This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Panda Queen. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Inspirational Romance category.
The summary:
As an Amish wife and mother struggles to hold her family together, a story from the past teaches her how to face her daily challenges with strength and love . . .
In modern day central Pennsylvania, Judith Wegler tries to heal the growing rift between her husband, Isaac, and his teenage brother Joseph—whom Judith and Isaac have raised as their own ever since both brothers lost their parents and siblings in a horrific fire. Meanwhile, Isaac’s hurtful silence about this tragic past has robbed Judith of any certainty of her husband’s love.
But when Judith’s grandmother gifts her with an antique study table, she discovers a hidden packet of letters that changes her life . . .
In 1953, widow Mattie Lapp fights against the county’s attempts to force Amish children to attend a consolidated public school, even if it means arrest and imprisonment. Mattie knows she can’t face this challenge alone, and turns to her late husband’s cousin Adam for help, but she’s terrified at the prospect of relying on someone else.
Now, as the two women’s stories converge, both must learn to stand up for their beliefs and to love again, even when it means risking their hearts . . .
Here is Panda Queen's review:
Sunny shine, a field of gold, cows walking up the pasture. The storybook setting for The Rescued by Marta Perry is beautiful, but don’t be fooled, for this everyday Amish family is dealing with, gasp, family problems. Okay, so let’s ease up on the horse’s reins and slow this cart down. We are introduced to the main heroine Judith Wegler. She is a peaceful girl who likes to help others and worries terribly when she cannot, but do not fret, she does have an icy anger that comes out to play when she is backed into a corner. She is married to the hero, Isaac. They take care of his brother Joseph, who is 14, and their three sons.
Now for the juicy conflicts. The first is that Isaac and Joseph are butting heads, which is the main conflict, or at least the most talked about in the entire book. Isaac and Joseph’s family died in a fire when Joseph was just a baby. This, in turn, left Isaac to take care of Joseph and the farm at a young age. Isaac’s father wanted the farm left to Joseph when he came of age. Isaac tries to uphold this, but Joseph does not want the farm because it is not the path in life that he wishes to follow. I should also probably mention here that our main hero is the silent type, a man of very few words, especially when the time arises. As you can all probably guess this leads to a lot of misunderstanding, which brings us to our second biggest conflict.
As stated earlier, Isaac’s parents died when Joseph was a baby. This left Isaac to find a wife who would take care of Joseph. I would like to quickly pause here to say there is more explanation to this, but it falls into spoiler territory so do not take the statement above at face value; however, Judith, the heroine, does believe the following statement to be true and this leads to her assuming her husband does not really love her and only married her to take care of Joseph. She also is head over heels in love with Isaac. This is not helped by Isaac who is not Mr. Talkative. He even says in the book:
“Why do women think they have to talk things to death.”
Thankfully, as I said earlier, Judith has some thoughtful spitfire in her and has less of a problem telling him why:
“Joseph needs to know… you still love him… How can he know when you never say so?”
Luckily Isaac is a good listener – thank goodness for that.
The last main conflict is that Isaac is still dealing with the loss of his family. Since he does not, I think you can guess, talk things out, this leads to him bottling things up and letting his emotions fester inside.
Phew, I think I have us all you all caught up on the basics, at least what I feel are the basics. Now for my likes and dislikes. First off, I was so happy to have a romance book where the main characters were married, but ginger snaps, they had to go and make the heroine believe there is no love. It just snoodles me. I mean, come on, people, like Isaac and Judith having to deal with Joseph and the fire is not enough? You really have to go in and throw a conflict of one believing the other does not love them? May I point out it is also a little hard to believe that Judith has been left to believe this for eight or more years. This is the truth, I believe, because their oldest son is eight years old and Judith was not pregnant before they got married, ergo this problem has been stewing eight years or longer. No offense, but I would have said something by then. They also go through their barn catching on fire too, so we are at no loss for conflicts. Oh yes. I almost left the best part out, there is another story going on.
What you say, another story. Oh yes, my little conflict lovers. As if the following was not enough, we have another story going on. Judith has a study table with letters in it from 1953. The story goes back and forth between Judith and our second main heroine, Mattie who is writing these letters. Who also has a hero. (Can’t be missing one of those in romance book now, can we.) His name is Adam and their big conflict is that the English school is trying to make the Amish children carry on their schooling into high school. This is when most Amish children start learning the craft they wish to do for the rest of their lives. The romance between Mattie and Adam, in my opinion, were way more prominent and the conflict/story made it understandable why this book ended up in the inspirational category. I personally felt the second “letter” story was much more interesting, but I guess it cannot because the main heroine, Judith, would not be inspired by Mattie’s story. What a bummer.
I probably should help all you who just got confused reading that explanation.
Okay, let me explain: The Rescued by Marta Perry is not completely stand-alone book; it is part of the Keepers of the Promises novels. The novels revolve around three cousins: Judith, Rebecca, and Barbara, who is called Barbie throughout the book . An Amish story with a woman named Barbie. Yep, you heard right. Got to love it. Anyway, Rebecca already told her story – yes this book is the second in this grouping of novels – but besides the fact that there is a hint when Rebecca comes in that we may already know her, you are pretty much good to go when reading Judith’s story. I did not feel lost at all so you can wipe that worry right out of your mind. You do not have to read the first book, but if you like this one then you get two more to read. Whoopee. Anyway, the idea that ties these book together is that they are about women being inspired through female ancestors’ writings. Each of the writings is found in the old object each one got. The heritage object comes from the three cousins Grossmammi or grandmother. That is how they are all connected and why Mattie’s story was the main one.
That was a long side track. My other likes and dislikes are smaller. I disliked how Judith also seemed to be a bit of a micro-manager. She was constantly worried about Isaac and Joseph’s relationship, which could get a bit annoying. She does get constantly told by people around her to let go and god will handle it. Quick mention, this book does have the belief in god/religion. Sometimes it felt appropriate, but other times I wanted to say seriously, you can’t leave everything up to god; you also have to put some work in yourself. No offense.
I could even see some of the other characters having problems with this logic. One moment they would be giving all this advice and opinions and the next they would say it doesn’t matter, let god take care of it. I get life happens, but you need to do something for it to happen and giving your two cents now and again should not hurt. Sigh.
The last thing I liked was the great female empowerment, especially in the second story. Mattie was willing to go to jail for her daughter and her belief. I love the when she says, “All we want is the freedom to choose what’s right for us.” This is quoted throughout the book and a running theme. On the flip side, when Judith’s barn is on fire after she helps keep the flames under control, the first thing her Mamm says is, “We’d best get ready to feed the helpers.” Judith, in turn, thinks, “The least she could do was have some cold drinks ready for the men.” Now as much as I like to be helpful, something about that last sentence annoyed the hornets in me. Seriously, the poor men? She just helped take care of the fire and they are worried about drinks and food for the men? I get that this might take your mind off the fire and I am sure a nice cold drink and food are helpful, but it just felt so, this is the women’s role and so, therefore, she must do it. Oh well, I guess you can’t have it all. I just wish the sentence was phrased better.
Overall the first part of this book was slow and hard to read. The only things that kept me going were the slice of life moments and the second story, but once we got over the “hump” and everything started coming together the story, both, were great and I love how they ended. My favorite quote from Judith is:
“You don’t have to chatter all the time, as long as you let me in when it counts.”
That line was one of my favorite and really helped bring this book to a close. I highly recommend you give this book a shot. The first part might be slow, but the ending is worth the read.
P.S. There are recipes for some of the food in the back of the book. Just a little bonus info.
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
I HAVE NEVER READ SUCH AN INSPIRED STORY ABOUT GRIEVING & THE WAY PEOPLE’S HANDLING AFFECTS OTHERS!!! THIS DOESN’T JUST SKIM THE SURFAce but…. !!! goes really deep into the heart! what a gift this writer possesses!