A Simple Prayer by Amy Clipston (2017)

Even though the ‘someone who left the Community has come home’ trope feels a little tired, this novel did a great job of illuminating the perspective of older son in the parable of the prodigal son. In this iteration, the older brother, Samuel, is much more likable. His anger stems from watching his parents suffer, which leads him to hide the prodigal Aaron’s letters. Samuel resents how much and how long Mamm wept over her lost son and how these events kept him bound to their dairy farm instead of leaving him free to make a living building houses. 

But hiding the letters has caused most of what is making people miserable: 

• Even when he wants to return home, Aaron doesn't because their lack of response to his letters have made him think they've moved on and forgotten about him,
• It's only prolonged his parents’ suffering because they think their son is dead),
• Samuel's wife used to be friends with Aaron, but she's cold and angry at Aaron when he returns because she can't believe he didn't write and abandoned his family (especially his wonderful mother!) 

A Perfect Amish Romance by Shelley Shepard Gray (2021)

Tons of Amish Loveliness

This was a great read. There were so many things that I underlined; so many nuggets of goodness that I wanted to remember. I’ve been having luck with my Amish romances lately and it’s been very spiritually uplifting. 

One of the best things about this book is how loving the families were. There were challenges and love developing and one of the best things is that there wasn’t an overbearing parent or ordnung in sight. Thinking about it, we really didn’t see any English in this story and yet the oppressive feeling of some Amish stories wasn’t here. These people weren’t stifled by their simple life. They enjoyed it, which made me enjoy it too. And their faith was not just lived out in going to 3-hour church services but in the way they cared for each other, their community, and used the Bible to guide their lives.