The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall is about a young Mennonite woman (Annie) and a young Amish man (Aden) and their families. To the outsider looking in the Amish and Mennonite communities may look virtually the same, and they often make very good neighbors. However, some lines are drawn deep and are not meant to be crossed. Annie and Aden begin to discover just how hard it can be to navigate the dangerous waters between their faiths when they start to fall in love. Will their faith, love and families be able to weather the storm brought on by this forbidden love?

All I can say is that Cindy Woodsmall has done it again! She takes you into the lives of the Plain people and lets you see God from their perspective. The Scent of Cherry Blossoms is well written and will keep your interest until the very end. I also love that she brings in a couple of her characters from The Christmas Singing novella to make small appearances in the community. It makes life in Apple Ridge more real since Aden and Roman made an appearance in that book as well.

I highly recommend the Scent of Cherry Blossoms to all of Cindy Woodsmall's fans and to anyone else who is intrigued by the Amish and Mennonite faiths and communities. It is a wonderful addition to her other books, and a great short read (just under 200 pages). I am glad to add this book to my collection and I look forward to reading it again sometime.

Read Chapter One

I received this book free of charge from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for review purposes.

The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall

The Harvest of Grace is the third book in the Ada's House Series by Cindy Woodsmall. Although the primary story line in this book revolves around Sylvia and Aaron, Harvest of Grace also bring closure to the beloved characters from the previous two books.

Harvest of Grace is the story of Sylvia, a young Amish woman, who flees her family farm after making a mistake which she might never be able to forgive herself for. She seeks a new start and refuge on the failing dairy farm of Michael Blank. Michael desperately needs Sylvia's help and expertise to try to save his farm after his son, Aaron, left and his daughter died in a tragic accident.

Aaron has been gone from the homestead for many months. He was driven away by his hatred of farming, his drinking, and blaming himself for playing a role in his sister's death. Now that he has found new hope in being sober, he returns to make amends with his family and to offer them a fresh beginning in town.

The road before both Aaron and Sylvia is rough. They each fight their won struggles and battles with accepting grace and forgiveness--not to mention their competing goals for the farm. In the end they are able to show each other what God's grace is really all about.

The Harvest of Grace is excellently written and a perfect conclusion to the Ada's House Series. If you are a Cindy Woodsmall fan or just love reading about the Amish culture you won't be disappointed.

I received a free review copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing.

Seek Me with all your Heart: A story of healing and finding God even in the hard times

Seek Me with all your Heart by Beth Wiseman is about the love, loss, pain, and healing from an Amish point of view. It is the first book in the Land of Canaan series. The main story centers around a young Amish woman named Emily, a young Amish man named David, and their families. The story is set in a fledgling Amish community in Colorado.

Emily and David’s families left their Amish communities and families in the East to move to Canaan, Colorado, in hopes of a new start. Emily wants to put her past behind her and her mother hopes she will find healing for the tragedies she suffered just before their move. David’s family hopes to find financial freedom in this new frontier where the land is cheaper and their homestead is paid in full. Will they find what they are looking for?

Along the journey we are introduced to many other characters. Each has a unique struggle of their own that they are dealing with. But the resounding theme is that God is telling them all to seek Him with all of their hearts. He is their to help them find what they need, be it strength or peace or healing, if they will only seek Him with all their hearts.

Wiseman does an excellent job of weaving a story that will capture your heart and imagination. Seek Me with all of your Heart was so hard to put down. I just didn’t want to stop reading it! It brings the Amish lifestyle and faith to life for us Englisch outsiders and it deals with real life issues that we all face no matter how we choose to practice our faith in God.

The only difficulties I had in reading this book was getting used to some of the Amish terminology which comes from their Pennsylvania Dutch roots. However, Wiseman has provided a convenient glossary of Amish terms at the front of the book. This made it easy to familiarize myself with the terms and after looking up a few of the words I was able to recognize them when they occurred later in the book.

I highly recommend Seek Me with all your Heart! If you are struggling with forgiveness or dealing with self-worth/self-image issues, this book may hold an especially strong message for you. Once you get started you won’t want to put it down until you have read the very last page!

A free copy of this book was provided to me by Thomas Nelson publishing for review purposes.

Other Books by Beth Wiseman
  



Pre-Order The Wonder of Your Love
Sequel to Seek Me with All Your Heart
Expected Publication Date: October 4, 2011