Love, mistakes and forgiveness

I loved, loved Mary and Clay heartwarming, healing and sweet Amish romance. This one had me feeling all the feels - laughing, crying, swooning, cringing, teeth gritting, and cheering. Mary is Amish and is one of four sisters. At 28 she accepts that she’s an old maid. Clay is an Englischer and a pitcher for a professional baseball team. After pitching poorly in a championship game, he drives drunk and crashes into Mary’s family’s barn. Instead of just paying for the damage, Clay agrees to fix it himself. Thus begins their beautiful journey of love and healing. Mary and Clay really spoke to my heart. I have a soft spot for people, like Clay and Mary, who are a bit uncomfortable in their skin because they don’t feel like they fit in or are worthy. So I love when they finally see their true worth and they get swoon worthy HEAs. The story was well written and included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters who grow, and an engaging storyline. It was a beautifully crafted story of painful pasts, grace, forgiveness, and love all within the beautiful backdrop of the Amish community’s faith and lifestyle as shown through sweet moments, mundane life snippets, supportive family, friendships, and life choices. I loved the juxtaposition of Mary and Clay’s reactions to and misunderstandings of their vastly different lifestyles and backgrounds with the many ways they were the same as messy children of God.

When football player, Clay Markham, has a car accident near Mary Yoder's home, she nurses him back to health. The longer they are together, the more connected Mary feels and the more connected Clay becomes as well. Mary is Amish and Clay is not so there is much adjusting to be done. This is a very sweet story with a pleasing ending.

I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my own honest opinion.

I wanted to start off by using this quote because I've never heard life described this way and I thought it was perfect.
This is Clay telling Mary about his dad.
I certainly know how he feels in regards to that statement.
I've wanted my dad's attention for years but he never gave it. So sad.
You would think I’d be over it by now. I’m thirty-four years old, and I still have hang-ups about my childhood. It’s sort of pathetic.”“Don’t say that. Emotions can run deep. My mammi always says that pain has a long shelf life, like a bottle of home-canned peaches.
I liked this story simply because it is different. It's from a man's pov. and his regrets. In my opinion it takes a strong man to step up and say he's sorry.
For that reason alone I admired Clay and Mary's friendship.
Here's another favorite quote that speaks truth.
Mary talking to Clay.
“You give us the gift of yourself every day. You fix things around the house, you play with the goats, you literally mend fences. When you walk in the door, the whole house lights up with happiness. "You couldn’t give us a greater gift. You don’t need to buy us presents to prove how important you are to us. We already know.”
All it takes is that special person and for that special person to finally see what's in front of them the whole time.
Forgiveness, hope and love are the themes of this story.
I loved this story so much that I finished it in one day.
Esther and Winnie are still my favorite characters. Winnie is just so adorable!
I'm hoping for a story just about Esther and Ivy someday. Ivy makes for an interesting character.
5 stars for a well written book. I highly recommend!
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed Clay and Mary's story. Two caring loving people from two different worlds finding each other and maybe having a happy ending.

I haven’t read any books by Ms Beckstrand in the past, but generally really enjoy books about Amish and Mennonites. I was a bit disappointed by this book for a number of reasons. The first reason struck me almost immediately in how this author really doesn’t capture the true views and values of the Amish. This story was more than just fiction, but truly far fetched in most every way. From the beginning, the way the father handled the situation when the famous baseball player drove drunken into his barn, and he invited him in to stay with his family and work for them for months to repair the barn instead of accepting payment for damages. Being an outsider, he’d never encourage opportunity for a relationship between this man and his four unmarried daughters. Once getting past this, the author made the big baseball player into a literal puddle of tears and weakness. The entire book was spent with him constantly apologizing for all the trouble he brought, and constantly crying (sobbing as per the story). He was constantly depressed, and Mary (the Amish girl) was constantly scared of everything and everyone. I have no problem with men being in touch with their emotions, but this felt beyond ridiculous. I kept reading thinking it would get better, but this book was literally depressing. I truly hate giving such a negative review, but this book was truly not worth the read. The character development has no real depth, and the story never moved on from all the tears and apologies.

I will not be recommending this book on my blog found at https://thefinalwordbooks.blogspot.com. I only publish reviews that meet a certain level of criteria, as I search for the very best work (in my opinion).


Thank you, Kensington books, for this opportunity to read your books simply in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars
What a delightful book. A tad different from the traditional Amish book, but that's what made it so good. I really enjoyed the characters development and the plot.
Definitely recommend.

I throughly enjoyed this book. There are amazing characters in this book about Mary and Clay. They are humorous, have trust issues and very different life styles. The plot is riveting with all the twists needed to make this a book you won’t put down. I will definitely read this author again.

Thank you netgallery for this ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. Jennifer Beckstrand is a new author for me to read and I enjoyed every page. The humour in the writing and the characters was a pleasant surprise as I haven't come across that in any of the Amish stories I have read before. I find the Amish culture and way of life so interesting and inspiring, reading these stories is a great way to escape from the modern world. I shall read more from this author. I recommend this book!

While overall a good story, I did expect a bit more with quilting. I also found it a little repetitive at times with Clay and Mary's issues to overcome. Obviously needed for the story but still... However, on that note I still enjoyed the story and wanted to see the HEA. Would recommend.