I received a complimentary copy of this book from BookLook Bloggers and was under no obligation to post a review. No compensation was received for sharing this review and all opinions are my own.
Published by Zondervan on March 28th 2017
Source: BookLook Bloggers
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian Fiction
Pages: 336
After a devastating winter, a spring breeze promises more than new flowers.… It promises a new chance at love.
Bess Weaver, twenty and expecting her first child, is in the kitchen making stew for her beloved mann, Caleb, one minute, and the next she’s burying him after a tragic accident. Facing life as a young widow, Bess finds comfort only in tending the garden at an Englisch-owned bed and breakfast—even as she doubts that new growth could ever come after such a long winter.
Aidan tries to repress his guilt over his best friend Caleb’s death and his long-standing feelings for Bess by working harder than ever. But as he spends time with the young son his friend left behind, he seems to be growing closer to the boy’s beautiful mother as well.
When a close-knit group of widows in her Amish community step in to help Bess find her way back to hope, she begins to wonder if Gott has a future for her after all. Will she ever believe that life can still hold joy and the possibility of love?
Upon a Spring Breeze is the first book in the Every Amish Season series by Kelly Irvin. This cover is so beautiful so I really hate to say what I need. So, I’m just going to say it—these people are hateful. Every single person in this story except the newborn baby and the sister-in-law are snotty. I mean, the newborn was very colicky so I guess even it was an unpleasant little thing.
Controlling and abrasive would describe every character in this book. I almost considered that the author may look at the Amish as being very snotty people. Then, several Englishers (non-Amish) in the story accuse the Amish of everything from being a cult to giving them food poisoning. So, no one seemed to be immune from being written in a negative light.
I picked up this book hoping for a sweet romance but I was left feeling agitated and bristled. I seriously had to lay the book down when my husband asked what had darkened my mood. I felt a bit silly when I had to tell him I felt glum because of how irritable these people were. I mean, they practically accuse one woman of causing another woman to miscarry! Their misery and loathing just seeped from the pages.
I was also slightly taken aback that the author chose to have her characters continually talk about how “peeved” they were. It just felt like a word that didn’t fit in well in this genre.
The cover is very beautiful and I wanted to love this book but I just couldn’t. Now, I love flawed characters. So, don’t mistake this as me being a person that looks for all sunshine and roses. The problem here is that the entire cast was cantankerous. There was one prevailing personality—ornery.
I would have liked to have seen some warmth and compassion considering this young woman just lost her husband. Even her love interest had possessive and abusive qualities that I just couldn’t ignore.
This book just wasn’t for me. As I said, the cover is lovely but it conveyed a feeling of love and hope that I just didn’t find in the book within.
About Kelly Irvin
Kelly Irvin is the author of more than a dozen Amish books. Her latest release is The Saddle Maker’s Son, the third novel in the Amish of Bee County series from Zondervan/HarperCollins, released in June 2016. It follows The Bishop’s Son and The Beekeeper’s Son, which received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, calling it “a delicately woven masterpiece.” The Beekeeper’s Son is a finalist in the national ACFW Carol Awards Contest in the romance category. She is also the author of the Bliss Creek Amish series and the New Hope Amish series, both from Harvest Housing. She has also penned two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine.
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