I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Edelweiss+. 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.
His Promise by Shelley Shepard Gray Series: The Amish of Hart County #6
Published by HarperCollins on October 23, 2018
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Clean & Wholesome, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 352
Source: Edelweiss+
Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Goodreads
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray’s latest Christmas novel in her Amish of Hart County series.
It’s set to be a white Christmas in Hart County, and Grace King is pet-sitting in a beautiful home with only a difficult dachshund for company. Just as she starts to miss the bustle of her large Amish family, Grace runs into a familiar face. Living right next door is John Michael Miller. He’s a fireman now, but five years ago, he had courted her older sister, then broke her heart. Seeing him again stirs Grace’s anger, but also reminds her of deeper feelings she’s done her best to deny.
The infatuation John Michael once saw in Grace’s eyes is long gone, though his complicated attraction to her remains. He had walked away all those years ago when he realized he was falling in love with the wrong sister. Now, as suspicious fires are set in their community, that’s not an option. Grace dismisses his warnings, and John Michael vows to keep an eye on her. But he can’t help wondering if he’s reconnected with Grace, only to risk losing her again.
Now all John Michael wants for Christmas is to keep Grace safe, in the hopes that they can one day have a future together.
Let me educate you on why it is imperative to write a review as soon as you finish a book. It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished this book, like October when Ma was in the hospital and life was chaos. In trying to keep up with life and work and everything in between I’ve struggled to sit down and write this review. . . for a long time. I’ve partly struggled because all those initial ‘feels’ are vapor. I’m a ‘feels’ reviewer and now I have to try and become an cognitive reviewer. By that I mean that I’m not sharing out of the emotions of the book, which is where I write best from, but more from the lasting impressions, which are harder for me to write from. Think from, yes, write from oh no. I toyed for a moment with re-reading the book to get feels again, but it’s the holiday season and I’m still drowning over here. So here we go with a cognitive review of a book I absolutely loved, a month or more ago.
Imagine being in a strangers home for the holidays while your family also went out of town. Grace finds herself in just this situation while pet sitting a grump dachshund while an arsonist is on the lose in their community along with other nefarious menaces and she finds herself next door to her sister’s ex beau, the one who broke her heart. A person you hoped to never see again, for varying reasons not all related to said sister’s broken heart. Like the fact that maybe, she had a crush of her own on the young man. Meanwhile, John Michael has moved on with his life as a firefighter after calling things off with Grace’s sister. He’s close with his family and building a name for himself in the fire department. Yes, he has guilt about how things happened but he had his own secrets to hide. Namely a crush on Grace. Thrown together because of the dog, and an older lady from their community who is having some memory issues and serious neglect from her family they forge their way forward.
I appreciate the skirting of insta-love. Yes, they fell for each other pretty hard and pretty fast, but they had history. Not their history, really a stolen history, but a history all the same. I loved how they came to the same ideas and decisions without having to hash it all out. I like that they built their relationship on a solid foundation of what is now instead of letting themselves get sucked into the past, though Grace struggled more so there. At the end of the day this quote sums so much of their relationship up perfectly, and really any relationship across the board. ‘I’d rather live with consequences from something that I chose to do instead of something I was forced to do.’ If John Michael hadn’t have called things off with Grace’s sister then they would never had been provided an opportunity to explore their own feelings for each other. Had that relationship gone forward it might have even caused bigger issues down the road. Even the sister eventually saw that John and Grace were better suited for each other than she had ever been with him. At the end of the day, the mayhem was caught, the romance was on solid footing and this was the perfect conclusion to the Amish of Hart County series. Perfect as a stand alone I highly recommend the entire series.
About Shelley Shepard Gray
I grew up in Houston, Texas, went to Colorado for college, and after living in Arizona, Dallas, and Denver, we moved to southern Ohio about ten years ago.
I’ve always thought of myself as a very hard worker, but not ‘great’ at anything. I’ve obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree…but I never was a gifted student. I took years of ballet and dance, but I never was anywhere near the star of any recital. I love to cook, but I’m certainly not close to being gourmet…and finally I love to write books, but I’ve certainly read far better authors.
Maybe you are a little bit like me. I’ve been married for almost twenty years and have raised two kids. I try to exercise but really should put on my tennis shoes a whole lot more. I’m not a great housekeeper, I hate to drive in the snow, and I don’t think I’ve ever won a Monopoly game. However, I am the best wife and mother I know how to be.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that in God’s eyes that is okay? That from His point of view, we are all exceptional? I treasure that knowledge and am always so thankful for my faith. His faith in me makes me stand a little straighter, smile a little bit more, and be so very grateful for every gift He’s given me.
I started writing about the Amish because their way of life appealed to me. I wanted to write stories about regular. likeable people in extraordinary situations-and who just happened to be Amish.
Getting the opportunity to write Inspirational novels is truly gratifying. With every book, I feel my faith grows stronger. And that makes me feel very special indeed.
Wanna share your thoughts? Leave a comment!