Thursday 3 March 2011

Restless Hearts - Marta Perry

Fiona Flanagan's mother left the community during her running-around years to marry an Englisher, but died soon after her daughter's birth. As a result, Fiona has never known anything about her mother's Amish relatives, and harbours hurt that they never tried to get in contact. Yet despite her claims that she doesn't feel the need to delve deeper into her Amish heritage, Fiona jumps at the opportunity to open a midwifery clinic in Pennsylvania Dutch country - where she immediately runs into her mother's family. Both parties are hurt by what has happened in the past, and Fiona finds herself leaning more on local police office, Ted Rittenhouse, to guide her regarding how to build bridges with her newfound relatives. Meanwhile, Ted may need Fiona's help in solving a case involving vandalism against the Amish locals. Will these problems come between their blossoming relationship?

As with all of Marta Perry's novels, this was a thoroughly enjoyable story. While not directly about the Amish, the countryside and characters still came alive and gave the book a content, soft tone that I often find in Amish romances. And as Marta herself lives near the Amish in PA, the details felt authentic, and not thrown in to make the romance more interesting. I enjoyed seeing Fiona learn about the ways of her mother's family through her friendship with Ted, even if they did have many stumbling blocks. This was a very soft, slowly blossoming romance, and didn't quite have the same sizzle and chemistry that I've felt in other Love Inspired novels, but it did make me grin from ear to ear in places! And as with all of Marta's stories that I've read, it contained a little mystery that helped the characters to learn more about themselves as they went about solving it.

This is #6 in the Flanagan series but can be read as a standalone book. From the hints dropped about other characters, I'd be interested in reading more from this series. A sweet romance with some calming Amish detail, which was just what I needed after a hard day's essay-writing! Thanks as always to Marta Perry for a wonderful story! 8/10

2 comments:

  1. Looks interesting esp since its not overtly amish.

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  2. Yeah, I liked how it had the Amish setting and secondary characters but the romance was between a midwife and a police officer! If you'd like to borrow it let me know. :)

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