The Tempted Soul: An Amish Quilt Novel by Adina Senft

This is the third book in the Amish Quilt Novel series by Adina Senft and another very good book!

I believe that there are times in every believers life where God will test their faith. It may be that there is a job loss which causes financial stress for many years - whether that is because of not finding another job or because you found another job, but had to move someplace to get that job and you now have a mortgage and rent. You cry out to God knowing that He is all powerful and that He can change anything and yet, seemingly nothing happens. You keep believing that God will provide because He promises He will and you pray that the desires of your heart will be answered. For some, it is financial difficulty. For others, it may be the loss of a loved one. And still for others, it may be that they long for a child of their own to love. These things that are good things, things that you know God could change in a heartbeat, but that He allows you to go through for some reason unknown to you. This book is one such book. This book deals with Carrie Miller, who longs to have a child of her own through any means possible and how she cries to God to allow her to have a little one of her own. 

Carrie Miller has been married for many years and loves her husband deeply, yet the one thing she wants most seems to elude her. For in Amish culture, children are seen as a blessing and a woman isn't fulfilled if she doesn't have children of her own but for some reason God doesn't seem to be answering the cry of Carrie's heart. This book chronicles her life and her desire to serve God even with no children of her own. She befriends the young people in the community and when one of the girls gets pregnant out of wedlock, she prays that she might be a blessing to her. 

I really enjoyed reading this book as it spoke so much to me in my life. Having gone through and still going through many trials and wondering why God hasn't seen fit to answer them, this book was a good reminder that God loves us and He will take care of us and continue to draw ourselves to Him.
I would recommend reading this book if you enjoy reading books about the Amish, or just want a book that lets you forget about your own problems for a little bit and lets you see other people's problems. While this is the third book in the series, I think it would be easy enough to read it on its own. If you are interested in the other books, you can read my reviews of those as well. For the first book about Amelia, who has been misdiagnosed and seems to be losing everything, see my review here. For the second book about Emma, who longs to be married to the only person she has loved since she was 18 (she's now 30), see my review here.

In closing, I did want to mention that I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review through  FaithWords a division of Hachette Book Group. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review. All the thoughts in this review are my own.

The Hidden Life: An Amish Quilt Novel by Adina Senft

I've read a fair amount of Amish books in my lifetime and this ranks up there with some of the better ones I've read. From the moment I opened the book and started reading, I couldn't put it down - well I had to, but I didn't want to. Emma Stoltzfus just felt so real to me and was a character that I could relate to and I found myself wondering what else was going to happen to her.

This story is the 2nd book in the Amish Quilt Novels though it isn't stated as the 2nd book. I did read the first book, but I don't think that someone who hadn't read that one would find it hard to read this one without the background.

The story of Emma Stoltzfus is one of an "old maid" - well at least I'm guessing in the world of the Amish. She is only 30, but she has never been courted and stays home watching her elderly mother. In her spare time, she loves to write and sends off many recipes and various pieces to the Amish periodicals. The book opens with her sending off a book to a national contest for fiction. She isn't sure how things will turn out, but ends up doing quite well and ranks 7th out of thousands of manuscripts.

Shortly after that, she gets an offer from a literary agent to sell her book. She heads to New York City out of curiosity and to avoid some drama at home and then comes back to her Amish life. For 12 years, she hasn't had any prospects for marriage and in just the space of a few weeks, she has 3 different Amish men interested in her but her heart belongs to only one of them.

I really enjoyed this story and couldn't wait for the ending, but I found the ending to be very abrupt. I'm hoping that more of her story is told in the next book because otherwise I'll be very disappointed. Other than the abrupt ending, this book was so enjoyable. While it isn't full of mystery there was enough of wondering "what will happen next?" to keep me reading until the last page.

I would highly recommend this to anyone that likes to read Amish fiction.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review through Faith Words a division of Hachette Book Group. I was under no obligation to give this a positive review. All thoughts in this blog are my own. 

Sisters of the Quilt: The Complete Trilogy by Cindy Woodsmall

When the Heart Cries...

I've never done a review that encompasses three books at one time, so I figured that I'd just do "mini" reviews for each book as I finish each one and then give my overall impressions at the end.

Hannah Lapp is a 17 year old living in an Old Order Amish community. Her father is incredibly strict even for the Amish and she secretly meets with a Mennonite boy, Paul, and falls in love with him - getting secretly engaged. As she is walking home from her job (working for Paul's grandmother) on the day she got engaged, she is forced into a car and brutally raped.

Her parents don't want anyone to find out about it and so tell everyone that she was hit by a car on her way home which is partially true. Hannah struggles with her life after this horrible incident has occurred and doesn't know what to do next. She feels like she can't tell anyone and then horrible lies start to surround her as well.

Because Hannah feels like her community will never believe the truth, she decides to leave her home in Owl Perch and try to find her father's sister who was evidently shunned years earlier. This book ends with her leaving to go to Ohio.

This book started out a little slow to me, but then I got really intrigued in what would happen next to Hannah. By the end, I felt like I was right there with her!

When the Morning Comes...

After fleeing her community in search of her shunned Aunt Zabeth, many things change for Hannah. She finds friends and a purpose outside of the Old Order Amish Community.

Life continues on in her community after Hannah is gone, but nothing is the same. Her sister Sarah starts exhibiting bizarre behavior. Luke and Mary get married. Matthew continues to court Elle, but that starts to fail too.

While Hannah thrives in her new life - getting her GED, getting her driver's license, working for a Doctor and studying to be a nurse - she discovers that every step of the way God is providing for her.

When disaster strikes in her former community nearly two and a half years after Hannah initially fled Owls Perch, she feels obligated to return home even though things are going so well in her "new" life.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it fascinating reading about the transition Hannah's life took from Old Order Amish to living in an "Englischer" world.

When the Soul Mends...

Hannah Lapp Lawson returns to Owls Perch to help her sister get the help she so desperately needs. The person who is most qualified to help her sister out however turns out to be her former fiance' Paul Waddell. Hannah isn't sure she wants him to help out since she'd have to be in close contact with him regarding her sister and she wasn't sure how she felt about him since she felt that he'd abandoned her so many years earlier.

Hannah tries to help out in Owls Perch as she can, but she has her life in Ohio to also juggle. Back in Ohio, she has a wonderful boyfriend and two children that she is helping to raise - his niece and nephew.

Things start to fall apart in her relationship with Martin because of all of her trips home and as she discovers that she may still have feelings for Paul after all.

I really couldn't believe how much I enjoyed all three books! At first I was a little leery of doing this review since I knew that I'd have three books to read in order to do one review, but I'm so glad these were all combined. I can't imagine just reading one of the books and then being left hanging.

I would definitely recommend this series to my friends and family - especially those that love to read about the Amish community.

In closing, I did want to mention that I received this book for free through the Blogging for Books Program in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to give a positive review.

The Wounded Heart by Adina Senft

  

 How many times have you had a difficult decision to make? One that you think may be the correct choice given your current life circumstances? Sometimes you have to make choices that you didn't think that you would ever need to make because life throws you a curveball - whether it is because of a job loss, or sickness, or loss of a loved one, sometimes all of these. Whatever the reasons, you have a choice to make - will you trust your own instincts or will you trust in God to guide you? And just like all of us that have had to make difficult decisions, we have the story of Amelia Beiler.

     Having lost her husband a year earlier, she is making ends meet for her and her two boys by taking over her husband's pallet making shop. While her hearts desire is to be at home and tend to the needs of the home like the majority of Amish women, she has had to change her lifestyle in order to survive. While working in a less than ideal situation for her, she starts to lose feeling in her hands and arms and decides to find out what is wrong with her. After multiple tests, she is diagnosed with MS and feels as if this is a life sentence of misery. Throughout the whole book, she seeks to understand why God would allow such a thing into her life, has not been through enough already? What is God's purpose and plan behind all of this? How will she take care of her boys? Should she sell her shop or should she just live with this diagnosis and the medicine that goes along with it?

    This story, while written from the perspective of an Amish woman rings true to so many of us that have had to deal with difficult situations. What a joy to read how this character did trust in God even though she didn't feel like it and that God provided in ways that she had not even imagined. What an encouragement! I really enjoyed reading this book and it was truly thought provoking to me to realize that in every situation God is working to bring good into our lives even when we can't see it. God is there for us every step of the way - even in the difficulty of losing my job in the middle of reading this book. It was such an encouragement to me to realize that God is in control even in the situations that are a complete surprise to us. God was not surprised and He does have a plan.

     I received this book for free from Faith Words a division of Hachette Book Group in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review. I am disclosing this information in accordance to Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler

Having spent the first few years of my life living not very far from Arthur, IL (where there is a decent sized Amish settlement) - there has always been a curiousity for those that live without electricity, drive horse-drawn buggies and wear strange clothing.

I remember as a child visiting Arthur, IL and looking for the buggies. We'd often play a game to see who could see the Amish first.  I remember going into the Amish Cheese Factory and sampling the cheeses there. We'd drive by and make up all sorts of stories about the people that lived in the houses we passed or the people that drove the buggies we passed. I grew up knowing that the Amish had some of the best cooks ever and that if you bought furniture from the Amish it would be some of the best made ever.

I think to many people, the Amish people are fascinating - partly because of the strangeness of their attire and their lack of modern conveniences - partly and perhaps mainly because they are so very different from the rest of us. There are so many questions. Why do they wear they clothes they do? Why do they drive buggies instead of cars? Why don't they use electricity? What exactly do they believe? Why would anybody in this day in age want to live without any technology?

Ira Wagler writes this memoir of his life. So, of course, a lot of it is just his memories of what happened while he was growing up and how he pursued a different direction for his life. This book has so many insights to the Amish way of life. He describes a lot of the traditions of the Amish, but does so in an incredibly interesting way. For anyone wanting to know more about the Amish and what they believe or just wanting to read about a different culture, you should really enjoy this book. It was extremely insightful.

(Without giving up too much - I found it highly interesting that a wedding feast for one of the author's sisters consisted of hot dogs!!! Not only that - he tells us that this is a perfectly acceptable food for a wedding!)

I hope that any who choose to read this book will enjoy it as much as I did!

I received this complimentary book from the Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I'm under no obligation to give a positive review.