I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
A Christmas Haven by Cindy Woodsmall, Erin Woodsmall Series: An Amish Christmas Romance #2
Published by PRH Christian Publishing on September 24, 2019
Genres: Fiction / Amish & Mennonite, Fiction / Christian / Romance / General, Fiction / Holidays
Pages: 208
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
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ECPA BESTSELLER • For fans of holiday romances and Amish life comes a new Christmas tale of surprising expectations and discovering miracles.
Old Order Amish Ivy Zook is wrestling with her need to shed her community's ways so she can grow the business of her dreams: planning parties. As long as she's stuck living without modernization, she can barely get her business on its feet. But if she leaves too soon, she'd cause trouble for her sister, Holly, who is planning her wedding to Joshua Smucker. All of their plans become twice as complicated when an old car crashes into the storefront of Greene's Pharmacy, carrying a Swartzentruber (ultra-conservative sect) Amish man, Arlan, and his very ill sister.
The Zooks take in Arlan and Madga, tending to the woman's illness and Arlan begins helping around the family farm. Ivy and Arlan are on different tracks, one wanting to leave her community and the other to return to his. But both young people are trying to discover what God has in store for their futures and what miracles might lie around the corner this Christmas season.
I reread The Christmas Remedy in preparation for reading this, as it had been a couple of years. I loved it as much on reread as I did the first time around. Though I also saw how much I have changed as a reader and reviewer. I loved how much Josh and Holly played into Ivy’s story, though you don’t have to read the first book to read this one, as it’s very seamless. Arlan and Madga added more depth to the overall theme of finding your place in the world, even if it doesn’t match to the life you have had, the family you are from, and the faith you were raised in.
What do you do when everything you know, your family, your life, your faith, no longer feels right? Or even safe? How do you trust that what you want is truly from God and not just yourself? That’s kinda where everyone finds themself in The Christmas Haven. Arlan and Madga are from the Swartzentruber Amish community, more restrictive than even the Old Order. So legalistic that when Madga gets pregnant (and that’s a whole other story that I wish had been delved deeper into, but it can be pretty dark), her family does not see medical care as this is punishment for her sin. So legalistic that Arlan can’t connect who and what he wants for his life to the overbearing authority of his faith and his family. And he knows he has to save his sister. For these two, the Old Order community feels almost English. But then there’s Ivy, who is Old Order and feels the pull to leave as she can’t see being able to do what she is passionate about with the restrictions on the community. Or Holly, dear sweet Holly, who has pursued medical knowledge for her community under her current Bishop’s approval, but when she meets with Josh’s Bishop, he is against it. If she wants to marry, then she’ll have to quit. What do you do when everything you know no longer feels safe? No longer feels applicable to the life you feel led to follow?
That’s a lot to unpack in that last paragraph, but I’m going to let you unpack it for yourself by reading this book. This book is about faith, family, and community. Both those you are born and raised with and those you choose. It’s not always easy to make the hard choices, but sometimes it’s necessary to figure it out. And sometimes you make the right choices even in bad circumstances. I wish there were parts of this story that dug deeper, that didn’t feel too easy. But then I’ll always wish that, as human behavior interests me. The whys we don’t always get, but I always want. We don’t always get the ending we want, but we absolutely get the ending we need. But . . . where is Red and Madga’s story?
About Cindy Woodsmall
Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times and CBA best-selling author who has written nineteen (and counting!) works of fiction and one of nonfiction. She and her dearest Old Order Amish friend, Miriam Flaud, coauthored the nonfiction, Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women. Cindy’s been featured on ABC Nightline and the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and has worked with National Geographic on a documentary concerning Amish life. In June of 2013, the Wall Street Journal listed Cindy as one of the top three Amish fiction writers.
About Erin Woodsmall
Erin Woodsmall is a writer, musician, wife, and mom of three. She has edited, brainstormed, and researched books with Cindy Woodsmall for almost a decade.
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