White Christmas Pie

Brunstetter, Wanda E. 2008. White Christmas Pie. Published by Barbour.

Just in time for the holidays--Thanksgiving and Christmas--we've got a new book by Wanda E. Brunstetter. Set within the Amish community, White Christmas Pie is the story of a young man on the verge of marriage who is haunted by his past. When he was six years old, his father abandoned him. He left him in the care of an Amish couple. It's not that Will had an unhappy childhood. His new parents treated him well. Better than "well" in fact. It's not that Will is unhappy as an adult. He's happy being Amish and balancing life on the farm with life behind the counter at the family's health food store. He's even happy in love mostly. He's engaged to marry Karen Yoder. But whenever he thinks about his father, his biological father, he gets angry--very angry, very bitter. He's been repressing his emotions obviously all these years.

Mark and Regina are his adoptive parents. When they see an ad from Will's father, Frank, in the paper, Regina decides to go against her son's wishes and contact him. Turns out that his father does love him--did love him--but circumstances prevented him from returning for his son earlier.

But just because Regina reaches out to Frank doesn't mean Will will...he's stubborn, angry, and determined to keep his father out of his life.

If I ended the review there, I'm sure some would be happier with me. I felt White Christmas Pie was dinky. Didactic or preachy in a few places. Implausible and far-fetched in others. Everything resolves around a few key plot elements that are just corny and over the top.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews