About the book:
Book two in the Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel series.
Carolyn Lapp dreams of marrying for love. But will the errors of her past destroy this dream forever?
Carolyn
Lapp longs to have a traditional Amish family. But she lives on her
brother's farm with her parents and her 15-year old son, Benjamin.
Carolyn has never revealed the identity of Benjamin's father and lives
daily with the guilt and shame of her youthful indiscretion. Her brother
simply will not forgive her.
His answer is to arrange a
practical marriage for Carolyn to Saul, a widower with a little girl.
But Carolyn isn't convinced that Saul really loves her and believes he
is simply looking for someone to help raise his daughter.
When
Benjamin causes trouble at a local horse auction, horse breeder Joshua
Glick decides that he must be taught a lesson. Carolyn and Joshua are
unmistakably drawn to each other, but Joshua mistakenly assumes that
Benjamin is Carolyn's brother. Carolyn fears that if he discovers the
truth, her past will destroy their budding romance.
After years of
shame and loneliness, Carolyn suddenly has two men vying for her
attention. But which of them will give her the family-and the
unconditional love-she's longed for?
My review:
This is an interesting story about a situation you don't read too much about in Amish fiction. I felt for Carolyn and the judgment she's endured from her brother and her community. I could understand Carolyn being afraid to tell Joshua that Benjamin's her son, but it drove me crazy that she kept putting it off and wondering how he would respond when she finally told him. I also couldn't understand why she was considering Saul when she wanted to marry for love and didn't think she could love him. Her son is fifteen and I could understand her thinking about marrying for her son's sake when he was a little kid, but why now? I probably liked Joshua the best of all the characters and thought he was incredibly patient with his mother, who was very pushy and controlling, even mean. The relationship between Joshua and Carolyn was sweet. I was surprised that though Joshua's widowed sister-in-law left the Amish to marry an Englisher and it's mentioned she was shunned, that Joshua and his family didn't shun her. It seems like it should have been explained why that was, unless it was in the first book which I didn't read. This story did work very well as a stand-alone. I liked the emphasis on praying and asking God for direction, but I didn't like that they believe Carolyn's being baptized into the church was what washed her sins away. The writing sometimes felt like it was aimed towards a teen audience, though that's not the case. It also seemed like everything wrapped up a little too perfectly. If you like Amish fiction, you'll probably like it.
I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/xlHpQ
About the author:
Amy
Clipston holds a degree in communication from Virginia Wesleyan College
and works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC. Amy lives in North
Carolina with her husband, and two sons and four spoiled rotten cats.
Amy is celebrating with a Kindle Fire giveaway.
- A Kindle Fire
- Books 1 and 2 in the Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel series, A Hopeful Heart and A Mother's Secret.
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