The Promise Of An Angel by Ruth Reid ~ review

Product Description


In Mescota County, Michigan, an angelic visitor's words inspire Judith to a future she never imagined.
After a barn raising accident, Judith Fischer's convinced she's met an angel. However, her attempts to convince others end up frustrating her Old-Order Amish community. Only Andrew Lapp believes her, but the rest, including Levi Plank, the man's she's waited to marry, demand she forget the nonsense. Meanwhile, her younger sister Martha has taken a fancy to Levi and sees her sister's controversy as a perfect distraction for turning Levi's head.
In a dream, the angel tells Judith she must choose her path. As her faith continues to grow, so do her feelings for Andrew. Will she continue to place her hope in the angel's message, even if it means losing all she knows and loves?

My take on this book:
Judith Fischer is like most Amish women, her one hope and desire is to marry and have a family. She has always had her eye on Levi Plank, but had to wait until she was nineteen before they could court. When the day finally comes that she thinks that Levi will approach her parents and ask permission to court her, her world is turned upside down. Judith has always loved entertaining the children with made up stories, even though her elders frown on it. So when she tries to tell everyone that she has saw an Angel when her brother Samuel fell of a barn roof, there is only one person who believes her and it isn't Levi, instead its Andrew Lapp, Levi's cousin. Turns out the Angels name is Tobias and he tells her that everything will be all right, but it for Judith she isn't so sure. Levi has started paying more attention to her sister, and her community is starting to shut her out. She is even told by the bishop that she may need to move to another state, because of of her tale. Can things ever be all right for Judith?

"The Promise Of An Angel" is the first book in the Heaven on Earth Series by Ruth Reid, who puts a fresh spin on Amish fiction. She gives us a strong character with Judith, it had to be very hard to stand up for what she believed in, knowing how her community felt, it seemed the more her community shunned her the stronger her faith became, I thought that it was interesting that the Angel revealed himself to Judith several times throughout the story.
Martha, Judith's sister was someone that I could not like. She was mean and self centered and seemed to enjoy hurting Judith.
A fantastic kick off for what promises to be a great new series. I am anxious to read the next book titled Brush Of Angel Wings due out in April 2012.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.