Book Review and giveaway info: The Wonder of Your Love

About the book

Katie Ann lost the love of her life. Then God offers her a new beginning in Colorado .

 

Katie Ann Stolzfus lives in the small Amish community of Canaan , Colorado . At forty she is widowed and raising her first child. But baby Jonas will never know his father, and Katie Ann wonders if her Heavenly Father hasn't forgotten about her as well. Is it really God's plan for her to be a single parent?

 

Eli Detweiler has come to Canaan for a wedding and a long vacation. Having raised six children following the death of his young wife, Eli is finally an empty-nester. He's enjoying the slower pace of having no one to care for but himself.

 

When Katie Ann and Eli meet, there is an instant connection. Yet as strong as the attraction is, they both acknowledge that a romance would never work. He is done parenting, while she has just begun.

 

But as their friendship slowly blossoms into feelings that are as frightening as they are intoxicating, Katie Ann and Eli question if the plans they made for themselves are in line with God's plans.

 

Can Katie Ann entrust her heart to another man, and rediscover the wonder of God's love?

My thoughts 

I was able to completely relate to the theme of this book: questioning if our plans, even if they are good plans, are in line with what Heavenly Father is wanting us to do.  How often do we make plans and later realize that they are not the plans God has for us, or maybe we assume He wants us to do something for one reason, but we later realize that the reason was nothing like we thought?  When I joined the Army, I KNEW that was where Heavenly Father wanted me, I assumed it was to serve my country.  That is why, when I fell ill just a few weeks in and learned I was being discharged, I was very confused.  To make a long story short, the real reason I was in the Army was to have an undiagnosed, life threatening illness diagnosed and treated (I had already had it for 5 years and was lucky to be alive) and to meet the man who would become my husband.  

More recently, after the birth of our 4th child 3 years ago, we were pretty sure we were done having kids.   We did not take any permanent actions, but were preventing conception in other ways.  One day, about a year ago, I began to feel like maybe we were NOT supposed to be done.  I really struggled with this because I was not certain that I WANTED more kids and my last 2 pregnancies had been fairly difficult.  None-the-less, when I saw my OB/GYN for my annual this year, I asked about the problems I had in the past.  He gave me the go ahead to have more if we desired and told me that the problems were no more likely to occur than they had been previously.  It did not matter much though, because my husband was not having those same thoughts and feelings that I was having.  Then one day, out of the blue, he told me that he had been lying to me.  I asked what he meant and he went on to tell me that he HAD been feeling like we were meant to have more, but that he REALLY did not WANT to.  Of course, the not wanting to does not mean that we would not love and cherish any future children just as we do the ones we have now, just that we dragged our feet about doing what Heavenly Father had planned for us.  Now, after all those months of fighting it, we started trying to get pregnant and I am very happy to announce (for the first time publicly) that we are expecting the next Garcia baby in June of 2012.  (Because this has not been announced elsewhere yet, I do ask that if you want to leave any notes about this on facebook for me, please do so privately.)

My thoughts on the book- sorry for the sidetrack above

I really enjoyed this book.  As I said above, I could completely relate to Katie Ann and Eli.  I also loved Katie Ann's ability to forgive the woman who had caused her such pain, even though she could not forget it.  I know that forgiveness like that is expected among the Amish, but this really put it in a way that made it easy to understand.  I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys Amish literature, love stories, or stories of healing.  Although this is part of a series, I have not read any of the other books in the series and did not have any trouble following this one.  Click here to read what other reviewers are saying.

About the author

Beth Wiseman is hailed as a top voice in Amish fiction. She is a Carol-award winner and author of numerous bestsellers including the Daughters of the Promise series and the Land of Canaan series. She and her family live in Texas . www.bethwiseman.com, Twitter @bethwiseman, www.facebook.com/pages/Fans-of-Beth-Wiseman/47576397539  

About the giveaway

Beth is celebrating the release of Book 2 in the Land of Canaan series with a Fabulous Facebook party on November 1st. She'll be giving away one of her OWN paintings, several mini prize packs and a sneak peak at the next book in this heartwarming series.

 

CLICK the button (below) to RSVP for the party - then join us on November 1st for a book chat, Amish themed trivia contest, and more!

 

The Wonder of Your Love Facebook Party on 11/1!

 

Disclosure
Thank you to Litfuse Publicity Group and the author for providing me with a copy of this book for review purposes.  My opinion is my own and was not influenced by anyone else.