I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Revell. 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.
Minding the Light by Suzanne Woods Fisher Series: Nantucket Legacy #2
Published by Baker Publishing Group on July 3, 2018
Genres: Christian, Fiction, General, Historical, Romance
Pages: 336
Source: Revell
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Six long years ago, Captain Reynolds Macy sailed away from his bride, looking forward to the day when he would return to Nantucket Island with a ship's hold full of whale oil. But when that momentous day finally arrives, Ren soon discovers that everything has changed in his absence. Everything. "Is nothing on this island as it appears to be?" he whispers in despair.
Unlike most islanders, bold and spirited Daphne Coffin doesn't defer to Ren as an authoritative whalemaster, but sees through his aloofness to the aching heart beneath. She encourages him to return to his Quaker roots and "mind the Light," finding solace in God and community. As Ren becomes the man she believes him to be--honorable, wise, faithful--she finds herself falling in love with him.
But how can she, when her heart is spoken for? Tristram Macy is Ren's business partner, cousin, and best friend--and Daphne's fiancé. Love always comes at a cost, but when is the price too high?Suzanne Woods Fisher welcomes readers back to the Quaker community on Nantucket Island for this riveting love story, full of unexpected moments.
Ya’ll, I have Bloggers Block. That moment when the flashing little line on the screen mocks all the words my brain is not capable of mushing together. Forget words, I’ll take letters at this point. That being said I will tell you a story about where my mind is detouring. It’s related, I promise. Last fall I missed an opportunity to meet Suzanne Woods Fisher. I missed it literally by hours. I live very close to the college in my small town, very close. She was here. I didn’t know she was here. Until that night, after it was over, and I realized I was walking (WALKING) distance to where the event was occurring and I didn’t know about it. I try to keep up with events at the college, where I also graduated from a few decades ago. There’s a Biblical artifacts exhibit on through winter that I have plans to attend with a friend and her children. But this one squeaked through the cracks by hours people. I was heart-broken and disappointed. She was walking distance from my personal library of most of her books. Am I a bad book fan? Here’s the thing, that’s somewhat how I feel about this book. I’ve taken a recent hiatus from all things blogging over the last several weeks. It wasn’t planned (which means a total over-haul of the schedule as a revamp is too small in scope). Grief has been slowly taking all the things and turning them sideways. It was small at first and then took on larger proportions as the months went by. It took me ages to read this book because well, I just couldn’t focus. I sorta felt like Ren, needing somewhere to channel the grief but not finding a solid landing spot that felt right. I channeled mine right into Netflix and sleep. Ren, into misguided blame and uncertainty. Grief does that to a person.
The thing is, once I found my stride with this book I really found it. I’m not all in like Flynn mind you but I’m eeking back. I connected better with this book than I did ‘Phoebe’s Light‘. There was less of that drat character introspection, or if it was there I didn’t notice it. I also enjoyed the mirror of Great Mary’s Journal with Daphne’s life. I do have to tell you that I did figure out one of the threads through the story long before I was supposed to. For me it wasn’t a distraction at all and honestly, I wonder if I only figured it out as I was reading so intensely in order to keep finding my reading groove again. That’s a thing that might have happened. I read this book in spurts and starts just trying to find my groove. And that last third read like the wind. And then the blinking cursor taunts me still with all the words I cannot create. I didn’t quite connect the dots on the family lineage that brought us Daphne (and Jane) with the journal. It really didn’t matter though.
This book gave me a lot of thoughts and take aways. When you act out of revenge you do eventually get your due. When your revenge is petty sometimes your due is more satisfying. When you truly ‘mind the light’ you do find what you are seeking. Perhaps not what you thought it looked like but definitely what you were seeking. Sometimes doing things for the wrong reasons brings about the right results. True love is not jealous. True love is patient. True love is kind. Sometimes love doesn’t look like you anticipated it to look. And sometimes things masquerade as love when it’s not really love. I loved the history of ‘minding the light’ and how the theme wove so seamlessly through the book that it almost ran seamlessly into my own outlook on life and people and even grief. I can say with absolute certainty that everyone would benefit from a lesson or twenty on how to ‘mind the light’ in their own lives. And pretty much be lifted in love from this book as well.
About Suzanne Woods Fisher
Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling, award winning author of fiction and non-fiction books about the Old Order Amish for Revell Books, host of the radio-show-turned-blog Amish Wisdom, a columnist for Christian Post and Cooking & Such magazine.
Her interest in the Amish began with her grandfather, who was raised Plain. A theme in her books (her life!) is that you don’t have to “go Amish” to incorporate the principles of simple living.
Suzanne lives in California with her family and raises puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To her way of thinking, you just can’t life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone’s underwear in its mouth.
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