Well here’s the thing, there are times when I have favorites at a certain restaurant- you know like every time I head down to that one place down by the water I have to get the Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake (that is to die for) because it’s delicious and it’s my favorite, so I know exactly what I am going to get. It can be a good thing to know exactly what you are going to get ahead of time if that’s exactly what you want or it can be a little bit repetitive depending on your take of what you are consuming. I’ll let you decide for yourself.
“The Healing” by Wanda Brunstetter opens with Samuel Fischer, a young Amish father burying his beloved wife Elsie after she suffered an accident falling down her stairs. She also took with her their unborn child. So you can imagine the grief that Samuel and his four young children are dealing with. In that grief Samuel up and moves his kids to Pembroke Kentucky with the hopes that it will be easier on Samuel to manage his grief as he won’t be thinking of Elsie every minute of every day. He is a truly saddened man and finding it very difficult to take care of his children while simultaneously trying to start his life over. With his brother Titus living in Kentucky, he makes the break and moves himself and 4 young children into his home in Pembroke so he can have some help with his “kinners”.
This story is all about Samuel’s “healing” as the title alludes to. He is able to find work from a young woman who has just moved to Kentucky herself as she is refurbishing an old home that belonged to her recently deceased Grandmother into a B&B. Samuel is helping with the painting and renovations. His 4 young children are being watched during the day by Esther Beiler, a young unmarried Amish woman that is just as sweet as can be and the children quickly fall for her kind ways as well as excellent cooking skills. Esther quickly falls for Samuel, but with Samuel still enveloped in his massive grief, it takes a while for him to come around. He is able to throw himself into his work, but is sadly lacking with all of his relationships around him, children, etc.
On the whole I would say that I enjoyed this story. Honestly, it felt very similar to the first novel in this series-, The Journey, so it was starting to feel a little “formula writing” to me. Boy moves to Kentucky- doesn’t notice girl at first at all as he is still getting over previous girl, starts to come around, crisis happens and he pulls back and then comes around and happy ending. So if you don’t mind that both stories are rather similar then you will enjoy this book just as much as the first one. For me it was just a bit repetitive, that’s all.
That being said, it was a sweet Amish love story, good scriptural truths and charming Amish characters. If you are a fan of Wanda Brunstetter’s Amish fiction series, I think you will enjoy this book. 3 Stars.
A digital copy of The Healing was provided for me from the Publisher through the Netgalley program. This was in exchange for a an honest review. All opinions expressed were my own.
View'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4729258-cheryl-olson">View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment