** I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own.
Detachment had worked well as a life strategy for horse trainer Sam Schrock. Until he met Mollie Graber . . .
New to Stoney Ridge, schoolteacher Mollie has come to town for a fresh start. Aware of how fleeting and fragile life is, she wants to live it boldly and bravely. When Luke Schrock, new to his role as deacon, asks the church to take in foster girls from a group home, she's the first to raise her hand. The power of love, she believes, can pick up the dropped stitches in a child's heart and knit them back together.
Mollie envisions sleepovers and pillow fights. What the 11-year-old twins bring to her home is anything but. Visits from the sheriff at midnight. Phone calls from the school truancy officer. And then the most humiliating moment of all: the girls accuse Mollie of drug addiction.
There's only one thing that breaks through the girls' hard shell--an interest in horses. Reluctantly and skeptically, Sam Schrock gets drawn into Mollie's chaotic life. What he didn't expect was for love to knit together the dropped stitches in his own heart . . . just in time.
Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you back to the little Amish church of Stoney Ridge for a touching story of the power of love.
Stitches in Time is the second book in Suzanne Woods Fisher's The Deacon's Family series. I must admit that I had not read the first book in the series (or ANY of her Amish novels), but had recently read the start of a non-Amish series she'd written and had fallen in love with her writing style so I was excited to check this one out. If you haven't read the first book, this one really does stand alone quite well. I didn't feel as though I was behind and felt like I was given all the background I needed to understand the characters and their story. That being said, I enjoyed getting to know these characters so much that I definitely would love to go back and get more of their back story.
What really struck me about Stitches in Time was that in comparison to other books I've read recently in the Amish genre, it felt completely different... more modern. Though it certainly gives us a good look at the Amish culture and faith, it also showed us that these characters were not perfect. They had some pretty significant issues to overcome and histories that they had to learn and grow from. This made the characters all the more relate-able. They might live in a very different faith, but ultimately we all have many of the same struggles. I really enjoyed that realness in the story, and the beautiful messages of grace and belonging that it provided.
The big theme in this book was foster care. Not something you would generally think of in Amish fiction, right? But I feel like it was such an important message--- not just in the need for foster families in our country, but also in just some of the misconceptions about the foster care system and the kids living in it. The author addresses some of these misconceptions in the notes in the back as well, which I thought was fantastic. I feel like she did a great job in drawing attention to the issue in such a unique and beautiful way.
Overall, I thought this was a great read. I look forward to reading more in the series and from the author in the future. If you love Amish fiction, this is certainly one to add to your reading list, but I truly feel like this particular story can also be enjoyed even by those who don't typically enjoy the genre.
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