Tag: Marta Perry

Guest Review: Where Secrets Sleep by Marta Perry

Posted April 2, 2015 by Tina R in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tina’s review of Where Secrets Sleep by Marta Perry.

After suffering a terrible betrayal, Allison Standish flees Philadelphia for the small Amish village of Laurel Ridge. There, she comes into an unexpected inheritance—her late grandmother bequeathed her a mansion housing various shops. Allison intends to sell Blackburn House, until one of her tenants, single father Nick Whiting, challenges everything she believes about her estranged grandmother and the Amish community, and she decides to stay—temporarily.

Soon, strange stipulations in her grandmother’s will bring to Allison’s door distant relatives and seething townsfolk who think Blackburn House shouldn’t belong to an outsider. As anonymous threats escalate, Nick is protective of Allison, and she finds herself falling for the handsome carpenter. But when she discovers her grandmother’s death may not have been accidental, Allison must face the truth that someone wants her gone…permanently.

Where Secrets Sleep is an easy-to-read suspense story that takes place in Amish country, although the main character Allison Standish is an Englisher.

Allison is an interior decorator who decides to leave her profession after catching her boss getting cozy with her boyfriend. As luck would have it, she has also recently inherited the Blackburn House, which is a mansion filled with all kinds of shops and was owned by her Amish grandmother whom she never actually knew. There was a condition that came with the inheritance that stated that Allison would have to run the mansion for an entire year with a profit before it would actually become hers. If she failed, the house would be given to her cousin instead. Of course, thinking this would not be such an unfathomable task, Allison is planning to sell the mansion after her year is up. But, she begins to encounter many strange events . There is reason to believe that maybe her grandmother’s death was not an accident, and that some people are a little less than pleased about Allison’s inheritance. There is also a little romance in the mix as well, as Allison becomes close to one of her shop owners. So, there is a little bit of everything for the reader to enjoy.

I thought this was an enjoyable way to spend a couple hours on a lazy Saturday afternoon. The story, although a bit predictable, was entertaining and it held my interest. I think that anyone who enjoys reading Amish fiction would find Where Secrets Sleep to be a a story that they will appreciate as well.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from HQN Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Tagged: 4.0 Reviews, Amish Books, Contemporary, Guest Reviews, HQN, Marta Perry, Reviews, Suspense, Tina's Reviews

Guest Review: Lydia’s Hope by Marta Perry

Posted September 26, 2013 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Berkley, Penguin

Tina’s review of Lydia’s Hope by Marta Perry.

Three Amish sisters, separated when very young, know nothing about one another—until a long-held secret is revealed.

With no memory of her birth parents, or the tragic accident that took their lives, Lydia Beachy has always been grateful for the aunt and uncle who took her in and raised her as their own. Now a married woman with two sons, Lydia finds her life turned upside down when she discovers that she has two younger sisters: Susanna, who was adopted by an Amish family in another community, and Chloe, who was raised by their grandmother among the Englisch.

Angry and confused, Lydia first seeks out Susanna but stops short of telling her the truth. To track down Chloe, she enlists the help of a neighbor who has spent some years in the Englisch world. Meanwhile, Lydia’s husband, Adam, is keeping a secret of his own. Lydia yearns to be united with the sisters she has never known, but will revealing herself to them tear their lives apart…or enrich them beyond all imagining?

I am a HUGE fan of Marta Perry already, so when I got the chance to review this book for the ladies @ Book Binge, I was delighted. I have read many books by this author and am always pleased with her writing style and the fact that her characters always seem to draw you in like part of the family. Her stories are always so heartwarming, and have just the right amount of suspense to keep you engrossed.

Lydia’s Hope is the first book in The Lost Sisters of Pleasant Valley series. It is the story of how one Amish woman’s life is turned upside down after a secret is exposed, and the effects that this secret brings to her relationship with her husband, her family and even her community. It is about overcoming the shock of betrayal and finding the path back to redemption and understanding.

Lydia Beachy was involved in a tragic car accident when she was only five years old. This accident claimed the life of both her parents and robbed her of any memory of her life prior to it. She has been adopted and raised by her Aunt and Uncle, and it currently married to Adam and is raising a family of her own. One day her aunt accidentally mentions two sisters that Lydia has no idea of their existence. She is stunned by this discovery, and hurt that the entire Amish community could keep this knowledge from her. This is the tale her struggle to accept the idea of having siblings that she cannot remember, and of her quest to find them.

I totally enjoyed this book. I read it very quickly and can’t wait to read the rest of the series. For inspirational Amish fiction, Marta Perry is a definite top pick.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This title is available from Berkley Trade. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Tagged: 3.5 Reviews, Amish Books, Berkley, Berkley Trade, Contemporary, Guest Reviews, Marta Perry, Reviews, Tina's Reviews

Guest Review: Vanish In Plain Sight by Marta Perry

Posted July 21, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Judith’s review of Vanish In Plain Sight by Marta Perry.

Since she was a little girl, Marisa Angelo has been haunted by the image of her mother walking away, suitcase in hand, to return to her Amish roots. Marisa and her “Englischer” father never saw or heard from her again. Now Marisa has received a shocking call from police. Her mother’s bloodstained suitcase was found hidden inside the wall of a Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse.

Desperate for answers, Marisa heads to Lancaster County. But no one—not the police or Marisa’s tight-lipped Amish relatives—can explain what happened to her mother. Only one man is as determined as Marisa to unravel the mystery—Link Morgan, the handsome ex-military loner who found the suitcase in the house he inherited from his uncle. Now both Link’s and Marisa’s family members are implicated in the decades-old disappearance.

The secret lies somewhere in the quaint Amish settlement. But someone will do anything to ensure the truth remains hidden forever.

The is the second novel in the Amish Suspense series Ms Perry recently began and like the first novel, Murder on Plain Sight, this story brings the Amish Traditions and culture in direct clash with the outside world characterized as “English.” Link Morgan, brother of one of the main characters in the first novel, has now found an old suitcase that is fully packed and looks as if someone was ready to travel. When the case was opened it was discovered that it was the suitcase of Barbara Angelo, a woman who had left the Amish faith to marry Russell Angelo and to live in the English world. It is well-known that she left her husband and left behind her child, a daughter her friends admit she felt to be her greatest delight. Now that same daughter is grown and will leave no stone unturned to discover not only more about why her mother left but her present whereabouts. Only one problem: the people she knew best, her Amish relatives and friends, are totally unwilling to speak with her or share anything they remember about her mother as a person or why she might have left home and family.

This is another wonderful and complicated Marta Perry creation complete with loving and family-oriented people, a deep sense of the value of friends and loved ones, as well as individuals who seem to be a bit “off” in the negative sense. There is also the sad and poignant figure of Link Morgan who has recently returned from Iraq and a long convalescence after severe war wounds. His deep sense of failure in keeping his war buddies alive permeates his relationships with his family and his new friendship with Marisa Angelo, yet he is thrown together with her repeatedly because of their mutual need to solve the mystery of her mother’s suitcase and disappearance. Link’s mother made a significant appearance in the first novel and she is still that warm and caring mother-figure that inspired the characters in both stories to seek truth as well as find their true selves in the searching. There are clues throughout this book that point one way or another and the reader will not easily discern the solution of the mystery. This is not an erotic tale but it is filled with the kind of loving that inspires everyone to see the value in all kinds of relationships from the initial loving touch of a mother to the deep and abiding friendships that enrich anyone’s life who is privileged to be blessed with such.

Link and Marissa have continuing difficulties largely because he is constantly fighting his attraction to her and because her persistence is an on-going irritation to him. He has his goals and his life course set before him, but as she drags him away from his tasks to explore solutions to the mystery, he must face the long-term effects that his determination to leave home and family behind. While his mother keeps her counsel most of the time, Link’s brother is not so reticent and he is chafed and rubbed raw emotionally, little realizing that he is doing all this to himself.

This is one of those kinds of reads that merges romance with mystery and brings the best of both to the reader. Ms Perry’s novels are always studies in the clashes of culture, the inner workings of people’s minds and feelings, and the waxing and waning of relationships. It is so true in this story. It is the kind of book that inspires even as it meets head-on many of the prejudices we “English” have about the Amish and their life. As one who grew up in surroundings rich in the Amish influences of Eastern Pennsylvania, Ms Perry has brought her knowledge as well as her admiration of the Amish ways to bear in her stories. Readers would do well to pay attention as she gives readers the opportunities to know better these unique and delightful people, from their way of speaking to their sense of community that goes so far beyond what most Americans have ever experienced.

This was another very satisfying reading experience for me and I found I enjoyed that sense of connection with the first novel in this series. While both are stand alone stories, they compliment each other. I also liked the fact that the Morgans figured prominently in both books. They are people I would have liked to know in real life. The culmination of Link and Marissa’s attraction was somewhat speedy at the end of the book, but I have the feeling that readers will be able to follow their story as it unfolds in coming books in the series.

I give this novel a 4.5 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place

This book is available from HQN Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Tagged: 4.5 Reviews, Amish Books, Guest Reviews, HQN, Judith's Reviews, Marta Perry, Reviews, Romantic Suspense

Guest Review: Sarah’s Gift by Marta Perry

Posted March 10, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 2 Comments

Judith‘s review of Sarah’s Gift by Marta Perry.

After years in a disappointing, childless marriage and now widowed at only twenty-six, Amish midwife Sarah Mast moves to Pleasant Valley for a fresh start. But unpleasant surprises beset Sarah when she joins her aging aunt’s dwindling midwife practice. Signs of her aunt’s decline suggest that she may no longer be capable of meeting the rigorous demands of her work. With Sarah’s last dollar now invested in the birthing center, can she help her aunt face the truth and run the practice alone?

Aaron Miller, Sarah’s neighbor, counts himself among the skeptics until he witnesses the dedication and love Sarah has for her patients. But when an English doctor files a complaint against Sarah and she is ordered not to deliver any more babies until a court hearing, Aaron’s misgivings resurface . . . just as his own sister faces a birthing crisis and only Sarah is available to help. In the midst of such difficulties, Sarah prays for the strength to defend her practice, care for her patients, and win the hearts of the community she has grown to love.

This is the fourth novel in the Pleasant Valley series and it is another fine offering by author Marta Perry. Drawing on her own first-hand knowledge of the Amish culture and ways, the story of Sarah is told with grace and sensitivity. The gentle persona that Sarah is comes through as the reader walks with her as she hopes and prays and even invests her savings to make the midwife practice successful and to give quality care to the expectant mothers who opt for care by the midwife rather than go to the local hospital to have their babies. Midwives have long been a part of the Amish community. In fact, there was a time when Amish women had little if anything to do with the “English” medical community. As Sarah found out, not all doctors accept and support the work of the Amish midwife. The doctor closest to Pleasant Valley certainly gave evidence that he would rather see the midwife practice closed. What most people don’t know is that Amish midwives are very well trained, recognize difficulties and signs that the expectant mother needs care beyond the midwife’s capabilities. Their success rate is quite phenomenal.

In Sarah’s case, she had always wanted to practice with her aunt who had served the Pleasant Valley Amish community for years. It did not take long to recognize that Aunt Emma was in trouble–mood swings, vacant stares, and ultimately, an episode right in the middle of a delivery. Thankfully Sarah was able to step in and prevent disaster. Almost from the first, Sarah encountered resistance to her expanding her aunt’s practice. Her neighbor, Aaron Miller, was totally opposed to her practice as Aaron’s mother was the only mother Aunt Emma lost for decades. Little did Aaron realize that for years Aunt Emma and the few others who knew the truth of what happened that fateful night had kept the truth from him, thinking to protect his relationship with his now-dead father.

This novel is a wonderful glimpse into this aspect of Amish life and the surprising relationship many have with the “English” on a number of levels. As always, Ms Perry brings her characters to life so that the reader can so easily be a part of the story. It is a story of old hurt and wounds, of the unwillingness to forgive, anger over the loss of a mother, resentment that a young teen had to carry the responsibility for siblings, romantic attraction that takes a beating in the face of all those negative feeling. Aaron failed to realize that Sarah believed that her empathy with the mothers-to-be, her skill in time of crisis, her patience and desire to be of service was God’s gift to be used for the community. There are several occasions in the story that Sarah’s calm and sure presence made significant difference, especially for first-time parents.

I found this story to be very inspirational. Certainly everyone realizes that the Amish way of life is based on their faith and their manner of living is intended to reflect the strength of their faith. Even in real life the gentle strength of the Amish has been seen when crisis has intruded on their way of life. The biggest mistake most non-Amish people can make is to assume that their non-violent ways is an indication of their inept approach to living. If anything it is the opposite. We see this in Sarah’s response to the complaint filed against her, in her willingness to brave any kind of difficulty if it will mean that she has an opportunity to carry on what she believes to be the Lord’s work. The great sadness in Sarah’s heart is that no matter the strength of her and Aaron’s attraction, he just can’t seem to accept her as she is and to support her work as a ministry to her community.

Readers will find much to like in this novel. Those who have read the first three novels will recognize some of the participants in this novel which moves those background stories along. Leah, Rachel, and Anna, all subjects of the first three novels are present to welcome Sarah to her now home. There is the whole matter of how a person responds to circumstances that are completely out of one’s control. Sarah’s response was based in her faith, her life of prayer, her conviction that ultimately God’s will prevails. And whether or not the reader is a person of faith, there is still an admiration for the quality of her belief that supports her in a tough situation. Readers will once again encounter the strength of the community as they stand in the gap for one another. It is one of the Amish qualities that never seems to get sidetracked. This fourth novel is every bit as good as the first three, and that is just not always the case. Perry evidently has the moxie to make that happen. So I hope if you are just a little curious about these wonderful people and Sarah in particular, you will manage to read this book.

I give this novel a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

The series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Tagged: 4.5 Reviews, Amish Books, Berkley, Guest Reviews, Judith's Reviews, Marta Perry, Pleasant Valley, Reviews

Guest Review: Anna’s Return by Marta Perry

Posted June 23, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Judith‘s review of Anna’s Return by Marta Perry

After spending three years in the English world, Anna Beiler has come home. She brings with her a baby girl, which will surely cause a stir since Anna is unmarried. She is also hiding secrets: The baby is not hers by birth, nor does Anna intend to stay. Rather, she desperately needs sanctuary from the child’s violent father.

It surprises Anna how quickly her Amish habits return to her and how satisfying it feels to reconnect with her father, her sister Leah, and her brother, Joseph. Even Anna’s childhood friend Samuel, whose slow, thoughtful manner used to frustrate her, becomes a fond and reassuring companion. But Anna hasn’t fully faced the consequences of her irresponsible youth, when her behavior led to a tragic accident. And now her mere presence may endanger the family she holds dear. How easy it is to return to the safe and familiar community whose blessings she once took for granted. But if she wants to stay, Anna must seek forgiveness and experience the true change of heart required to make a new beginning.

This is the third book in Perry’s Pleasant Valley Series that picks up the story of Leah’s sister, a story that was told initially along with Leah’s in book one. Anna, a rebellious and flighty and know-it-all teen has opted to exercise her right to rumspringa, a period of life exploration given to teens and young adults by the Amish tradition. Anna decided that she was thoroughly fed up, angry with, and resistant to her family and their old-fashioned, religion-bound ways. And so she spreads her wings, takes up partying, driving, drinking, carousing, and living independently with the family of her then-boyfriend.

Anna’s journey of discovery is slowly revealed in this book as the back story is interwoven in the plot of this tale. She rediscovers her family and their deep acceptance, but now she sees it through the eyes of motherhood because she is now the adoptive mother of little Gracie, the daughter of her best friend and “roomie” in Chicago who died almost immediately after Gracie’s birth from leukemia. But she is hiding from a violent man who now seeks to wrest Gracie from her, a man who is a convicted felon, who signed away his rights to Gracie even before she was born, and who abandoned Gracie’s mother not only during her pregnancy but in the final days of her terminal illness. Needless to say, Anna has experienced life at a level she never anticipated and it has changed the way she now sees her old community. She honestly believes that being so far from Chicago and “hidden” in her Amish village can protect her and Gracie, but she lives in fear that somehow she will have to run again.

This is truly one of the inspirational novels that can warm your heart with its gentle characters, its non-violent and forgiving ways, its family loyalty and kindness under the most trying of circumstances. Anna finds a gentle acceptance and understanding from her friend Samuel who also “jumped the fence” for almost a year in search of his father who decided to leave the Amish community when Samuel was 16 years old. He not only left a way of life but he left a wife and two children. Samuel returned because his mother was dying, but he shares some of the struggles he still must face, doubts about himself, worries about the strength of his faith, and his growing attachment and deepening feeling for Anna.

This is the kind of novel I love to read — I was raised by a Mennonite father and my paternal grandparents were very much in this kind of mindset as the Mennonite community is thought to be “kissing cousins” with the Amish. There is an old saying that claims that ” . . . our grandmothers baked bread together . . . ” if we know there is a connection but we can’t find out exactly what it is. So I can understand the deep desire to be connected to the earth, to be steadfast in their understanding of obedience to the faith, and a desire to be extended family to one another. But Anna is still struggling with the sense of being tied to so many people, of giving up her personal freedom, of worrying about what her life will be like and whether this is the best life for her daughter.

There is just simply not anything in this book that is not to like. Perry brings a wealth of personal background to these books which grows out her own exposure to the Amish tradition during her childhood. She is a writer of note and one that has proven time and again that she can tell a story that is readable, understandable, with a well-developed plot and well-defined characters, using a number of literary devices to fill in the blanks for the reader. All in all, this is a book I plan on giving to my teen granddaughters and urging them to enjoy and learn. This book is an example of what a romantic, in-depth study in human nature looks like while entertaining and uplifting the reader.

I give this book a rating of 5 out of 5.

The Series: