A Mother's Promise

By joining several "blogging for books" sites, I am introduced to many new and new-to-me authors. Anna Schmidt is just one of those "new-to-me" authors, but I found her work well worth my time.

A Mother's Promise tells the story of Rachel Kauffman and her son Justin. Rachel and Justin are Old Order Mennonite, and while not shying away from technology as the Amish do, they still live a separated life. Rachel and Justin have lived through the death of Rachel's husband James, James' brother taking over the family farm, and Rachel losing her job when they decide to move to Florida for a promise of a job there.

Rachel promises Justin that life will be better in Florida and works hard to make that promise come true. In taking the job at a new hospital as the assistant to the chaplain working primarily with children, Rachel becomes wrapped up in her work and Justin seems to take a back seat. He falls into a bad group of friends who delight in bullying a girl who has spent the past year in treatment for leukemia. When Rachel finally realizes what is going on, she decides to make some changes--they move to a Mennonite neighborhood and school, Rachel quits her job to look for something to allow her more time with Justin, and they join a group going on a missions trip to Costa Rica all in an effort to get their feet firmly back on the ground.

There are many positives about this book. Rachel knows how to stick to her guns, stand for what she believes, and protect her family--whatever it takes. Rachel is a strong woman, but not so strong as not to be believable. She loves her family fully, and takes all of her responsibilities seriously. There is a bit of romance between Rachel and Dr Booker from the hospital, and the romance has its ups and downs that require Rachel and Dr Booker to work through them. This is definitely a five-star, two thumbs up book that brings you into the characters' lives. Extremely readable book!