PUBLISHER: THOMAS NELSON
PUBLICATION DATE: MAY 3, 2012
RATING: 8 OUT OF 10 – VERY GOOD
PROS: Contains Kelly’s trademark edgy
romance; good presentation of PTSD; presence of visions and the Holy Spirit is
very encouraging
CONS: Initial introduction to the
characters feels rushed; a lot of sad events occur at the start of the novel;
spiritual message is a bit overwrought
The American
Revolutionary War was a time of a great loss, and not just for those who fought
for freedom. Lena Yoder’s father has been imprisoned for refusing to give up
his livestock for the war effort, and not soon after this her mother dies in
childbirth. Alone with just her younger siblings, the only place Lena can think
to turn is to her childhood friend, Adam, whom she had always hoped she would
someday marry. But Lena’s mother was fearful of the hold that Adam’s father
held over him, and made Adam promise not to marry Lena until he was sure Lena
would be safely out from under his father’s influence. Adam cannot tell Lena
this, but he does know that he would not make a good husband to Lena at present.
Continually wrought by troubling dreams, Adam is permanently unsettled, and
wants nothing more than to gain freedom from the memories that haunt him. The
only way he can see fit to do this is in bearing arms and fighting for the
patriot cause. Lena is appalled at Adam’s desire to fight, and turns for solace
and stability in his older brother, Isaac. Adam must reconcile himself with the
troubling memories that haunt him and with his own desire for freedom before he
can begin to fight to win back the love of Lena.
I’ve been
anxiously awaiting Kelly’s next book ever since I finished her contemporary
romance, Lilly’s Wedding Quilt. But
although Lilly’s Wedding Quilt made
my list of favourite novels for 2011, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect
from Arms of Love. While a few
authors have attempted Amish historical fiction recently and handled the
combination well (Murray Pura, Anna Schmidt, Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith),
none of them have gone as far back as the eighteenth century, and I wasn’t
entirely sure how a novel about the Amish during the American Revolutionary War
would turn out. I didn’t enjoy Arms of
Love as much as Kelly’s contemporary romances, but I do think that this
book is a good start to her Amish
Beginnings series and breaks new ground in Amish fiction.
It took me a
while to get into this novel, and I’m not sure if that’s just because I wasn’t
in the right frame of mind at the time and was up to my ears in exam revision. The
beginning of Arms of Love is
incredibly sad, and wracked with numerous tragedies – a father is imprisoned,
his wife dies in childbirth and a new widow loses her home. Throwing Adam and
Lena’s troubled love into the mix made my initial reading of this book quite
depressing, and I kept putting it down so that I could read something lighter. I
don’t think that all readers will find this book as sad as I did, and perhaps
if I read it at a later date, when I didn’t have so much on my plate, I would
enjoy it more. I didn’t really feel like I become properly involved with the
story until about halfway through the novel, when the plot pacing really began
to pick up and I felt like I’d got to know the characters better. When I first
met Adam, Lena and their families there was so much going on that I almost felt
like I’d been thrown into the middle of a story that already in progress and
that I’d missed some essential details. But by the middle of the book I’d
settled into the lives of the eighteenth century Lancaster Amish and felt that
I could accurately keep up with their troubles.
Arms of Love isn’t all sadness and tragedy;
it contains a good helping of romance and a little bit of humour. One of my favourite
scenes is probably one around the middle of the novel, in which Adam tells his
brother that he won’t have any time to study or work when he has a wife because
she’ll want to do is kiss him all day long. The exchange between the brothers
was amusing, and really brought the characters’ personalities to life for me. I
really enjoyed watching Adam and Isaac’s friendship develop, almost as much as
I appreciated the romance between Adam and Lena.
One of my
favourite aspects of Kelly’s writing is how her romantic scenes are just a
little bit more edgy than most Amish authors’, showing the importance of
physical as well as spiritual and emotional attraction in a marriage. The
cellar scene was the one that made me really start to care about Adam and Lena,
when I found myself rooting for them to get together, even though Lena was then
engaged to Isaac. I won’t say any more than that, but any true romance fan
can’t help but root for Adam and Lena after reading the all important cellar
scene. Kelly hasn’t neglected her trademark of edgy romance, even in the
eighteenth century.
I have to
admit that I found Adam far more interesting to read about than Lena, and what
made me keep reading this book, even during the tough scenes, was the desire to
find out what was behind his disturbing dreams. I don’t know a lot about Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, but I found the portrayal of Adam’s struggles to be
very realistic. Since PTSD wasn’t properly recognised until around the time of
the First World War, it made me wonder how men like Adam were treated by
society at this time, which made him all the more endearing.
On the topic
of dreams, I also loved the way that Kelly incorporated the Holy Spirit into
her novel, through visions and healings. It seems that writing about the Holy
Spirit in Christian fiction is just as hard as presenting the physical love
between a husband and wife. Kelly manages both in this novel, and I was really
impressed by the way that she wrote the scenes containing healings and visions.
Nothing felt forced, and I definitely got a sense of the characters’ faith in
God. However, I will say that I felt that the message of “God is for us” to be
a bit overwrought. I liked how Ruth, the non-Amish wet-nurse, mused over this
statement as she came deeper into her faith with God, but as I got further into
the novel so many characters were quoting this passage that I wanted to ask
them if they actually knew of any other verses in the Bible. It fitted Ruth’s
storyline, but at times the statement was made to the extent that it no longer
seemed comforting and just became repetitive.
Although I
have my qualms about some aspects of this novel, Arms of Love is an encouraging start to Kelly’s historical series
and I hope that further Amish Beginnings
novels are of a similar fare. Readers might be put off initially by the
introduction of so many characters at the start of the novel and the presence
of so many sorrowful events, but I would encourage readers to persevere, as
this novel is definitely taking the time to read. Kelly doesn’t shy away from
edgy topics, from romance to spiritual issues, and her presentation of both in
this novel reflects what I’ve come to expect from her writing. I hope that
other readers are similarly pleased and challenged by Arms of Love.
Review
title provided by Thomas Nelson.
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