Monday, November 17, 2014

Book Review: When Mercy Rains

When Mercy Rains 
by 
Kim Vogel Sawyer

She left, heavily weighted with secrets.
But God reveals all things, in His timing.
And He redeems them.

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 a daughter, Alexa, on her own. 
Now, 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 strict faith community and a family that may not have forgiven her. It also means seeing Paul Aldrich, her first love.
Paul, widowed with an eight-year-old son, is relieved to see Suzanne again and to have 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?

I thought this book would be a romance, but surprisingly, it wasn't. It was a story of forgiveness and healing amongst a family torn apart. I read it very slowly, but it wasn't so much that I lost interest in it or found it boring, it was just that it was so day-to-day life that it was a book I could just pick up here and there and read a little bit at a time. It wasn't super adventurous or thrilling, but it was a good story of restoration amongst family. There were a few unexpected twists thrown in, and that made it more interesting. It wasn't my favorite read by Kim, but it wasn't bad. I guess it was more touching than anything, a few parts made my eyes water. So anyway, overall a good book! 


I received this book for free from Water Brook Multnomah publishers in exchange for my honest review.