An Uncommon Grace by Serena B. Miller

An Uncommon Grace

by Serena B. Miller

A moving and inspirational novel about the power of faith, family and above all, love, as a young Amish man must turn to his Englisch neighbor for help after a devastating tragedy.

Grace Connor, a military nurse formerly stationed in Afghanistan, hopes that moving to a farm in rural Ohio will help her recover from the ravages of war.

Levi Troyer finds his pacifist beliefs challenged when he discovers his stepfather has been killed and his mother wounded by an unknown intruder. Levi and Grace are thrown together when she comes to his family's rescue and saves his mother's life. A deep attraction develops-even though a relationship between them is strictly forbidden.

Levi belongs to the most conservative and isolated of all Amish sects-the Swartzentruber Amish. Even before meeting Grace, Levi had begun to question some of their teachings. He has considered leaving, but knows he will be banned forever from contact with his younger siblings and widowed mother-who need him to survive. He is torn between his love for Grace and his responsibility to his family.

Grace considers leaving her beloved farm and reenlisting rather than continuing to live near the man she loves but cannot have. Levi must confront the Bann if he pursues Grace. And a murderer must be caught. When lifelong allegiances are tested, can love and justice prevail?

Reviewed by cherryblossommj on

5 of 5 stars

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Amish Fiction, both contemporary and historical is a very popular subgenre in Christian Fiction. There are a handful of names that are known really well for it, yet there have been two authors that I will read anything from them. I had come across some others that many people rave from that really sent me the opposite direction. It is because of this that it has been a while and I hesitate to pick up an Amish setting novel.

When I became friends with Christian Historical Fiction Author Serena Miller after reading her historical romance full of strife and character and ending all love and then had an opportunity to read more of her writing in some of her Contemporary Amish novels how could I resist?

To my knowledge this is the first Amish novel from Howard Books, the Christian imprint of Simon & Schuster. They could not have picked a better author or story to come into the genre with a resounding bang and message to turn your brain wheels into action! Serena grabs you on the first page with an amazing character personality and them thrusts the reader into a world unexpected and keeps you there until the last.

Grace is an amazing American woman of today's contemporary times. She is a nurse practitioner and military war hero, but she is also modest and seeking where God wants her to be in life. While Levi is an Amish man and not just an Amish but that of a strict order with rigid rules and regulations that his people believe to be the will of God. Throw in the romance of a slightly Romeo and Juliet that they both dwell but know should never be... add on a community murderer, Grace's medical skills, an unexpected secret in the family, confusion of where to be and what to believe as well as overall family and neighborly love and as a reader you will have hours of an adventure.

It is a romance, a mystery, a cultural lesson filled with over all respect and a hint of curiosity. Every page brings you not only into the lives of the characters but possibly into your own self. There are so many things about this book and discussions that it awakens that I could go on for pages and paragraphs. However I will spare you and just leave you to know that Serena knows what she is doing while weaving a novel both in a lumberjack's historical as well as an Ohio Amish contemporary.

*Thanks to Serena for sending me a copy for review.*

posted: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2012/04/17/an-uncommon-grace-by-serena-b-miller/

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 16 April, 2012: Finished reading
  • 16 April, 2012: Reviewed