Audio Release Date:  June 28, 2016
Genre: Inspirational Contemporary Amish Fiction

Years ago, a picnic basket brought two hearts together. For Rachel and Mike, history may be about to repeat itself.

Rachel Fisher is devastated when the young man she’s loved for years leaves her to date her best friend. Her heart is broken, and she has all but given up on love. Determined to keep her mind off the pain, she starts teaching at an Amish school for children with learning disabilities.

Since his father became ill, Mike Lantz has been overwhelmed with the responsibility of providing for his family and caring for his six-year-old brother, John. When John joins Rachel’s class and she learns that his mother is deceased and his father sick, she desperately wants to help the family, even with something as simple as a meal.

With her parents’ old picnic basket, Rachel begins sending food to the Lantz family. As the weeks go by, John’s grades start to improve, and the attraction grows between Rachel and Mike. They can’t deny that their friendship is growing toward something more, but both of them are hesitant to risk a more serious relationship.

The last thing Rachel wants is another heartbreak, and Mike is worried about providing for his loved ones. Will the two be able to reconcile their past hurts with new hope for the future?

What a sweet story in The Courtship Basket by Amy Clipston. Amy has such a way with her Amish stories.  For me, Amish novels are about the culture, the faith and the community. The Courtship Basket illustrated all that, giving me a good dose of life in an Amish community, and a budding romance that had me cheering. The premise, using an "heirloom" to tie together romance of the past and the romance of the day, was beautiful. The rocky start for Rachel and Mike made for some drama, as well as a reason for restraint (of the characters). For me, as a reader, I'm soaking it all up, enjoying how sometimes the unexpected and the disappointments may very well be a blessing in disguised.

The Courtship Basket is contemporary, allowing us to relate to these characters emotionally. I just love the communal aspect of helping one another, not just within the family, but as a community. I love the faith element as well as the evidence of experiences that reinforced that faith.  Rachel's mamm's story had me intrigued, as well Veronica's story in The Forgotten Recipe, Book 1 of the Amish Heirloom series. Does anyone know if their mamm's story is another of Amy's novels? And if so, which one? Then , there's the hope chest of their grandma's, which in some ways seem almost magical. God's magic in His perfect timing. So experience this magic of a story, and let the courtship basket in this novel bring you something special as well.