The Struggle

"Whatever your simple pleasures may be, enjoy them and share them with someone else. We sometimes take for granted the everyday things that give us a sense of joy and well-being. These simple things are often forgotten when problems occur in our lives." This is the moral of the novel, The Struggle by Wanda Brunstetter which is the third book in the Kentucky Brothers Series.

This time it's Timothy Fisher who feels compelled to leave his childhood home in Paradise, Pennsylvania to move to Christian County, Kentucky and follow in his brothers footsteps who have gone before him. First his twin brother Titus and then his half-brother Samuel left to find cheaper land and more of it than is available in Pennsylvania, but it's not the reason for Timothy. He's hoping that by moving to Kentucky, he can separate Hannah, his wife from her mother. Since they have been married, Timothy feels as though his marriage has been in jeopardy just because Hannah hasn't taken on the responsibilities he feels a wife should. She spends more time with her mother than with him and he's hoping a change in location might help.

Only Hannah isn't going to make it easy on him. She isn't the slightest bit willing to make this move and being an only child, her and her mother share a very close bond. She understands that she needs to be there for her husband but doesn't feel that moving them is the answer. Not only that but their only daughter, Mindy will also have to find new friends. So Hannah resolves to dig herself in and find ways to show Timothy that Kentucky isn't going to make her any happier and is crossing her fingers it will only be a matter of time before she's home again with her parents.

Since they are moving there in hopes of finding a home, they will have to live with Samuel and his children. Timothy is hoping that Hannah can find some friends through the women in his brothers lives, starting with Esther who Samuel is courting and is taking care of his home and children during the day while he works and in the evening hours, works part time at a Bed and Breakfast owned by an English women named Bonnie. Hannah feels that since she is staying there, she should assume the responsibilities of caring for the children and the upkeep of the house, but all it does is isolate her further from not only Samuel and Timothy but from Esther and the other women as well.



I received The Struggle by Wanda Brunstetter compliments of Barbour Publishing and Net Galley for my honest review and really enjoyed this Amish novel. In it we see that the more tightly we attempt to hold on to things and refuse to trust God, the harder it will be to deal with things when they are suddenly taken away. In this one, each set of characters is challenged with their own personal struggles, Timothy and Hannah are at odds in not only how to put their marriage back together but also how to deal with raising a family; Bonnie and her soon to be husband Allen, are dealing with some secrets from Bonnie's past that make wreck the opportunity to be married before she can accept his proposal and an unexpected English visitor to the B & B on Christmas Eve, throws a wrench into some Christmas plans with her own past.

In it all we can see the consequences of what happens when we fail to trust God and instead try to handle things ourselves. Sometimes it has tragic circumstances and often times it can simply be a matter of working things out by letting go, and letting God heal our past wounds, yet the message is simple, as believers we are never far from some kind of struggle and watching each of these characters deal with them, shows us that the best answer is faith in God, not matter how difficult it may be. I easily rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars! If you love Amish Fiction, then you definitely want to pick this one up!

For more information on The Struggle, Wanda Brunstetter, or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the link below:

The Struggle by Wanda Brunstetter

You can also find the rest of the books in the Kentucky Brothers series to enjoy:

# 1 The Journey
# 2 The Healing