In the second novel of Kelly Irvin’s Bliss Creek Amish series, readers will be delighted to return to a town and a family they’ve already come to love.
Annie Shirack is trying to fight her feelings for David Plank, a young Amish man who’s struggling with an aggressive case of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. David loves Annie too much to let her into his life, only, he fears, to leave her.
When a homeless young woman named Charisma and her two-year-old daughter, Gracie, show up in Bliss Creek, Annie welcomes them into the Shirack household and tries to help them establish a new life. But all the good deeds in the world can’t change the ache in Annie’s heart…or help her forget the man she loves.
My Comments: Love, forgiveness, traditional roles, hard work, patience, sacrifice, simple living – this book included it all. The book begins by introducing us to Annie, Sadie, and Miriam working in the bakery. Sadie is older and owns and runs the bakery, but Annie and Miriam – who are younger – both have troubled love lives. Annie loves a man who has cancer (Sadie’s son) and Miriam loves a man who recently finished his rumspringa and has not fully acclimated back into Amish life. The women really don’t present the problem, it is the men – Annie’s interest – David – thinks he will die and Josiah – Miriam’s interest – is still confused about a Mennonite gal, Sarah, who really wasn’t very good for him. The story then develops around this – and the Englischers who break into the bakery at gunpoint.
I did not read the first book in this series, but I want to. This book kept me engaged, and it was Amish fiction at its best. The characters seemed real and I cared about them. Some of them irritated me. I would imagine the Amish would respond the way these ladies and men did to being violated. The little bit of suspense in this story definitely added to the enjoyment of the read. I hope there are more books to come in this series. I will go back and read the first one.
This book will be released on October 1, 2012. I received an advanced ecopy from NetGalley.
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October 31st, 2012 at 10:54 am
This is a new to me author and the book sounds really good. Great review. I need to add this to my reading list. I’m glad to know it’s part of a series, so I can read the previous book first.
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