Over the Edge by Mary Connealy

All’s Well That Ends Well is the title of a Shakespearian play, but it also describes the ending of The Kincaid Brides, Book 3. Mary Connealy has very neatly tied up all the loose ends and still managed to give us a surprise or two.

I had the opportunity to read second book, In Too Deep, about the second brother, Ethan, and wondered what I could learn about the third brother, Seth. A Civil War veteran with a physically painful childhood, Seth was in the habit of going to the caverns in the mountains around the home place to hide whenever remembrances of his past overwhelmed him. Along comes Callie who had married Seth while she nursed him after the war. One day he took off and she never saw him again. The day came when she realized she needed to find his brothers, let them know she had married Seth and was on the way to see them. That in itself was a surprise to the brothers, but not the biggest one. Seth and Callie had a son no one knew about.

At this point, I was hooked and had a hard time putting the book down. I simply had to know how Callie and Seth worked this out. Would Ethan find that the past no longer held control over his life? Would he remember that he had a wife? Would Callie find that she could trust her husband not to abandon her again? The answer to all those questions is yes, but how they were answered I want to reader to discover on their own.

Over the Edge works as a standalone book because enough information is given to make sure the reader is aware of what has happened in the lives of Rafe and Ethan, the brothers. Yet, that background information does not get in the way of those who have previously read Out of Control and/or In Too Deep.

I received this book to review for free from Bethany House.

A Season of Tending by Cindy Woodsmall

Would an Old Order Amish girl dabble in witchcraft? Many in Rhonda’s town believed she did. How else could one explain the premonitions that she said she sensed? Because the townspeople, Amish and English, looked at her wondering, Rhonda kept close to her family home and tended her garden. Canning the fruit of her garden and selling it gave her a feeling of satisfaction. So did dispensing the herbs she also grew, but there was one who was determined to destroy that garden and keep the seeds of doubt alive in the town.

Samuel King and his family tended the apple orchard that had been in their family for generations. Selling the apples for eating and cider provided the finances needed each year. This year, though, worms had invaded one third of the orchard and Samuel knew they were facing a financial problem. He considered approaching Rhonda for help with the orchard since she knew enough about horticulture to offer advice and had a thriving canning business that might make use of the apples that could not be sold for anything but cider. As they work at uniting the two businesses, a sudden tornado destroys what is left of the orchard. What will they do now? What new avenue is God opening up for them?

A Season of Tending presented a deviation from the usual Amish story of boy meets girl, boy and girl disagree, boy and girl either make up or go their separate ways. The primary focus of this book is the resolution of financial issues and of perception. This is the first of a new series titles Amish Vines and Orchards. I enjoyed this book and happily recommend it to anyone interested in another side of Amish life.

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