Monday, August 26, 2013

For Every Season by Cindy Woodsmall



http://www.cindywoodsmall.com/

From the publisher:
Working hard to develop a new Amish community outside of Unity, Maine, Rhoda Byler is fully committed to rehabilitating an orchard with business partner Samuel King. But an impulsive decision has created an unexpected strain in her relationship with her beau, Samuel’s brother, Jacob, threatening plans for the orchard. Amidst mounting tension in matters of the heart and business, Rhoda finds that this fledging settlement feels like the home she has always longed for, and she begins to embrace the God-given, heightened intuition that has always felt like a burden to her. She longs for Jacob to fully be free of his past, so they can work towards the future together.

But as Rhoda uses her gift to unpack an old secret with her Englisch neighbors, it is not her beau but an unlikely ally that cheers her on. With the orchard on shaky ground and Jacob’s plans in question, Rhoda is determined to see things through to harvest. But can she trust her insight to direct her path in matters of the heart?
_______

This series of the Amish Vines and Orchards is probably the most interesting Amish books I have read.  Cindy Woodsmall doesn't write the typical Amish stories and yet her details for the Amish life is vivid and draws you in.

This book is 3 of 4 in the series and I believe that readers will be happy to know that there is a book four.  Woodsmall's development of her characters and introduction of new characters continues to build more complexity and depth to her novel.  I would highly recommend reading from book one before you read this book, otherwise you might feel lost (however she does add the back story notes in the beginning of the book).

I am still uncertain about how I feel about Rhonda's "intuition" but it is interesting to see her begin to accept it and it no longer is as haunting to her.  The further understanding of her seeing Emma was also interesting.

Matters of the heart are always trickier than business but in this story both are intertwined and at the end the love triangle of this story will begin to have some resolution   When I read this book, I felt that no matter how the love story played out, it would not be an easy thing---and I was right.  There is a line in the book that I strongly disagree with in regard to marriage and love, but I don't want to give away the story so I won't quote it here.

The story is complex but well written, reader will enjoy this book as well as the others in the series.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

No comments:

Post a Comment