Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Book Review - Thankful




ABOUT THE BOOK:

New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray captures the beauty, devotion, and warmth of Amish life in this engaging tale of family, commitment, trust, and love set in the beloved community of Sugarcreek.

Christina Kempf has always known that God chose Aden Reese to be her husband. As children, he was there to save her when she fell through the ice, and he's been by her side ever since. After his parents died in a car accident ten years ago, the Kempfs raised Aden as one of their own, and everyone sees Aden and Christina as brother and sister. But Christina has never given up hope that Aden will one day ask her to be his wife.

Aden always planned to court Christina. But losing his mother and father changed everything---except his love for her. Her parents generously welcomed him into their home and treated him like a son. He can't betray their kindness by admitting his feelings for the girl who is like a sister . . . yet so much more.

Pressured by her parents to court, Christina begins to accept the attentions of Sugarcreek's young men, and now, Aden must make a choice. Will he stand by and watch the love of his life slip away? Or will he risk losing the love and trust of the family he holds dear to tell Christina how he truly feels?
Thankful includes a P.S. section with additional insights from the author, background material, suggestions for further reading, and more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shelley Shepard Gray is a two-time New York Times bestseller, a two-time USA Today bestseller, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time Holt Medallion winner. She lives in Southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town's bike trail.

Connect with Shelley: website, Facebook

MY REVIEW:

This book started out a bit slow for me and I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to get into it, but I didn't need to have concerned myself with that. By chapter four, I was totally enthrall ex with this story.

Christina and Aden have loved each other for years, since they were children actually. For Aden, though, there is the problem in his mind of being a part of her family since they took him in when his parents died. They are not brother and sister, but he is concerned that her parents will view it that way and be upset with him. For Christina, she is afraid to open up to Aden for fear of his rejection.

My favorite characters where Judith and Ben who have been wanting children, but can't have any of their own. They decide to adopt and the their social worker asks if they would be willing to foster a baby whose mother is in prison. This part of the story is based on truth as many Amish families are doing just that in real life. I love seeing Judith grow inher faith and in maturity as she takes this precious baby into her home.

My other favorite characters were Jana and Ross, an older couple who have found love again after thinking that part of their life was over. I really liked how Jana came to many important decisions that were right for her instead of always trying to please others.

This is a lovely book, full of uplifting stories and characters that I really came to care about. You'll especially love it if you like Amish fiction as much as I do. I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars, just because of the slow start.

*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity Group


Blessings - Julie

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