Like a Bee to Honey

Beckstrand neatly, sweetly ties up her Honeybee Sisters trilogy of contemporary Amish romances (after A Bee in Her Bonnet), continuing the warmth, gentle humor, and faith in human goodness that characterized the earlier books. Here she pairs up skittish, anxiety-ridden youngest sister Rose Christner and shy Josiah Yoder, the young farmer who has been adoring her for years. Fans of introverted characters will be pleased to finally see inside Rose and Josiah’s minds and will be cheered to watch them brave their insecurities as Beckstrand explores surviving the death of a parent and how communities reject or take care of their own. The mystery of the vandals on the Christners’ property comes to a head with light tension set into the framework of gentle forgiveness that carries the rest of the story. Cat antics, strange hair, fussy grandparents, and delicious cookies have had their run, and this series couldn’t support a fourth volume, but Beckstrand cleanly closes with a triple wedding and a few more recipes to remember the Christner sisters by. Agent: Mary Sue Seymour, Seymour Agency. (Sept.)