When Mercy Rain Book Review

I was excited to get a chance to try a new series (and possibly a new author that I haven't read).  I certainly do like a good Amish fiction book so when I went looking to find a book written by Cindy Woodsmall or Shelley Sheppard Gray in the library, I didn't find a lot.  After finishing Supermarket Healthy, I went back on my Blogging for Books and found a book that seemed really interesting which I quickly signed up to read.  The super awesome thing is that they sent me the first and the second book in the series!!!  WHAT?!  How great is that?  They must know that I like to start at the beginning of the series and enjoy learning about the characters.  Is this something that most people like? I started with When Mercy Rains: A Novel (The Zimmerman Restoration Trilogy) by Kim Vogel Sawyer which was the first on the series.

Suzanne Zimmerman was only seventeen and pregnant when her shamed mother quietly sent her away from their Old Order Mennonite community in Kansas. With her old home, family, and first love firmly behind her, Suzanne moved to Indiana, became a nurse, and raised daughter, Alexa, on her own.  Nearly twenty years later, an unexpected letter arrives from Kansas. Her brother asks her to bring her nursing abilities home and care for their ailing mother. His request requires that Suzanne face a family that may not have forgiven her and a strict faith community. It also means seeing Paul Aldrich, her first love.   

Paul, widowed with an eight-year-old son, is relieved to see Suzanne again, giving him the chance to beg her forgiveness for his past indiscretion. But when he meets Alexa, his guilt flickers in the glare of Suzanne’s prolonged secret—one that changes everything. Suzanne had let go of any expectation for forgiveness long ago. Does she dare hope in mercy–and how will her uncovered past affect the people she loves the most?

While this 329 page book was quite large, it was a super fast read.  I carried it everywhere with me and was even trying to read it while making dinner and at the dinner table.  I was the person who went to pick my son up a few minutes early so that I could read a few extra pages.  It was so good and there were so many secrets that you wanted to learn.  I haven't read anything by this author before so I was interested in her writing.  One of the great things that I appreciated was the great writing which really opened up the characters and let you understand everything about them.  When I was done with the book, I had to pick up the next book immediately which I guess is why they sent me the first book in the series when they sent the second.  I thought the characters were very relate-able and you felt that you were in the middle of this great family.  I hope that you check this out at your local library and bookstore.

** I received a free copy of this book from the publishers for being a member of Blogging for Books