Description
“Detachment had worked well as a life strategy for horse trainer Sam Schrock. Until he met Mollie Graber . . .
New to Stoney Ridge, schoolteacher Mollie has come to town for a fresh start. Aware of how fleeting and fragile life is, she wants to live it boldly and bravely. When Luke Schrock, new to his role as deacon, asks the church to take in foster girls from a group home, she’s the first to raise her hand. The power of love, she believes, can pick up the dropped stitches in a child’s heart and knit them back together.
Mollie envisions sleepovers and pillow fights. What the 11-year-old twins bring to her home is anything but. Visits from the sheriff at midnight. Phone calls from the school truancy officer. And then the most humiliating moment of all: the girls accuse Mollie of drug addiction.
There’s only one thing that breaks through the girls’ hard shell–an interest in horses. Reluctantly and skeptically, Sam Schrock gets drawn into Mollie’s chaotic life. What he didn’t expect was for love to knit together the dropped stitches in his own heart . . . just in time.
Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you back to the little Amish church of Stoney Ridge for a touching story of the power of love.”
My Review:
I’ve read many good books this year and loved them. But this book—this book captured my whole heart. I laughed in parts at Luke Schrock and the great change that came into his life, but I was also moved to tears several times through this story. I’ll explain that in just a minute. But first, I want to write a note to two separate groups of readers.
To those of you who are reading a book from Suzanne Woods Fisher’s Amish series for the first time; The characters in this book have appeared in several of her series. You’ll understand more of their backstory if you’ve read those books, (especially Luke and Izzy’s stories) but it really isn’t necessary to read this one. You’ll be able to enjoy and love this story as it is.
To those of you who have kept up with these characters throughout these series: You are going to LOVE this one. Luke Schrock has been one of my favorite characters for a long time, and in this book he comes full circle from being a public nuisance to embracing his relationship with God on a whole different level. There’s a storyline about Luke and Izzy’s marriage and the challenges they face. But there’s so much more than that, as the Amish community takes in, on an emergency basis, several foster care children. This changes several lives of characters that we’ve know before. A sweet character we love faces a health care crisis; and and there’s still a couple of characters who are seeking God’s guidance in their lives.
As much as I love all the above, what touched me the most was the emphasis on Psalm 23 all throughout the book. Suzanne FIsher did an outstanding job bringing that Psalm to life in the lives of this Amish community. Although I laughed at Luke at times, these lessons from Psalm 23 as acted out in the lives of these characters brought me to tears at times. And the ending to this story is a total, unexpected surprise. It was with great reluctance that I finished reading this book and I’m already wishing for the next book in this series.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.