Thursday, April 16, 2020

Book Review with Featured author: A Beautiful Arrangement by Beth Wiseman

A Beautiful Arrangement by Beth Wiseman


Publisher & Release: Zondervan, April 13, 2020

Time and setting:  Present Day, Indiana

Genre: Contemporary/Amish Fiction

Length: 336 Pages

Heat Level: 

Rating: 5 Gold Crowns

Book Description: 

Can Lydia and Samuel find love in their marriage of convenience? 
Lydia still can’t believe that she is Mrs. Samuel Bontrager. Or that she is seventeen with a six-month-old daughter. As Baby Mattie grows fussier by the day, Lydia wonders how she will survive a lifetime of marriage to a man she doesn’t love—at least not in the way she wants. 
Samuel knows that he and Lydia did the right thing by marrying when Lydia became pregnant. He has even grown to love Lydia, though he never seems able to say the words out loud. What if she doesn’t love him back? After all, she pushes him away whenever he tries to draw closer. 
When Lydia and Samuel introduce their mutual friends Beverly and Joseph to each other, they are as envious as they are delighted to watch their friends fall in love. But just as Samuel thinks Lydia might be softening to him, she gets involved in investigating the mysterious past of a local homeless woman—a curiosity that threatens to drive the couple further apart. 
The third and final novel in the Amish Journeys series by bestselling author Beth Wiseman explores how wounds from the past must come to light before they can hope to heal.

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Vikki’s Musings

Thanks goes the publisher and Net-Galley for granting a complimentary copy for the purpose of reading and reviewing A Beautiful Arrangement by Beth Wiseman. An Amish fiction novel of mistakes and recovery. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way.

A Beautiful Arrangement is an emotional love story of a couple who in a moment of teenage passion, create a baby. They are rushed to the baptism and the altar by their parents and bishop. The story starts when their daughter is six months old, and their marriage is one in name only.

Ms. Wiseman’s writing pulled me into the story from the start, and I remained so until the end. Her pacing matches the ebb and flow of the plot. The descriptive writing is enough to paint the setting without becoming too detailed.

Lydia Bontrager’s character is a fine example of an Amish female with the values of her faith. She’s a housewife and a loving mother. Although, she has regrets for her choices that led to her giving into teenage passions. I enjoyed her internal struggle as she deals with the consequences of her decisions.

Samuel Bontrager is a great hero. As a man of his faith, he does the honorable thing and marries Lydia, then tries to make the best of his life with her. He longs for a true marriage but can’t discover the way to a true love for them as a couple. I enjoyed his determination to find a happy ending for them.

The romance is sweet and shows their love growing from a seed to a deep and abiding marriage between Lydia and Samuel. There’s a sub-plot regarding Beverly and Joseph’s love story. Both romances are fulfilling, and one doesn’t take away from the other.

If you enjoy Amish fiction with endearing characters and an emotionally charged plot, one that has more substance, then you will love A Beautiful Arrangement as much as I. Ms. Wiseman is one of my favorite Amish authors and is an auto-buy. Happy reading!

Author Bio:

Beth Wiseman is the best-selling author of the Daughters of the Promise series, the Land of Canaan series, the Amish Secrets series and the Amish Journeys series. Having sold over two million books, her novels have held spots on the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller List, the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) Bestseller List and the CBA (Christian Book Association) Bestseller List. She was the recipient of the prestigious Carol Award in 2011 and 2013. She is a three-time winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, and an INSPY Award winner. In 2013 she took home the coveted Holt Medallion. Her first book in the Land of Canaan series—Seek Me With All Your Heart—was selected as the 2011 Women of Faith Book of the Year. Beth and her husband are empty nesters enjoying country life in Texas.

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