MY REVIEW:

Healing Hearts contains three previously published novellas by Beth Wiseman. Although the three stories are contained in one volume, each one stands alone and is not directly related to the others. Each of the stories features Amish couples in various stages of life. Themes of acceptance and forgiveness run through the stories that also give the reader an inside look at life among the Amish. Each of these novellas can easily be read in one sitting and are an excellent afternoon escape.

In Healing Hearts, Levina and her husband Naaman have been married thirty years when he leaves and does not return for a year. The story begins with Naaman’s return and the adjustments Levina and her grown children are forced to make – including the choice of whether to forgive his desertion of his family.

A Change of Heart features the youngest couple of the three stories. Leah loves to write stories and has no interest in the everyday chores that most young Amish girls learn in preparation to be a wife and mother. In fact, almost everything she tries, ends up with disastrous results. Her sister sneakily sets her up with her fiance’s brother Aaron against her wishes. Leah fights the attraction but Aaron’s unique ability to accept her as she is is almost irresistible.

A Choice to Forgive is about Lydia who has been widowed after fifteen years of marriage to Elam. When Elam’s brother Daniel, Lydia’s first love, returns after Elam’s death and wants to once again be a part of her life, she is reluctant to subject herself to the possibility of more pain.

This book was provided for review by the Amazon Vine Program.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Three hope-filled stories about second chances, trusting your heart, and the power of forgiveness.

Healing Hearts:  Empty-nesters Levina Lapp and her husband Naaman have no children under their roof for the first time in 30 years. When Naaman leaves to visit cousins in Ohio, Levina never expected him to be gone a year. Now that he’s back, will they be able to move beyond this estrangement and rekindle the fire of the love they once shared?

A Change of Heart:  Leah is a writer in a community that does not encourage such fruitless endeavors. She lacks the skills necessary to be a good Amish fraa-cooking, cleaning, quilting, and gardening. Aaron is aware of Leah’s short-comings, but his heart is captured by this spirited young woman. Will Leah’s role as an Amish wife and mother force her to set aside her creative life-or will Aaron make an offer she never dreamed was possible?

A Choice to Forgive:  Lydia has loved two men in her life. Daniel, who disappeared one Christmas Eve long ago, leaving only a note saying he wanted to live in the Englisch world. And Elam, Daniel’s brother, to whom she had been happily married for 15 years. When Elam dies, Lydia gives up on ever loving again. But she is shocked when Daniel wants to return to the Order and her life. Is there enough forgiveness in her heart to overlook the past and move into a future that could fulfill her dreams?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beth is the best-selling author of the Daughters of the Promise series — Plain Perfect, Plain Pursuit, Plain Promise,  Plain Paradise and Plain Proposal.  Her new series–Land of Canaan– debuted in the fall of 2010 with Seek Me With All Your Heart which has been selected as the 2011 Women of Faith Novel of the Year.  She is contracted with Thomas Nelson Publishing and is currently working on her first non-Amish novel due for release in the spring of 2012.  All of her books have held spots on both the CBA (Christian Book Association) bestseller list and the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller list.

As she puts it, her writing has been “all over the place.”  As a former newspaper reporter, she was honored by her peers with eleven journalism awards, including first place news writing for The Texas Press Association.  She has been a humor columnist for The 1960 Sun in Houston and published articles in various publications.  Those articles included a wide array of topics – an article on premature birth, an article about performance boating, and an article about her mother–a whitewater canoeing enthusiast who still paddles the rivers at the age of 77.  However, writing novels is where her heart is.  She left her job as a journalist in 2008 to write novels full-time.

“Writing about the Amish lifestyle within fictional love stories has been a wonderful experience,” Beth says.  “The Amish and Mennonite contacts I have established in Pennsylvania and Colorado help me to keep the books authentic.  These very private people might dress differently, avoid the use of electricity and modern conveniences, but they are just like everyone else.  They love, hurt, have daily challenges and struggles, and strive to be the best they can be.  An often misunderstood sect of people, it has been a privilege to learn about their ways.”