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.
Ours for a Season by Kim Vogel Sawyer Published by Crown Publishing Group on September 11, 2018
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 352
Source: Edelweiss+
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An Old Order Mennonite couple's vows and beliefs are challenged in this stirring contemporary novel for fans of Cindy Woodsmall or Shelley Shepherd Gray.
Anthony and Marty Hirschler are part of an Old Order Mennonite community in Pine Hill, Indiana. The couple has grown apart since a doctor confirmed they would never have children. Marty longs to escape the tight-knit area where large families are valued, and the opportunity to do so arises when her childhood friend, Brooke Spalding, resurfaces with the wild idea of rebuilding a ghost town into a resort community. Brooke hires Anthony to help with the construction, drawing the Hirschlers away from Indiana and into her plan, and then finds herself diagnosed with cancer. Moral complications with Brooke's vision for a casino as part of the resort and the discovery of a runaway teenager hiding on the property open up a world neither the Hirschlers nor Brooke had considered before. Will they be able to overcome their challenges and differences to help the ones among them hurting the most?
How far would you go to get what you always dreamed of? How would you react if that dream was taken from you? That’s exactly the positions two childhood besties find themselves in. For very different dreams and very different reasons. Marty, a Mennonite woman only ever wanted a family. And family means children, not just a husband. Her dream, her only dream, was taken from her with a miscarriage and her husband contracting mumps as an adult. It’s not like this happened yesterday but even the few intervening years does not lesson the ache of her loss of family. The ache of being around others, especially others with children. She finds herself withdrawing more and more from her community and her husband. How would you react if your dreams were taken from you? Brooke on the other hand was raised by an alcoholic mother, no father to even name, and a childhood that no one dreams of. Her goal is to retire at 40 and she’s so close to exceeding that goal. One more project, this last property flip and the beach dreams of her retirement will come early. Until cancer. How far would you go to get what you always dreamed of? Two women, two completely different backgrounds, one time of growing up besties and they both have to decide how they want to move forward when their life doesn’t match their dreams.
Let me caution you here. While this is just another amazing book that truly draws you in and embraces you in a way that only Kim Vogel Sawyer can do. However, there are some hard topics in this book. Not on miscarriage and infertility but childhood neglect, depression, marital strife, and even deeper into sex trafficking, youth homelessness, and child abuse. Due to these topics, this book may not be a good choice for all readers. I strongly recommended this book however I am also aware that some of these topics might be triggering for some readers. That being said though the title is really pivotal in this book for me. In everything there is a season. A season of hurt (through miscarriage, infertility, marital strife, even homelessness). A season of hope (through friendship rekindled and marriage regrown). A season of contentment (just trust me here). Everything in life, everything we have, everything we struggle for, everything we lose is really ours for just a season. This theme goes so much deeper into the story than just what I’ve shared but spoilers ya know. Seasons. The passage from Ecclesiastes (3:1-8) really resonates for me throughout this book.
These characters aren’t perfect, and sometimes they are downright annoying. Marty can sometimes come off as whiny and Anthony can be overly self-absorbed. I struggled with Brooke from her sketchy start at life to townhouse in the city to living in a construction trailer. Her flipping from overly independent to excessively needy. She was the best and worst of Marty and Anthony thrown together in one person really. The difference is they find themselves living complex lives with complex events in a complex world. I think all of use would come across as all of these not so positive traits if our lives were dissected down the just a snapshot of time. I like to believe that I am more than the sum of my reactions during a season of time. I really did enjoy getting to know these people and sharing a season of their life. I learned a few of my own strengths and weaknesses through them and through their struggles. Life is not all sunshine and roses. But it’s also not all stormy skies and hazy gloom. Life is a mixed bundle of what may come. Life is seasons. Life is really just embracing each experience God grants you, learning all you can about yourself and the world through those experiences, and passing that forward. Happiness and Joy are not the same thing. Live your seasons. Learn to be open to where God wants you to be. Find Joy.
About Kim Vogel Sawyer
Award-winning, bestselling author Kim Vogel Sawyer wears many hats. As a wife, mother, grandmother, song-singer, cat-petter, and active participant in her church’s music and women’s ministries, her life is happily full. But her passion lies in penning stories that share the hope we can all possess when we place our lives in God’s capable hands. She and her retired military hubby live on the beautiful plains of Kansas, the setting for many of Kim’s books. In her free time, she enjoys quilting, traveling with “The Hubs,” and spoiling her quiverful of granddarlings..
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