Naomi’s Hope Review

Posted by abakersp in Amish / 0 Comments

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About the Book

Despite growing pains in her 1846 Amish community in Indiana, Naomi Schrock has settled into a comfortable life in her parents’ home with her adopted son, Davey. Surrounded by family and friends, she tries not to think about the fact that she’s not at the top of any man’s list of potential wives. Yet when Cap Stoltzfus moves into the area and befriends Davey, Naomi finds herself caught between the plans she has made for her future and the tantalizing thought that Cap might be part of a life she never dared to hope for.

When a couple shows up claiming to be Davey’s true family, Naomi and Cap must unite to make the decision that will determine the boy’s future as well as their own. How can she relinquish him to these unknown relatives? And can God somehow bring wholeness to her heart?

My Perspective

This book combines two things I enjoy – Amish fiction with Historical fiction. It was so neat to see an Amish community start to grow and settle in the 1800’s. And Ms. Drexler seemed to have the facts – right down to having land papers showing your ownership for property. I appreciated her including things like that, as it makes the story more realistic.

Two characters stood out in this book to me. First, little Davey. He certainly had a lot of energy, but he brought a light hearted mood to the book that I enjoyed. His relationship with Naomi was endearing, although I had mixed feelings about him wanting to find his “real family”. I think selfishly I just wanted him to be content with Naomi, she was taking care of him and basically became his mother after all. Couldn’t that be good enough? But let’s face it, in real life people have real emotions and I imagine all of us would feel that way. Great job to the author for portraying realistic emotions, and not just the ones that we went to see!

The other character that stood out was Shem. Shem was the obvious villain, but I have to be honest. I never would have imagined a villain like him! He made me angry in most every scene he was in, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about him. Typically bad guys do not get me worked up, I just roll with the punches knowing that it is just a book. So not the case here! The more I read about Shem, the more I had to keep reading to see what happened to him in the end. I needed to be sure justice would be served so to speak. I won’t give that part away, but I will tell you that I was gnawing on my fingers waiting for some big scene where the community would learn the truth about Shem. One of the funniest scenes in this book was where Shem got an unexpected visitor at an inopportune time. I had a huge smile on my face and did literally laugh out loud!

I don’t think it matters if you are an amish fiction reader, or a historical fiction reader. Both will enjoy this book. I received a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Jan’s husband of thirty years often says she’s never happier than when she’s in the kitchen cooking for someone, and he’s right. With her Amish and Mennonite ancestry, mid-American roots and unending quest to be a stay-at-home wife and mother, Jan has always enjoyed cooking from scratch and sharing the subsequent goodies with friends and family.

Jan and her family have lived all through the mid-west, from Indiana to Texas to Kentucky to South Dakota, with a few others in between. Born in Michigan, Jan still proudly carries her pocket map of Michigan on the end of her arm, like all true Michiganders, and will gladly give you a tour of her home state. But her current love is the Black Hills of South Dakota, where she can be found hiking the Hills in all kinds of weather and regularly visiting the “boys” at Mt. Rushmore.

Having recently graduated from Homeschool Mom-hood (Summa cum Laude!), Jan devotes her time to the voices in her head who have been clamoring for attention during the last few decades. Instead of declining Latin nouns and reviewing rhetorical devices, her days are now spent at the computer where she gives her characters free rein.

Visit Jan at www.JanDrexler.com

or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JanDrexlerAuthor