Life gets a lot harder for Amish midwife Kristi Lapp when a buggy wreck lands her in the hospital and leaves her with a pronounced limp. Among her biggest concerns is the well-being of her dog, Chinook, as she is no longer able to keep up with the high-energy Siberian husky. Adding insult to injury, Kristi fears she’ll never marry for love, for what man would willingly wed a woman who needs help … help with even the most basic of household tasks?
Shane Zimmerman moved to Seymour for a fresh start. The veterinarian is still reeling from the loss of his wife and his unborn child. The coroner deemed aneurysm as the cause of death, but Shane still blames the Amish midwife–specifically, the herbal remedies she prescribed.
Shane meets Kristi when he discovers her wrecked buggy and takes her to the hospital. Soon, what started as common courtesy turns into a strong mutual attraction. Yet the obstacles that bar a relationship between them are many. Will they find a way to stay together? Or will their differences prove too divisive to resolve?
more
HEALING LOVE by Laura V. Hilton is the first book in the Amish of Webster County series set in Seymour, MO.
HEALING LOVE is the love story of Kristi Lapp, who is Amish, and Shane Zimmerman, an Englischer with Amish roots (his father left the Amish to marry his mother) – both in their 20’s. Krisiti has never married and is living at home with her parents while pursuing her career as a midwife. Shane is a young widower. Even though his wife died from a brain aneurysm, he has it in his mind that her death was from complications after her midwife gave her herbs to take making him have a high distrust for the profession.
Although they were next door neighbors, it wasn’t until Shane drove up on Kristi’s buggy accident to render aid that they actually met. The accident left Kristi needing an operation to repair her badly broken leg with many months of rehabilitation ahead. Shane is immediately drawn to her and wants to help out as much as he can. Since he is a veterinarian, it made sense that he would help her take care of her very active Siberian husky named Chinook taking him on runs and seeing that he is feed and watered meaning they would have daily contact.
From the very beginning, their intense attraction to each other was evident to both of them. It evidently was to others around them as well since Shane got severe warnings from both Ira Lapp and Timothy, Krisit’s Daed and uncle, reminding him that he was not Amish. Although they know that any form of relationship would be impossible, they can’t help their growing feelings that seem to on a fast track to mutual love.
On one of their outings, Kristi gets to see and visit with Justus, her banned brother, Dori, his wife and their two kids. The old wounds of how he was banned for wishing to get an education to become a preacher (not chosen like the Amish) and not being able to see him for so many years, adds foreboding to her mind about where her relationship with Shane would take them. All she knew was that she would never be able to marry another while having Shane in her heart. She’s also determined to stay in contact with her brother’s family again regardless of his banning.
After great prayer, Shane approaches the bishop asking to join the Amish church to open the way for them to marry and to avoid Kristi from being banned from the church. The bishop denied his request which in the end had her father disowning her and making her leave his home. With nowhere else to go, she called Shane who in turned called Justus. They agree that Kristi would go stay with Justus and Dori while they both prayed about God’s will for them both.
Will Shane find a way to become Amish for the love of his life or will Kristi turn her back on her raising for the man she loves? This touching love story has a lot of ups and down keeping your enthralled along the way. Laura Hilton has a skillful way of writing a story that has you feeling all your emotions while you’re saying a prayer for a happily ever after ending. The ending was a surprise not only to Kristi and Shane but for me as well. I loved it! I highly recommend this book to another that loves Amish stories, clean romance stories or just a great all around well written good book. Since this is the first in the series, I will definitely be checking out more books in the Amish of Webster County series as well as other books by this author.