Amy Knackstedt hopes a new start in Weaverly, Kansas, will help heal the pain of losing her husband and provide a better future for her three children. But her new neighbor, Tim Roper, is not pleased to have an Old Order Mennonite family living next to his apple orchard. Tim left the Mennonite faith years ago and doesn’t want any reminders of his former life.
Yet when circumstances throw Amy and Tim together, they form a friendship that surprises them both. Will past hurts always be a barrier between them, or will this tentative relationship blossom into something more?
When Hope Blossoms by Kim Vogel Sawyer
My rating: 5 of 5 starsWhen I picked up this book, I was expecting to read about Mennonites as I understood them–ones who were not that different from me. I was always of the opinion that the Mennonites were more “normal” than the Amish. But I quickly learned how wrong I was. There is such a thing called “Old Order Mennonites,” and this book prompted my doing some searching on my own, and I discovered that the Amish and Mennonites came from the same source, and I felt like this book pushed me to learn more about these fabulous groups of people!
Lest you think that this is just an informational book, you are wrong. I knew that I had read one other book by Kim Vogel Sawyer, but I couldn’t remember which one it was. And then I discovered it was one I didn’t like–“Song of My Heart.” That was a sappy romance (in my opinion) that was very forgettable for me. This book is nothing like that! This book has depth, love, romance, humor (I love it when books make me laugh out loud), and real spiritual lessons. I was incredibly inspired as I read this book!
The characters in the book are 3-dimensional, and I found myself connecting with the story on several levels. I think that Tim, the male interest in the story, helped me understand another man in my life. I am always amazed when God uses fiction books to speak to me, but why not? After all, God can use everything, and I am pleased to say that God spoke to me through Kim Vogel Sawyer. While I would never want to be a Mennonite, I am all ready to go visit a community. They sound like such wonderful people, and they believe in truly taking care of each other. I never felt that the rules they had to follow ever came across as legalism. My hat goes off to people like this, and I can recommend this easy-to-read, feel-good, clean Christian romance to everyone!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Vogel Sawyer grew up in Kansas. All over Kansas. Her dad, an educator by vocation and a house fixer-upper by design, had itchy feet. Consequently, Kim attended seven different schools in five cities before graduating from high school. Being painfully shy, all that moving and starting over was tough, but now looking back, she sees the purpose. She became a keen observer of people, and all of that observation works well when crafting fictional characters. And it led Kim to a personal truth: God wastes nothing…not even a shy little girl’s fear of entering yet another new classroom.
Although Kim dreamed of being a writer from her earliest memories—even recalls telling her kindergarten teacher that people would check out her book in libraries someday!—she chose to become an elementary school teacher. She used her degree first in an in-home daycare/preschool, then as a home visitor with Head Start, and finally in a fifth grade classroom. Kim loved the kids, but health challenges (a variety of auto-immune disorders) made it difficult to keep up the pace of full-time teaching.
In 2001, she dropped to part-time status and began using the morning hours at home to write. The characters and stories that had lived in the back of her brain for years found their way from her fingertips onto a computer screen. She made a promise: to never write anything that would embarrass her mother or to write anything she would be embarrassed for her daughters or former students to read. A friend read the manuscripts and made a statement that resonated with Kim.
“Your stories, even though they cover tough topics, are so gently told, and they’re laden with hope.”
Hope. Kim’s favorite word. She adapted the comment into a pledge to her future readers: Gentle stories of hope. And of course, knowing our hope is found in nothing less than a relationship with Jesus Christ, Kim’s stories always possess a strong spiritual thread.
Kim’s first book, A Seeking Heart, which was loosely based on her mother’s family history, released in June of 2002. She began attending writing conferences to learn more about publishing, and she signed with a literary agent in 2003. In 2005, between March and November, she signed contracts with Bethany House, Barbour Publishing, and the Heartsong Presents line for a total of ten books. At the end of the school year, she resigned from teaching and has enjoyed a full-time writing and speaking ministry ever since.
In September of 2018, she celebrated the release of her fiftieth novel, a number not even the imaginative little dreamer could have envisioned. Every day, you’ll find her at her computer, most often with a cat on her lap, bringing to life the characters that fill her head and using their struggles to show the hope we can possess when we place our lives in God’s loving, capable hands.
When Kim isn’t writing, she enjoys traveling with her retired military hubby, quilting, antique-shopping, and spoiling her quiverful of granddarlings—six Sweeties, two Bugaboos, and a pair of Wugmumps—who are the joys of her life. She likes them even more than chocolate, and that’s saying something.
Kim is currently at work filling her most recent contract and using her teaching degree combined with her love of writing to teach at writing conferences across the U.S. She knows God opened the door to a writing ministry to her, and she intends to write until He closes the door or calls her home.
FOLLOW KIM
