I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Waterbrook Press. 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.
The Christmas Remedy by Cindy Woodsmall, Erin Woodsmall Published by Crown Publishing Group on October 23, 2018
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Fiction, Holidays, Romance
Pages: 208
Source: Waterbrook Press
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When an Old Order Amish woman takes a job at a small-town pharmacy struggling to survive in a world of "big box" stores, her motive is to help her Plain community. But the advent of the holiday season brings an unusual mystery to the surface--and possibly love.
Twenty-four-year-old Holly Zook lives a unique life for a young Amish woman. Years ago, her bishop allowed her to continue her education and become the lead technician for Greene's Pharmacy, an old-timey drugstore that looks out for the Amish community--a group largely without secure healthcare plans. She knows she can't marry and hold onto her professional job. She's Amish, and she can only have one or the other, so she spurns love and works toward addressing treatable diseases--like the one that claimed her father's life.
As long as Holly continues to avoid Joshua Smucker, the one man who draws her like a warm hearth in winter, she should be fine. When something unexpected threatens Greene's Pharmacy, Holly and Joshua must work together to unravel what's happened and find the "missing" patient before the Board of Pharmacy shuts them down. As the snows of December arrive, with Christmas in the air, will Holly succumb to the generous spirit of the season?
Could you give up everything for a dream? Could you fight for your right to pursue that dream? I mean, knowing that having a family, a relationship, doesn’t mesh with the dream? Holly Noelle Zook is ready and willing to do just that. Losing her father at a young age to a completely treatable condition has her sights set on bringing health care to her sheltered Amish community. It’s not that health care isn’t available, it’s that the community isn’t willing to reach out and make use of it. Her goal is to change all that. With her Bishops permission she has gotten her GED, she has gotten her pharmacy tech license, and she’s studying for LPN school. Girl is driven! So much so that she walked away from a romance that could have been. Falling in love and getting married will end her dream, derail her passion. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Least of all, the families in her community that she is slowly bringing into the idea that medical treatment and medication can be part of God’s plan for them.
I’ll be brutally honest here. Yes I loved the book but. . . There was a stilted feel too it. A feel that the Woodsmall women tried so hard to be pitch perfect accurate with all the technical aspect of medicine and pharmacy regulations that they tight-roped a line. In the quest for absolute accuracy the book teetered toward becoming stiff. I consider myself pretty read, fairly well-versed in medical stuffs and there were a couple of things I had to run to The Google for. The other side of that though was this sweetness and innocence about Holly. Girl goes from technical jargon surrounding her studies to thinking the Bishop will allow her to stay with a single (fine, widowed and much older) man after Lyle has a stroke in the pharmacy he owns and Holly works at. Her thoughts were to care for him and help him recover. Thank goodness they talked her out of that one, I’m afraid the Bishop might have had a stroke as well! She’s just fresh. Passionate and involved and gullible and innocent. And Joshua? He’s right there with her. A tiny bit jaded, a smidge distracted, and a whole lot of confused. I mean he thought that he had Holly had something in their youth only for her to turn down has date request. Here she is again, all the feels are still there, and all the walls are in place. Poor guy.
The bare bones is that I truly enjoyed this book. Yes, I felt like the ending was a bit too perfect. Yes, I felt like there was a lot of room for added depth and delving into some of the family relationships of the characters. And at only 208 pages there’s lots of room! The thing is though, it’s also absolutely perfect just the way it is. What a better time than the Christmas season for a family to be reunited and begin healing, for a young couple to embrace the love they fought for so long, and for a community to come together for the betterment of all? When but the season of Christ can answered prayers become miracles and hope for the future begin anew? Yes, there are things I’d like to see broadened in this book but there is no better story than to find a community filled with the love of Christ and chose to share that among themselves. It may be just over two months to Christmas but there’s never a wrong time of the year for gentle reminders of the hope we have in Christ. And the love we have in community. And that the two are entwined with each other. I have to say this isn’t the first book I’ve read by Cindy and her daughter-in-law Erin have written together and it won’t be my last.
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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