Publisher Description
After a devastating wildfire sweeps through her town, one young Amish woman is shown a different way to practice her faith . . . but pursuing it could cost her everything she holds dear, including the man she loves.
Nora Beachy loves her life. She works in the community store in West Kootenai, takes care of her family and courts with Levi Raber. She and Levi plan to marry, but Levi wants to wait until he has the money to buy them a house before he pops the question. Nora doesn’t want to wait. Is there something keeping Levi from marrying her?
Nora’s peaceful existence is swept away when wildfires threaten her family’s home. She’s forced to evacuate to Libby where she stays with family in an Amish community that embraces a charismatic style of worship rejected by her own parents and the Kootenai district elders. Nora’s drawn to the emotional, powerful style of worship, the musical instruments, and the more relaxed lifestyle. She knows she’s headed for a shunning if she doesn’t stop breaking the rules, but she can’t understand why both forms of worship aren’t lovely in God’s eyes.
Nora’s stuck in the middle. She loves her family and doesn’t want to lose them. She loves Levi. But she must make a decision: return to her traditional Amish life or embrace this new way of worshipping and living. Will she sacrifice her relationship with Levi and her family for a different kind of faith?
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My Review:
This book continues to follow the disruption of the Amish community as they escape from the wildfires that threaten to completely destroy their homes and businesses.
It’s also a compelling story about two Amish families whose practice of worship is expressed in very different ways. This seems to be causing a major rift between the two families, and Nora is feeling the strain that this has created among those she dearly loves. As she evaluates what she truly believes, she wonders about many aspects of her life, including her relationship with to Levi. The author did a good job leading us through Nora’s journey of knowing her own heart, and encouraging the reader to trust the Lord completely with the desires of our heart.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
About Kelly Irvin
Best-selling novelist Kelly Irvin’s latest series, The Amish of Sky Country, features an Amish community in Northwest Montana affected by wildfires that destroyed thousands of acres in the state in recent years. The first book, Mountains of Grace, debuted in August 2019, and delves into the impact on not only an Amish man and woman, but also a smoke jumper, a sheriff’s deputy, and a young English woman forced to confront her past because of the fires.
Kelly also writes romantic suspense novels. Her most recent forays into this genre include Tell Her No Lies and Over the Line, both set in San Antonio and South Texas. Of Tell Her No Lies, The Library Journal says, “Irvin creates a complex web with enough twists and turns to keep even the most savvy romantic suspense readers guessing until the end. Known for her Amish novels, this two-time Carol Award finalist shows that her talents span subgenres from tranquil Amish stories to rapidly paced breathless suspense.”
Kelly is also the author of the Every Amish Season series, which included four books that chronicle the lives of Amish widows who are in different seasons in their lives. These women are linked by life altering experiences that bring them together as wives, mothers, and grandmothers in the small town of Jamesport, Mo. The first book, Upon a Spring Breeze, received critical acclaim from the Library Journal: “A moving and compelling tale about the power of grace and forgiveness that reminds us how we become strongest in our most broken moments.”
Kelly Irvin is also the author of The Amish of Bee County series, which includes the critically acclaimed The Beekeeper’s Son. Publishers Weekly called the first book in the series a beautifully woven masterpiece and Romantic Times Magazine called Kelly a storyteller extraordinaire. It was followed by The Bishop’s Son and The Saddle Maker’s Son, which is an ECPA bestseller.
A two-time ACFW Carol finalist, Kelly’s novellas have been included in numerous anthologies, including An Amish Summer, The Amish Christmas Gift, An Amish Market, an Amish Christmas Love, and Amish Quilt, An Amish Reunion, An Amish Picnic, and An Amish Christmas Bakery.
She also penned the Bliss Creek Amish series and the New Hope Amish series, both published by Harvest House Publishers. Love Still Stands, the first book in the New Hope series, debuted in September 2012, and the follow-up, Love Redeemed, released March 1, 2014. The final book in the series, set in Branson, MO., was A Plain Love Song, released in July 2014.
The Bliss Creek Amish series, set in Kansas, includes To Love and to Cherish, A Heart Made New, and Love’s Journey Home.
In the New Hope series, familiar characters from Bliss Creek move to Missouri to start a new district and a new life.
Kelly is also the author of two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine, set in San Antonio, Texas. Two more romantic suspense novels are on the horizon, with the first, Tell Her No Lies, slated for publication by Thomas Nelson Publishing in January 2019.
The Kansas native is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and the ACFW San Antonio local chapter Alamo City Christian Fiction Writers, as well as Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Sisters in Crime.
A graduate of the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism, Kelly wrote nonfiction professionally for thirty years. She studied for three semesters at the University of Costa Rica, learning the Spanish language. As a journalist, she worked six years in the border towns of Laredo and El Paso, where she was exposed to culture and language that serves as fodder for her fiction writing. She has written hard news, features, entertainment pieces, restaurant critiques, editorials, and weekly columns. Writing awards include the Silver Star Award from the Texas Mental Health Association for articles pertaining to mental health and numerous awards in news, feature, and editorial writing from the Texas Press Association and Texas Press Women.
Kelly retired in 2016 from her position of 22 years as public relations manager for the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department, where her duties included writing and designing an employee newsletter, writing news releases, collaborating on marketing campaigns, coordinating ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings, coordinating press conferences, updating the web site, and acting as a media spokesperson.
Kelly has been married to photographer Tim Irvin for more than 30 years, and they have two young adult children and three grandchildren. In her spare time, she likes to write short stories, read books by her favorite authors, and visit the babies.
For more information, visit http://www.kellyirvin.com