A very beautiful romance. Love, forgiveness, prayer, babies, family, injury, emergency, and so much more. A delightful read!

The Hearts Shelter
Amy Clipston
Helping her aunt who has given birth to her fourth boppli (baby) gives Kira Detweiler the opportunity to leave Indiana and travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania; her fiancé has broken off their engagement leaving her puzzled and heartbroken. She meets Jayden Bontrager while shopping with her cousin. She is impressed with his demeanor; he is humble, gentle, and easy going. They see each other again a few days later while he is working on the roof of her aunt’s home. Jayden and Kira form a friendship, but both are guarding their hearts. Kira is homesick for her family in Indiana; she has not plan to stay in Lancaster. She sees no reason to consider a closer relationship with Jayden when she plans to return to Indiana; she does not want her heart broken again. Twenty-three-year-old Jayden is not searching for a wife. While he admires his brothers and hopes that someday he will have a life like theirs, he is in no hurry. He realizes Kira does not plan to stay in Pennsylvania causing him to hesitate to consider forming a long-term relationship with her. However, they are drawn together in a way neither has experienced before.
This is the final book in the Amish Legacy series. I have not read the first there however, this book stands well alone. I enjoyed the interaction between Jayden and Kira. Their love was not rushed, it was gentle, pure and strong. There were several things about this book that I enjoyed: the main characters, the group of friends that did good things for others and the way their relationship grew from friendship to love.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review purposes.

The Heart's Shelter by Amy Clipston is the fourth book in the Amish Legacy series. There is enough background given that it was easy to dive into this book without reading the other books (I have only read the first one).

The Heart's Shelter is a sweet story of Kira going to Pennsylvania to help her aunt care for her family after the birth of her son. Kira is trying to heal from a broken engagement, and her nieces and nephews (especially Ruby) provide the necessary distraction that she needs.

Jonah is not looking for a relationship. For him, that is a someday dream. However, once he gets to know Kira, that dream doesn't feel so far away. Unfortunately, several obstacles are in the way of him and Kira having a relationship.

In addition to Kira and Jonah, there is a lovely community of characters who round out this story. Kira's character grows as the story develops, and it is interesting to see her step into her calling.

Lauren Berst did a good job with the narration. It was interesting to hear the pronunciations of the Pennsylvania Dutch words, as opposed to trying to figure them out when reading the book.

Thank you to Zondervan, Thomas Nelson Audio, and Net Galley for the opportunity to listen to this book. I was not required to provide a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story is interesting but the audiobook narrator is difficult to listen to. The German words are not pronounced correctly and it gets grating after a while. It would have taken five minutes to research the common words like “danke” which is closer to rhyming with “Tonka” than to “donkey” like she says it. Unfortunately, the narrator took a lot away from the experience.

The Heart's Shelter is Amy Clipston's latest installment in her Amish Legacy series. It follows all the Bontrager men starting with dad Duane, then brothers Korey, Tyler and Jayden. I've really enjoyed each book and then seeing the characters in each following story-line. Here we have the youngest brother Jayden who meets Kira who is 2 years older than him and just out of a break-up. Their romance was very sweet and delightful to watch as it unfolds. I loved the little match-matching they did between an older couple too. This is a fun and entertaining read and if you like Amish romance, you will definitely welcome an afternoon with any of Amy's books!

The narrator, Lauren Berst, did a wonderful job. She's very easy to listen to.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 6 February 2024

A very sweet and tender Amish story that will keep you wanting more of Jayden and Kira and to show us how they find a way to be together. I love Amy Clipston's books and I would recommend this book to anyone! Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Amish Legacy series has been one that I have really enjoyed. The Heart’s Shelter was a very nice wrap up to the series, with Jayden Bontrager finally getting his happily ever after.

Jayden and Kira were quite the match up! They were both very unsure of themselves for a good portion of the story. Jayden had quite a few reasons, including the knowledge that Kira was just in their community temporarily, that had him hesitant to explore a relationship with her. Kira was getting over a broken heart and did not think there was any reason to allow herself to possibly have her heart broken again by jumping into a relationship with a new man, especially when she was so homesick for her family. However, these two were continually drawn to each other and had a rapport that they did not experience with anyone else.

I loved getting to see what was going on in the Bontrager family, with all of the previous couples from the first three books. That has been something very enjoyable throughout this entire series. Of course, you could jump in and only read this novel and probably still enjoy it a lot. However, this series has been one of my favorites and I definitely recommend all of the books. The family went through some rough times as Jayden’s older two brothers struggled with the family dynamics in earlier novels.

I really enjoyed listening to the audio book. The narrator did a good job and kept me actively listening from the start to the finish.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you're looking for a beautiful story with heart-warming love, family, traditions, friends and an Amish background, look no further. You've found what you're looking for!

What a beautiful story that stemmed from an original heart-breaking beginning.

Kira has just arrived in Lancaster County PA, after her love (Philip) broke their engagement, and broke her heart. She has come to help her Aunt with her 4 little ones, but more so to escape the sadness that she left behind in Indiana.
Although she misses her Mom, Dad and sisters, she is looking forward to the escape of being in another place, with kids, to help take her mind off of her heartbreak, and to seek some happiness too.

When she arrives, she literally bumps into a guy (Jayden), that she thinks she will never see again.
Little does she know that God works in strange ways....

So, without giving too much away...the Amish community is huge, but there are many opportunities for the community to meet up with each other, and Kira and Jayden have only just begun...

Again, just beautifully portrayed and played out. You can literally FEEL all that Kira is going through... and how difficult it is for her to move on after the breakup. Additionally, it is a beautiful thing to read how this community comes together and stays together when there is any type of problem. Too bad we don't have more of this in the real world.

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!
Mostly because it made me feel ALL THE FEELS in this beautiful book!

Thanks so much to #NetGalley, #ZondervanFiction and #HarperCollinsChristianPublishing for an ARC of the audiobook which was released on 2/6/24.

#TheHeartsShelter by #AmyClipston and beautifully narrated by #LaurenBerst.

Feel free to like, follow and friend me on: Goodreads,
IG @ #BookReviews_with_emsr or
My Facebook Book Club: Book Reviews With Elaine.

Thanks so much for reading!📚⭐️📖

The Heart’s Shelter is a delightful story full of family and faith. Kira arrives in Pennsylvania after a broken engagement left her shattered and afraid to love. To help her recover, her aunt invited Kira to come and help the family, after she delivers her fourth child.

During one of her first solo outings with two of her cousins, Kira meets Jaden in the grocery store but brushes off any possibility of attraction because she’s not staying in PA and has no interest in risking her heart again.

Any romance reader knows that’s likely not how the story will end, but what impressed me was the twisty way Amy Clipston brought about the happily ever after. Between aging friends, good works, a flirty friend and even a rueful ex-fiancee, the path to true love was not easy for these two. And yet the tone stayed light and encouraging at every turn, and I appreciated that. Amy Clipston, whether writing Amish or straight contemporary romance, is fast becoming a favorite author.

I received a copy of The Heart’s Shelter from the publisher via NetGalley. They opinions are my own.

In this fourth and final book we get to revisit all the Bontrager family. But this story is about the last of the brothers Jayden. He meets Kira who has come Lancaster to help her aunt. Kira is also getting over a broken heart and is not interested in meeting anyone. Jayden forms a friendship with her and feels a strong connection, but how can he ever help Kira see that he isn't like the guy that broke her heart. As their friendship grows so does the bond they both feel in their heart. But can Kira let go of her hurt and move on and can she leave her family in Indiana that she's so close to and make a life in Lancaster. I really enjoyed this book it kept me interested till the end. I was given an Audio version of this book by Netgalley. The narrator was good and made the book enjoyable to listen too. #ZondervanPublisher #Netgalley #AmyClipston #Amishfiction #Amishlegacyseries

This book was really good. I loved getting lost in this different world for a while. I was happy to revisit old friends, and make some new ones.
The narration was really good. Her voice was soothing and easy to follow. I could tune out the world for a while and just enjoy this story.

I would recommend this audiobook to anyone.

The Heart's Shelter tells the story of a heart spurned and the beauty that can come from ashes. Just when Kira feels like her world has ended due to a broken engagement, God leads her to true love that was His plan for her all along. Kira faces some really hard choices on whether she is willing to risk her heart to love again wholly after hurt and whether she is willing to leave behind the family she has always known to step out in faith to start a family of her own. This is the 4th book in the Legacy series but reads well also as a stand alone. The narrator did really well with the story, including the Amish verbiage throughout. Easy and lovely read all around.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I spent most of my teen/early adult years reading Christian Fiction and my favorite sub genre of that was Amish Fiction. I have read SO many books in this genre that after a while it is hard to find something "new" to me. I will say that I realize I came into this series on book 4 and while some things may be missing I feel informed enough to fill in the gaps. That being said, I thought the love story was very cold then very hot then very cold once more before the conclusion. It was a lot of "I like you, I am jealous of the other girl but no stay away I have been hurt" until then it was "I cant live without you!" and eventually back to the first one. I think I would have like it a lot without the "third act breakup" that was just completely dumb and unnecessary. The letter making everything worse in my opinion and it held no weight in the story ultimately.

I liked the narrator, not a huge fan of one narrator for dual POVs but it was ok. Overall it was an "ok" Amish Fiction but nothing new in the sea of others I have read.

A lovely slice of Amish family life with a sweet friends to more romance trope.

The strength of this story is in the rich details of the Amish community. I loved reading about the day to day goings on in both Jayden’s and Kira’s extended families. And the way they are drawn together and slowly open themselves up to love made for a rich, satisfying read.

Of course it doesn’t all go smoothly. Clipston captures both the anxiety and thrill of starting a relationship and I was unaccountably nervous off and on through the whole read. I mean, I knew there’d be a happily ever after, but still the emotional twists and turns kept me angsting…as did one very annoying maidel. ‘Nuf said.

Of Note: This is the fourth book in the author’s Amish Legacy series but reads perfectly fine as a standalone. If you are familiar with the Bontrager men, you’ll be thrilled to catch up with them and their Frauen. This was my introduction to the series and I had no problem using this story as my starting point. You can bet I’ll be backtracking to catch up with this series sometime soon.

I listened to the audio edition of this novel and Lauren Berst’s narration brought an extra level of enjoyment. It was fun to actually hear various Pensylvania Dutch words spoken (as opposed to the mangled pronunciations rattling around in my head!) And she did a fantastic job of giving the characters distinctive tones and inflections which helped to flesh out the characters in my mind.

My thanks to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Audio and Net Galley for providing me with an audio edition of The Heart’s Shelter.

Amy Clipston’s book four in The Amish Legacy series is probably my favorite of the set! The Heart’s Shelter is the story of Jayden and Kira! Kira is in Pennsylvania helping her aunt with her four children when she meets Jayden. They have an instant connection, but she has recently had her heart broken and is not planning to stay with her aunt. Can Jayden convince her that he won’t hurt her and that their love is worth it? Jayden is my favorite character. I’ve enjoyed him in every book and was so happy to see his get his happy ending! Thanks NetGalley and the publisher.

Amy Clipston is one of my favorite authors. She did not disappoint with this book. I love the sweet, innocent story of searching for Amish love.