Heart in Hand

I love a great series of books whose characters are so well written, you'd swear they were real. Such is the case in Barbara Cameron's series Stitches in Time, in which I finished the third book, Heart in Hand. Stitches in Time is a shop owned by a wonderful family of women in Paradise, Pennsylvania. It is run by Leah, the grandmother and cousins, Naomi, Anna and Mary Katherine, each of them with a unique special skill like quilting, weaving or knitting. In the previous books in the series, we have gotten an in depth look at the lives of Naomi and Mary Katherine who have found their perfect husbands and now await their marriages. Yet Anna, the first to get married is also the first to experience true loss. Her husband Samuel died shortly after they got married when Leukemia claimed his life. Now living in the home they dreamed would one day be filled with children and love, Anna finds loneliness and thinks she will never find love again. Not after Samuel who she knew growing up and going to school with.

When she finds herself face to face however with Gideon Beiler and his daughter Sarah Rose who have come to the shop to help teach Sarah Rose some "women skills" since his wife, Mary also has died. Gideon is afraid that she will become more like a tom-boy unless she learns to quilt or knit. When Anna recommends learning to knit, she encourages Gideon to learn as well to help Sarah Rose when they are at home. She soon finds that the loneliness that her and Gideon share is something only two who have experienced loss can understand and it's the very thing that soon draws them together. When Sarah Rose starts having problems with school and struggling in her own grief in losing her mother, Anna becomes a friend to her to help her through the grieving process. She soon finds herself falling in love with Sarah Rose first and it's not long before she begins to fight her feelings about Gideon. She feels she is betraying her trust to love Samuel and struggles with wondering if God wishes her to fall in love again.Is it possible all this time, God has had someone in mind to help her move forward and put the past of loneliness and sorrow behind her?

I received Heart in Hand by Barbara Cameron compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours and Abingdon Press for my honest review and really love how this book brings to a close all the relationships between these wonderful characters we've come to love. I can relate to Anna's own struggle in believing that the love she shared between her and Samuel can never be found again. It can't and as soon as she realizes that and accept Gideon as his own instead of trying to compare him with Samuel, she can soon come to grips with the feelings she has for him. Their's isn't going to be like those early years of romance, but now one of more maturity since life has already dealt them with a lot to handle. Even though this is part of a series, you can read this as a stand alone. Barbara does such a wonderful job in each of her books that you can immediately jump in and gain an understanding of where everyone is at. But to fully appreciate the series as I have, you need to start from the beginning. You can pick up Her Restless Heart and The Heart's Journey at your local retailer.  I easily rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and hope that Barbara might just squeeze one more out before ending this one!

For more information about Heart in Hand, Barbara Cameron, or where to pick up a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

Heart in Hand by Barbara Cameron

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You can find more reviews on Heart in Hand from the Pump Up Your Book Tour by clicking here. 

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (February 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1426714343
• ISBN-13: 978-1426714344
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches