Reading while Liverpool play

I got a free gift from Love Inspired yesterday, a larger print version of Restless Hearts by Marta Perry. So when the guys sat down to watch the soccer match (Liverpool won) I curled up to nurse the dregs of a day-long headache and quietly read. I found that my reading rate, with headache, is approximately one Love Inspired romance per soccer match, but perhaps I’d have to read a few more samples to confirm that. Unfortunately, even though their prices are really good, and only a dollar extra for the larger print, my books budget is currently dead in the water. I guess the experiment will have to wait a while.

Restless Hearts was a pleasant way to end my day. I was slightly dubious about yet another book set in Amish country—why do I see so many of them in the stores? But the characters were interesting, particularly as the protagonist shared most of my pre- and misconceptions about the culture. I learned things I hadn’t known about the Pennsylvania Dutch. And I enjoyed the insights into relationships, the misunderstandings of caring people that turn into bitter anger, and the hope that heals.

The book is clearly a Christian novel, but I was pleasantly surprised by how naturally it was written. I’ve read other Christian novels that assume I’ll agree with everything said, or that paint any non-Christian as hopeless sinner or saint-about-to-be-redeemed. In Restless Hearts the faith of the characters was just a part of how they felt. It came into their despair as much as their hope, and led to questions answered by the lessons of life.

Fiona comes to her father’s family in Pennsylvania, with secrets about her mother and her past. The sudden, accidental revelation of some of those secrets threatens to destroy her hopes of being a midwife to the Amish. Meanwhile the local policeman has secrets of his own, and… Well, it is a romance.

I enjoyed the book. I’m not sure what qualified me for a free gift, let alone a larger print free gift—oh dear, am I getting old? But I did enjoy it. And the guys enjoyed the soccer. Did I mention, Liverpool won!

© Sheila Deeth, March 2009