Arms of Love

Arms of Love by Kelly Long is set in the 18th century, as the events of the Revolutionary War are unfolding. The story centers around the relationship between Adam Wyse and Lena Yoder. Adam is torn between his Amish faith and his desire to fight in the war. Lena is a young woman struggling to raise her siblings and keep the family afloat after her mother dies and her father is imprisoned. She desires to marry Adam and start a family of their own, but Adam made a promise to Lena’s mother on her deathbed that causes him to end his relationship with Lena. Like many Amish fiction novels, there is an element of “will they or won’t they get back together” running through the book.

 
I found this book to be very interesting on several levels. First, the time period that it is set in is different than other Amish fiction books I have read. Aside from their faith and aversion to fighting, the Amish didn’t appear to live drastically different lives from their non-Amish neighbors. Back then no one had electricity, everyone got around by horse and farming was a very common occupation.

Second, I found this book to be much darker than most Amish fiction novels I have read. Some of the abuse themes were pretty intense and the author did not romanticize the difficulties of life in 1777. Most other Amish books I have read are pretty ‘G’ rated and this one was definitely a bit different than that. (Not a bad thing; just an observation.)

Overall, I liked the story and also liked that the ending was not obvious from page 2 of the book. I found it to be an engaging plot simply because it was so different than other Amish fiction novels. I couldn’t understand why Adam wouldn’t come clean and tell Lena about the promise he made to her mother and its implications – but I suppose if he had then there’d be no reason for the story.

I received a copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for an honest review.

A Wedding Invitation

I recently read A Wedding Invitation by Alice J. Wisler. Samantha Bravencourt lives in Washington, D.C. and works at her mother’s clothing boutique. She appears content with her life, but frequently reminisces about the time she spent teaching in a Philippines refugee camp. A wedding invitation is indeed the catalyst for the story – Sam receives what she thinks is an invitation to the wedding of an old friend. The wedding is in Winston-Salem, NC, where Sam’s mother is from and her aunt still lives. Turns out that she ends up at the wrong wedding – but while there meets a nice guy who is a PI in Washington, D.C.

While in North Carolina, she also reconnects with Carson, a fellow teacher she had a crush on in the Phillipines, and Lien, a girl from the refugee camp who now lives with her brother, aunt and uncle in North Carolina.

The story alternates between the present day (1993 in the story) and the time Samantha and Carson spent at the refugee camp (1985). While the alternating stories provided an interesting element to the story, I thought it also made the story somewhat hard to follow.

Throughout the book, the stories of Samantha, Carson, Lien and the PI are woven together. The author does a good job of adding twists the story, veering off the predictability path every so often to keep you second-guessing if the anticipated ending actually occurs.  

I personally found this book to be a somewhat slow read. I was expecting it to move along at a faster clip. I also found the secondary characters in the book to be much more interesting than the main character, Samantha. In fact, I kept thinking that I wished the main plot of the story was about Samantha’s empathetic Aunt Dovie and her eccentric cast of boarders.

All in all, a light read that fits well in the chick lit genre. It would be a good book for a rainy afternoon or a day at the pool. The different plots in the story might also make it a good fit for a book club. I give it 2 ½ stars – I liked it, but it was not a “can’t wait to find out what happens next” book for me.

I received this book from Bethany House publishers in exchange for an honest review.

December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America

December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America by Craig Shirley was an interesting book. It was a challenging book to read given the depth of information and the number of pages, but I found parts of it to be very engaging and I learned quite a few things I didn’t know.

I really liked how the author provided information both about politics/advent of the war and what was happening on the home front. The author included information about life in the big city and in the country, as well as facts about daily life in America. For example, the author explained what movies were playing in the theatre and how news media was consumed. The parts of the book that detailed life in America in 1941 were my favorite parts and I find those aspects of American history fascinating.

Though I am not a WWII aficionado, I do know the basic facts leading up to the war. This book goes into great detail about what happened from a political and strategic standpoint – so much so that I found myself skimming over some of it because it was simply too much detail. There were parts that I found to be “information overload.”

I read this book throughout the month of December, which I thought was appropriate given the premise of the book. It was neat to read about what life was like then, and contrast it to what life is like currently.

Overall, I would recommend it to someone who is interested in learning more about America’s entry into WWII.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.