Twenty-one-year-old Katie Detweiler loves to bake. When she’s hired at a local bed-and-breakfast to do just that, she’s excited, especially because the owner promises the shy young woman that she won’t have to leave the kitchen. But when her boss’s husband requires round-the-clock care, Katie is forced to wait on customers, too. Before long, a “customer” reveals himself to be a private … investigator–and exposes a family secret that shakes her to the core.
Twenty-two-year-old Abram Hilty has fled the drama of Shipshewana, Indiana, for Seymour, Missouri, where he’s staying with his cousin. His plan is to hide from a girl he no longer cares about–and more. Uncomfortable sharing his past and afraid of the consequences, he buries his troubles deep inside. When he meets Katie Detweiler, he is immediately attracted, but his pursuit of her is complicated by a past mistake he can’t undo.
As Katie wrestles with questions of identity, she also struggles to navigate her blossoming romance with Abram, in the face of opposition from a jealous friend. As their relationship becomes more serious, Abram realizes that he must come clean about his past–even if doing so will require him to keep his distance from Katie, for her own protection. It soon becomes clear that only the hand of God can bind them together for good.
AWAKENED LOVE by Laura V. Hilton is the third book in the Amish Of Webster County series. It’s the wonderful story of Katie Detweiler, who lives in Seymour, MO, and Abram Hilty, who arrives from Shipshewana, IN running from his past.
Katie Detweiler has very low self-esteem which is constantly being reinforced with snide remarks and comments by her so called friend Patsy Swartz, who is pushy and a bully. She is sure she will remain unmarried since no boys have sought her out and because of her “curse”. She works in the kitchen at the local B&B. Being the introvert she is, she is glad that she doesn’t have to have contact with the folks out front. When the owner needs to be away aiding her sick husband, she is forced to take over all the out front duties as well. It’s then that she meets the Englischer Tyler, a private investigator. Katie’s world changes in an instant when he tells her that she was adopted and that she has many siblings including a sister who needed a bone marrow transplant in hopes of surviving her illness.
Abram Hilty arrives in Seymour to stay at his cousins while both trying to figure out where he’s life is headed concerning the girl he left behind and running from a murderer. He thought he was in love, but found out that the pushy gal he left behind could not be faithful to one guy even when promised to him. He realizes that the feelings he once had for her were more lust than love. It also seems that Abram along with his brother and some friends had come upon something dangerous in the woods. It left one shot dead and the rest running scared. After others that had ran seemed to come up dead, Abram and his bother split up, left town and wouldn’t let anyone know where they were. Fear kept him quiet and looking over his shoulder even after arriving in Seymour.
Abram knew the moment he laid eyes on Katie that she was THE one for him. He told her from their first meeting that she would become his frau. As their relationship is developing, he’s confronted with the news that Marianna, his old girlfriend, is pregnant. He knows has to return to Shipshewana and man up. As Katie’s daed had once told him “First step in becoming a man, owning up to your mistakes.” Could he confront his past and make his way back to Katie or will it snare him and not let him live the life he is dreaming of with her or will he live at all?
Could Katie dream that she could actually not be cursed and fall in love and have a future with Abram? Can she come to terms with being adopted and meet her siblings that may look like her and her dear brother who had died a few years earlier in a freak accident? Can she find the courage to help her dying sister? Will she ever be able to hold her head up in the community? All she knows is that her love of Abram will never die.
AWAKENED LOVE is an amazing love story. The brilliant way the author tells this wonderful story backing up the main questions with Bible verses in such a seamless way makes them such a great aha moment. Her writing is so realistic that the emotions the characters feel you feel as well – from Katie’s goosebumps to Abram’s fear. Love the way the author gives us life lessons in her books that you so subtle you don’t realize them while mesmerized in reading the story, but afterwards when thinking about what a great story it was they become evident to you. Both Katie and Abram learn that to find the answer, one needs only turn to God. He word has the answers. He word has the plan. It’s his love for us that will carry us through life. Ephesians 2:4
Highly recommend AWAKENED LOVE to anyone that loves a fantastically well written romance, the Amish genre, or a story that will have you feeling your emotions and leave you with a smile on your face. It can definitely be read as a standalone book, but you will want to check out the rest of the book by Laura V. Hilton because she is that good.