The Christmas Quilt

Worth (The Forgiving Quilt) wraps up the Shadow Lake series with a haphazard Amish romance that untidily mixes blackmail, family secrets, and hopes for a Yuletide happily ever after. Colette King’s beau Matthew Mueller has been gone for six months, tending to his dying uncle Saul in Missouri. When Matt returns to Pennsylvania in November, he has Shelah Frantz on his arm, who announces that the two are engaged. Matt explains to Colette that the engagement was his uncle’s deathbed wish (Saul was Shelah’s guardian). Matt’s trying to get out of the arrangement—which is easier said than done, since Shelah’s using a dark family secret to blackmail him. Colette and her sisters sense that something shady is keeping Matt in the engagement, and work to uncover the secret. At the same time, Colette tries to mend her wounded heart by sewing a Christmas quilt that depicts her and Matt’s relationship, starting with the Christmas they fell in love. There are flashes of intrigue, and the mystery of the Mueller family’s backstory, which involves some questions about Matt’s parentage, is engrossing, but the novel fails to come together as a cohesive whole—Matthew and Colette’s romantic arc drags; several disasters, such as a buggy accident, feel like plot devices; and the Christmas quilt story line never joins up with the rest of the narrative. It’s a lackluster finish to the series. (Sept.)