Conversations with a Moonflower

Details:  Memoir of Christine Hall's life and lessons learned by changing.  Christine's Grandmother's death brings the family together one last time at the old family farm.  What is discovered there while the family sorts, and cleans and cleans out the farm is priceless.  Settled in the Amish country side Christine and her family take the time to say good bye to old dear Amish friends, who were dear sweet friends to their Grandmother.  The gift that is given and shared for years to come will never be forgotten.

My Review:  This was a book club book for the month of May.  I read this very short book in 3 days.  I bought it from Amazon for $4, for my Kindle.  Its the most amazing book ever.  It opens your eyes to lessons you learn from the most unusual things, people, and circumstances.  I highly recommend this book to everyone.    There is a Facebook page just for this book as well, which is fun to check out because Christine is always doing book signings.
Best Part: Christine Hall has a website directly attributed to this book, and through this website, anyone can buy a package of Moon flower seeds for $4.  What an amazing author.  Not only does she tell you her wonderful experiences with her Moon flower, but she allows you the chance to experience the joy in your own back yard.

Pros: short book with lots of lessons, not preachy, not religious, pure every day life lessons to be learned and appreciated.

Cons: none

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Autumn's Promise

Details:  How can an Englisher make Amish friends?  How can a recovering young woman's past help a troubled young man?  How can a widower move on in his life, learn to love and hope for marriage to a wonderful young woman?  How do two very different communities come together to bring two very special people happiness and love?  Shelley Shepherd Gray gives us a timeless love story full of learning to trust, learning to open up, heal, and grow, learning to be true to one's self.

Information:  I used to live within hours of an Amish community and even got to visit a special country community that had based their way of life off of how Amish live.  I have seen extreme plain Green living, and I have seen how people who aren't Amish give up worldly possessions because they feel they are following the will of God.  I personally know how it feels to be shunned because of mistakes (though not as hard a mistake as what Lilly Allen has had to go through).  I know how it feels to be thought of as strange and weird because of my religion, even though I'm Christian, most people don't see my religion as Christian because of how we dress, talk, and our beliefs.  I know what its like to be in "love" and then be rejected and eventually finding peace and learn to truly love again.  I know how to work on a farm, as I've personally grown up on 3 different small animal farms, where we had large vegetable gardens or small fruit orchards.  I can relate to so many of the characters in Autumn's Promise this book really spoke to me personally, about how different life is from what we imagine, what we dream and hope and how wonderful life is still with all those differences.  I highly suggest this book for books clubs, for a personal read, or for a challenge.  At the end of the book after the Author's note is a section of questions that help bring this book into your life!  I love it!

Extras:
Here is the website for Shelley Shepherd Gray: http://www.shelleyshepardgray.com/index.php
Her book is available at both Barns & Noble as well as Amazon.com
I bought my book in the used section of the Orem Public Library for 50 cents, but amazon.com sells it for between $2-$6.  Its totally worth it!

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