About the book:
For fans of holiday romances and Amish life comes a new Christmas tale of surprising expectations and discovering miracles.
Old Order Amish Ivy Zook is wrestling with her need to shed her community's ways so she can grow the business of her dreams: planning parties. As long as she's stuck living without modernization, she can barely get her business on its feet. But if she leaves too soon, she'd cause trouble for her sister, Holly, who is planning her wedding to Joshua Smucker. All of their plans become twice as complicated when an old car crashes into the storefront of Greene's Pharmacy, carrying a Swartzentruber (ultra-conservative sect) Amish man, Arlan, and his very ill sister.
The Zooks take in Arlan and Madga, tending to the woman's illness and Arlan begins helping around the family farm. Ivy and Arlan are on different tracks, one wanting to leave her community and the other to return to his. But both young people are trying to discover what God has in store for their futures and what miracles might lie around the corner this Christmas season.
My review:
I enjoyed this story about Ivy as she tried to figure out where she fit in the world. It was interesting to learn about the Swartzentrubers as I had never heard of them before. I had a hard time with Arlan at first because of his judgmental ways but he, too, was trying to figure out his faith and how that fit with his ultra-strict upbringing as compared to the almost worldly Amish (in his opinion!) It's hard to fathom this sect and how strict they must be if they won't even associate with Old Order Amish! I really enjoyed Ivy's and Arlan's conversations as they challenged each other. It was also nice to see Arlan's journey as he saw what a family could be like as they were open with each other about their thoughts and feelings and he realized he wanted that. There was a hint of romance to the story and we also see Holly planning her wedding to Joshua but running into a snag with his bishop and her plans to work at the pharmacy and become an LPN after they marry. This worked well as a stand-alone but you'd probably enjoy Holly and Josh's story, too, in book one. I enjoyed the themes of freedom and grace. I would recommend this story if you like Amish fiction.
I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are my own.
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