Book review: Can 'Christmas in Sugarcreek' bring love and magic?

"CHRISTMAS IN SUGARCREEK," by Shelley Shepard Gray, Avon Inspire, $12.99, 275 pages (f)

Dependable, steady, reliable — at least that’s how Judith Graber’s parents, younger siblings and everyone else sees her, but with Christmas rapidly approaching, so is her restlessness as well as an unfulfilled longing deep in her heart as Shelly Shepard Gray opens the novel "Christmas in Surgarcreek."

When Ben Knox, conflicted by a difficult past, returns to the Amish community of Sugarcreek, renewing old gossip over his hasty departure two years before, he’s surprised and intrigued to discover that Judith, “the ideal girl” in his mind, hasn’t married.

Judith's father hires Ben to help out with the holiday rush at their family-owned store and suddenly the unlikely pair are spending hours together everyday.

As the magic and warmth of Christmas comes to the community, the gift of true and lasting love is what they seek. But sometimes it's found in unlikely places.

"Christmas in Sugarcreek" is a clean book without any vulgar language, violence or sensuality and it's a sweet love story that's an easy read.

Diony George is a wife, mother, grandmother and published author of uplifting women's fiction and inspiring nonfiction. Her email is dionyg@gmail.com and her website is at dionygeorge.com.