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. 

For Such a Time as This by Ginny Aiken

 

Because this book was so enjoyable to read, I found it hard to put down. The characters were believable and struggled with many things that I've struggled with so that helped me to be able to identify with the characters right off the bat. This book takes place in the 1870's in Oregon and so has the "old West" kind of feel with the small town that has a General Store, bank and church and not a lot else.

The book starts with nineteen year old Olivia Moore praying that she can somehow help her family out since they've fallen on hard times due to droughts and grasshopper plagues. She certainly isn't expecting God to answer her prayer by allowing a pig to cross her path and some young boys falling shortly behind, but that is how God opens the up the way for her to become a nanny for one of the young boys and his older sister.

She starts working for the President of the local bank as his children's companion and due to circumstances end up entering into marriage as strictly a business proposal and she is to have no say in the bank. Meanwhile, her family is sent a letter signed by the President of the local bank stating that they have been foreclosed on and will be losing their homestead if they don't pay soon. Torn between loyalty to her family and her husband, she isn't sure what to do and starts wondering if God led her to that family for "Such a Time as This".

As I said earlier, I really did enjoy reading this book. The plot really wasn't complicated and so it made a nice easy read - something to take your mind off of things and to curl up to at the end of a stressful work day. I'd highly recommend this book if you enjoy "Old West" kind of books. There is just something about reading about other peoples' troubles that helps take your mind off of your own.

I received this complimentary book from Faith Words in exchange for an honest review. All of the thoughts in this post are my own. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review.

The 365 Most Important Bible Passages for Mothers: Daily Readings and Meditations on Experiencing the Lifelong Blessing of Being a Mom

 

Reading this book for a review was kind of challenging, not because the content wasn't enjoyable or because it wasn't practical because it all was. But mainly because it is supposed to be a day-by-day devotional book not a sit down and read through the whole thing in a few days.

That being said, this book is such a valuable resource. It was so practical and really helped me as a mom to think more about raising my child. It seemed to me that this book would be helpful for any stage of motherhood you are in, but seeing as my child is only two this is just a guess.

Things to note since you are probably reading this book to find out if you would like to purchase it yourself...if you like the Bible passages to be from only one translation you might not enjoy this book. If you really only like to read from the KJV and nothing else you may want to pass as the KJV isn't used (the NKJV is, but not KJV).

While this book does go by the calendar year, it also has a handy table of contents at the beginning that shows you what the different subjects are throughout the book. This could be helpful if you are really needing to encouragement about a certain topic you could use that as a guide to find a devotional that would be more relevant to what you are going through at that time.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review through Faith Words. All of the opinions are my own.

Reunion by Lauraine Snelling

Coming soon in July...

Reunion by Lauraine Snelling!

Summary of the book:

The Sorenson Family are planning a family reunion even though their mother Dagmar has just passed away from cancer and will not be there to join them. Dagmar's daughter Keira has been going through her mother's house with the help of her best friend (and brother's wife) Leah. Keira is searching for her birth certificate so she can get her passport for a trip to Norway that her husband surprised her with and Leah is looking for pictures to make a family memory book for all that will be attending the reunion.

When Keira stumbles upon her birth certificate, she is shocked to discover that under the "father" section it reads: "Unknown." Hoping that she is reading this wrong and not wanting to devastate her brother Marcus (Leah's husband), she keeps the information to herself until she can look into the matter more.

Meanwhile, Marcus (a pastor in the community) discovers that his teenage daughter is pregnant and tries to decide what to do about it: should he hide the information or resign from the ministry?

While plans for the reunion continue to take place, each member of the family seems to have a secret that they are keeping from the other members of the family and it will all come to a head at the reunion!

My review:

This book gave great insight into how devastating a teen pregnancy can be. There are many great thoughts throughout the book on what should or could be done with a Biblical view of life. I felt that this book did very well at detailing how it affected each person whether it was Kirstin (the girl who was pregnant), Jose (the father of the baby), Leah (her mom), Marcus (her dad) or Keira (her aunt). The book definitely kept the focus on what God's Word says about life even though it was not easy for any of them when "push came to shove".

This book does a fantastic job of showing how important unconditional love is in the believer's life. By showing unconditional love in your life, you get to emulate God's love for us as sinners! What a great picture!

I did enjoy this book even though it focused on some hard topics. The author did a good job of weaving the story so that you really did get involved in the characters lives and wanted them to do the right thing. I know there will be many people that find this book controversial, but for those that try to live according to the Bible I would think this book would only be encouraging!

I received this book for free from Faith Words in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review.





Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse by Ed & Lisa Young

When I saw that this book was available for review I thought it sounded like an interesting twist on your typical marriage help books and I was eager to read it. While I sincerely believe that my husband and I have a very good marriage, I figured that there would still be something that we could gain from this book. I started reading the book and it did not disappoint. While yes, the book does definitely focus on having an intimacy with your spouse - it goes beyond that! It covers so many excuses that we let crop into our lives that lead us away from "becoming one" in our marriages.

One of my favorite chapters was actually the first chapter because it covered the differences between men and women and how we think. I couldn't believe how accurate it was! I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised since this is written from a husband and wife team that have been married for over 30 years, but it still amazed me.

I think that this book would be very helpful for any marriage. Even if you have a solid marriage - it will help to solidify your marriage. If your marriage seems to be shaky - it can help you to get it back on track. This book even has a section at the end of each chapter called "Action Steps" for couples that are reading this together and are getting ready to embark on the "Sexperiment". While this book is written for married couples, it also has a section at the end of the chapter called "Before You Do" for engaged couples and "The Yoke is Not a Joke" for those that are still dating. I really appreciated the fact that over and over in these sections they made a point to say that this experiment is only for you once you are married, but there are things that you can consider before you are in that situation.

I received this book for free from FaithWords in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All words and thoughts in this review are my own.

Every Day a Friday: How to be Happier 7 Days a Week by Joel Osteen

I was so excited to see that I'd be able to review this book when I got an email about it. At the time, I was so stressed with working from home and trying to take care of my child at the same time I felt like this would be a great book for me to read to gain a better perspective on life. When it finally came in the mail I was so excited, I couldn't wait to start reading it but like so many times life got in the way - now months later I was finally able to read this book.

This book had such great potential and a lot of really good points. Much of the book was great! There was so much in the book that was so practical...being content where you are, keeping a positive attitude at all times, finding a reason to laugh every day (for me - that's hanging out with my daughter), giving thanks for what you have. There were so many great thoughts.

I guess my main concern with this book is it seemed that the main message for each chapter was do "a" and God has promised to bless you, do "b" and God will bless you. I have no problem with the fact that God blesses people because I know that many times God is most glorified when true believers praise him and declare how God has blessed them, but I just felt that he really didn't have Scripture to back up what he was saying at times. My other concern was the book seemed to be so focused on how can this help me. Many of the things he kept saying were that God will bless you because you are so wonderful or whatever point he was trying to make, but there seemed to be little in most (not all) chapters that gave any indication that the reason we were made was not to bring glory to ourselves and so that we can live great lives, but so that God will be most glorified.

Sometimes we can be doing everything right and we can be happy and joyful, but we won't always see the blessings here on earth. That I guess was where I felt like this book was a little off. Much of our blessing won't come here on earth, but will come when we reach heaven.

Even though I have some concerns about the book, it really did help to either change my perspective or to reiterate that I'm on the right track. I would still recommend this book to someone who is struggling to believe that God is good and that you can be happy even when times are tough, but I'd probably have to tell them to read it with a grain of salt.

As I wrap this up, I did want to mention that I received this book for free from Faith Words 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.