? Refuse to smile or laugh? (In case you are wondering, the answer is no!)
My review would be incomplete without another mention of the twins. Oh my! The things they got themselves into were so funny! I could just picture them, thinking they had these amazing plans and then being so surprised when things went from bad to worse and they needed to be rescued. Yet they were not only full of fun and games. They loved Mary so fiercely and so unconditionally. Truly, they exemplified a reason Jesus said we need to be as little children.
Dawdi is living with the Petersheim’s after suffering a stroke. He is unable to speak, yet Benji and Alfie have found that they can communicate with him quite well, as long as they ask him yes and no questions – which he answers with a smile or a frown. Andrew confesses his deepest hopes and fears to him. By the end of the story, Dawdi is still not recovered enough to speak. I’m anticipating many more of these sessions in the books to come with the other brothers and hope that he recovers his speech soon so we can hear what he has been thinking all along!
Andrew is delightful, insightful, and sweet. I highly recommend this wonderful story!
Read my review of Andrew by Jennifer Beckstrand at AmongTheReads.net
I just loved this book I hope there is a #2 to this book.
This is a delightful, yet thought provoking story about forgiveness and the consequences of sin. Twin eight year old boys bring humor and fun. Their innocent questions and answers to moral questions shed light on habits and beliefs that sometimes need deeper understanding than we usually give them.
One of my favorites.
What I think you should know:
Andrew is the first book in the Petersheim Brothers Series. It involves a family of five sons in which the oldest three are old enough to be married and their youngest twin brothers are determined to get them out of the house. This makes for a very interesting book.
What you might want to know:
This book mentions premarital sex, a baby outside of wedlock and abortion. It does not go into details about the premarital sex or abortion and does not condone either of them. It does show a pregnancy outside of wedlock along with the consequences that it has for the girl within her community.
What touched me about the book:
If you are looking for a light and fluffy Christian romance, this isn’t it, while Andrew is a good book that I enjoyed it also tackles some hard truths for Christians. These themes include judgment ( from others not God) and forgiveness. Jennifer Beckstrand has written a book that hit me hard showing how judgmental many Christians can be when it includes a sin that is different from their sin.
Who will love this book( Just to name a few):
Fans of Christian Fiction
Fans of Amish Fictions
Fans looking for a new series to fall in love with.
I received a complimentary copy for this book from Celebrate Lit, this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own.
Jennifer Beckstrand has given readers a chance to meet three brothers in a new series she has created and Andrew Petersheim is the brother we meet first. He is a little arrogant in the beginning and very judgemental but before the book is over, we see a man who has been changed by love. Mary Coblenz is a wonderful young Amish woman who made some bad choices and is back home to face her family and community. She is also the object of both Andrew’s judgement and his affection. Bitsy Weaver is the eccentric but lovable person who offers Mary a home and support as she waits for her baby to be born and Andrew’s eight-year-old brothers are also great additions to the story. These boys and Bitsy gave me several laugh-out-loud moments and I am hoping that I will find them in the next books of this new series, The Petersheim Brothers.
This book has a lot of humor but it is the faith-filled message that will remain with me. I realized that my initial dislike of Andrew’s actions and reactions were in fact things I may have once been guilty of myself! This story reminded me that we humans are eager to judge and we often concentrate on each other’s faults and shortcomings; instead, we need to focus on encouraging and helping those who have fallen. Or, as Andrew so wisely decided, ‘Maybe their sins were worse than his. Maybe his sins were worse than theirs. Only Jesus knew that. Their job was to love and forgive each other.’
Jennifer Beckstrand has written a sweet, romantic , and heartwarming book and I recommend Andrew to all who enjoy Amish and Christian fiction.
I received a copy of this book through Celebrate Lit Tours and NetGalley and I am voluntarily sharing my opinion in this review.
This book angered me a lot as I read it. I understand that Mary has sinned when she became pregnant before marriage. Wasn’t it enough that her family shunned her, the father of her child deserted her and the community whispers about her? Just how much punishment does she deserve to make Andrew feel like has she has paid for her sins? They have some heated conversations and I admired Mary for not backing down. She realizes what she has done was wrong, but at some point forgiveness needs to come. God has forgiven her, so why can’t others? I’m not quite sure why Andrew is so bitter when it comes to Mary, but this scripture kept coming to my mind. “He without sin cast the first stone.”
Bitsy and Yost are a breath of fresh air as they welcome Mary into their home. They are there to help her and not judge her. Bitsy is a character with different colored hair, cats named Farrah Fawcett and honeybees swarming everywhere. She is carefree and welcoming to Mary in a sincere way. What a wonderful example they are to those who whisper and set in judgment. I wonder how many times the church has turned their back on someone who has sinned? We should lead them to repentance and show them unconditional love. The community sure wasn’t doing that for Mary. Mary lets Andrew know just how much she has suffered for her sin, but reminds him that God has forgiven her.
What I really liked about the story was how Andrew took a good look at himself and realized he was a sinner as well. His high and mighty attitude towards Mary was wrong and he knew he needed to change. It was so nice to watch his transformation and reach out to Mary for forgiveness. It is not an easy road for either of them, but it’s a road they must travel to rid themselves of pride, judgmental attitude and learn how to truly forgive.
Benji and Alfie are the comic relief in this book. They get into everything possible and it amazes me how they survive. I loved their childlike innocence and how they became friends with Mary without blinking an eye. Children can sure teach us a few things about accepting others. They have such big hearts and see people the way God does. We can sure learn a lesson from them. I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Mary for the way she was being treated by others. There are so many quick to judge Mary, but the perfect words came from Benji. ” Are you in charge of her soul?” I laughed and then I had to repent. I have done the same thing as others. I have judged and talked about someone who was in sin. It was like I was happy they had got caught so no one would focus on my sins.
The book is a great lesson in forgiveness and judging others. I am glad I read this book and it made me angry. Why, you ask? Because it made me look at myself and examine my heart. How many times have I ignored someone because they were in sin? Why didn’t I extend a hand and lead them to Jesus? I have read many books about judging others but this one really opened my eyes. The author addressed a subject we are all guilty of. Now it’s time to ask forgiveness and start seeing people like Jesus does.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Returning to the Honeybee Farm is always delightful especially when the first person who greets you is Bitsy Weaver. We met the unconventional, sassy but sweet Bitsy in the Honeybee Sisters series and I absolutely adored her and I still do. However, there are two new equally adorable characters who stole my heart in this book, Alfie and Benji, 8 year old twin boys who had me laughing at their antics throughout.
They are extremely busy little boys, they help as much as they can in the family peanut butter business, they are devising a plan to get their room back after having to sleep in the cellar to make room for their grandparents which leads them to try their hand at matchmaking so they can get their room back. Because cellars are apparently quite frightening with the darkness and spiders, so obviously they cannot possibly stay down there for very long.
So, they decide to set up their older brother, Andrew with Mary who happens to be staying with Bitsy, what could possibly go wrong? Pretty much everything including but not limited to encounters with Bitsy,her cats, confusion as to why Mary isn’t welcomed with open arms by some members in their community and their desire for everything to be secret, when things really aren’t such a secret. They are such comical little boys with pure hearts. Mary is a wonderful young lady who made a mistake by leaving her community for the English world but when she comes back (as an unwed expectant mother) she is treated poorly by several people. There are a few times when Andrew came to her defense that made me love him but then there were times when I wanted to shake him and tell him to stop being so judgmental.
As much as I loved the humor in this book, I loved the message of family, faith and forgiveness even more. I am looking forward to the next book in the series because I have a feeling if the twins are successful at marrying off their older brothers, they will each have their own rooms and can sleep soundly far away from the cellar.
Overall, this highly entertaining and well crafted novel is one that I absolutely loved. The characters are well developed, the pace is perfect and this is what I consider quality Amish reading. I suggest settling in your comfiest seat with a cold beverage and a snack because once you start reading this book you wont want to stop. You will laugh, you will get a little teary but you will be glad you chose to spend time with The Petersheim Brothers and their friends.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley and was under no obligation to write a review. All opinions are my own.
Andrew
I loved the twin boys. They were always getting into mischief. Always in everybody’s business. Bitsy had several cats, has such cute names.
Mary had left her Amish home and then comes back. Her parents doesn’t want her back. She is pregnant. Bitsy invites Mary to live with her.
Andrew is the brother of the twin boys. At first he doesn’t want anything to do with Mary but then they become friends.
This is a very good Amish book. Enjoyed all the children, they were so cute. The adults had so much to learn in life. How to treat each other.
This is the first book in the series. I am looking forward to reading the next book.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher through Celebrate Lit. This review is my opinion.