| Series: | Joyful River #3 |
| Genre: | Amish |
| Pub. Date: | 27 Dec 2022 |
| Pages: | 339 |
| Publisher: | Kensington Books, Zebra |
| Cover: | Good. Typography okay. Author’s name to be more prominent. |
| Rating: | 3.5 stars |
The good Amish woman is Collette Yoder, now a widow, who gets “the looks” because her husband abandoned her. Now recovering from a bad accident, she is appreciative the new job will help provide for her children and help widower Bishop Aaron Troyer & his two daughters.
The bishop is much loved by the community but is becoming worn out by his bishop duties, running his farm and his daughters get little of his time. Collette is determined to help without letting them know how much she is attracted to this tired and kind man.
My review …
First, this is a wonderful story of a woman who has never known ‘romantic’ love and a man who is a bit of a micromanager regarding his church and congregation. His home is in disarray. His daughters sleep in and have a bit of an attitude. Some of the congregation are disdainful toward Collette because her husband left her — you will learn his leaving had nothing to do with her or their children.
Characters you will not care for … okay, in all honesty — you won’t like HER at all! Her name is Linda (note spelled with an “i” and not a “y”). Her husband is Linn and I didn’t like him because he never dealt with her I’m-better-than-anyone-else attitude and allowed her to treat Collette like she was a lowly servant. You’ll probably want to reach into your Kindle (or book) and send both of ’em packing.
A plus — learning some details of a bishop’s duties.
Naturally, a gmay is not a copycat of another. But it was refreshing to read what a bishop, a minister, and a deacon’s duties are and how they differ.
Looking at the large picture, I liked the book. But I had ONE major gripe. It was YEARS — I mean YEARS — before I could hire someone to come in to help me keep my home clean. I grew up on a farm with a dirt gravel road in front of the house. Dust was a constant problem along with just living on a farm. I know how to clean but it is one of those chores that never end.
So what torqued me off? Imagine you walk into a house with caked-on dirty dishes PILED in the sink. Dirty floors, dirty cabinets. All the rooms have cobwebs and haven’t been cleaned in weeks if not longer. And I’m supposed to believe that “within an hour or so”, the downstairs is clean. That it only takes her a FEW minutes to wash BY hand a sinkful of dirty dishes. And remember, the Amish don’t put dishes in a strainer to dry. They hand-dry and put away the dishes. And it continued like this. I felt like the author had never cleaned a single house or kitchen in her life!!! Imagine the bathroom and mudroom if the kitchen was this bad. Was she Samantha and able to twitch her nose? Her cleaning speed was ridiculously fast over and over and … And for me — minus 2 stars.
Note: What Collette did in the speed-cleaning episode(s) was okay.
All that needs to be done is to change the timing of each job.
Readers have to identify in some way with the main characters. Authors, please don’t write a character doing something that is NOT doable, syfy and fantasy excepted.
I added one-half a star because of the explanation (well-written) of the bishop and church leaders for a rating of 3.5 stars. Because the story *finally* dropped the Speedy Cleaner routine, I have rounded it to 4 stars on websites that can only display whole numbers.
I received a complimentary DRC (digital review copy) of “The Love of a Good Amish Woman” via NetGalley from the publisher, Kensington Books, Zebra. A positive review was not required; the opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Rating: 3.5 stars rounded to 4 on websites that only show whole numbers.
#TheLoveofaGoodAmishWoman #NetGalley #RosalindLauer
