The Hope of Refuge Blog Tour & Review

PUB DATE: August 2009

Thank You to Liz at Random House for contacting me about being part of the WaterBrook Multnomah Tour of this book.

This book is coming out today and I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cindy Woodsmall is the author of When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and The New York Times Best-Seller When the Soul Mends. Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families. A mother of three sons and two daughters-in-law, Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband of thirty-one years.

You can check out Cindy’s site for more info about all kinds of great things.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Raised in foster care and now the widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.

Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life?

MY THOUGHTS:
This is Cindy’s fourth book. I have to admit though this is her first book I have read. I actually I have her previous three books (When The Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes and When The Soul Mends) in my TBR pile. Her fifth book The Sound of Sleigh Bells is coming out in October 2009.

I really enjoyed reading “The Hope of Refuge”. I actually got so into the book that I had a hard time putting it down. I think I will have to move her three books up on my TBR pile now. I love to read books with an Amish setting and characters.

Cindy even include some of their language in the book and was kind enough to put Glossary in the back. Most of the words were pretty easy to figure out such as: Daed= dad, denki= thank you, Mamm=mom, kumm=come and a few others.

The main character, Cara is a single mom who fears for her life and her daughters as she struggles to find work and keeping her daughter safe. She is on the run from a guy named Mike. (I am not sure if I missed something but I felt it was never revealed why she was afraid of Mike and why she was running from him.)

Then one day Mike manages to find her and ransacks her apartment and comes to the bar she works at and threatens her. Without a second glance she leaves her job to pick up Lori (her daughter) and leaves town right away with the little money she has and the clothes on their backs.

With her mother’s journal Cara starts to have some flashbacks of her childhood. She wonders what they mean and begins to realize that the key to those flashbacks are in the notes from her mother’s journal that she left Cara with.

When she uncovers a hidden message with an address Cara decides that is the way her and Lori will go so they board a bus. When they get off she realizes that it has lead her to an Amish community.

Cara is very much the outsider with no money or family. So in order to survive for the first few days she basically breaks into the Amish homes to get the supplies she needs for Lori and herself. She is spotted and is called a thief and drunk. She hides in a barn until Ephraim tells her she has to leave but before she is told his father calls the police. She is almost arrested when Ephraim comes to her rescue.

How will Cara react when she finds out that she really does have a family? Will Ephraim risk everything and all that he believes in to help Cara? Can Cara make the change from a modern world full of modern technolgy to live a pure and simple life?

As Cindy was recently covered on ABC Nightline, you can see it in the following link:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7676659&page=1

If you would like to get a copy of the book then please use this link http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400073962 to get a copy.