Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Brush of Angel's Wings by Ruth Reid - Review of the second book in the Heaven on Earth series

Brush of Angel's Wings 
Second book in Heaven on Earth series 
by Ruth Reid

Rachel Hartzler does not fit in her Amish community, she likes to race her horse and buggy beating the boys, she can't cook or sew like normal Amish girls, and is resigned that she will be a leddich maydel. Two years ago she was encouraged to find the Angel that Judith Fischer talked to by Kate Bender who happened to be engaged to Rachel's brother James. In her haste to go to the river, she didn't get the gate shut to the sheep pen and some got out. James was trying to catch the sheep and drowned in the river. Rachel has never forgiven Kate for encouraging her to try and find Judith's Angel. She has tried to take the place of her father's only son by doing the work James would have done, therefore she doesn't ever see herself becoming a wife or mother. Instead she is going to try to be the teacher of the new school, which is exactly what Kate wants to do also since she can't seem to move on from losing James.

Jordan Engles is not Amish but his Mother was and he is now living with his Uncle and looking for work. His father, a truck driver, left when he was very little and he never heard from him again. When Jordan's mother got cancer they lost everything trying to pay the medical bills and on her deathbed she asked him to go live with her brother to see what Amish life was like. Jordan gets hired on at the Hartzler farm which makes Rachel mad as he's taking her place helping her dad, which she see's as trying to take James' place.

Kayla Davy is a rich Englischer who brings her horse to the Hartzler's to have him shoed, when she sees Jordan she flirts with him and Rachel doesn't like that. After the horse is there a few days she comes over to ride him but Jordan tells her it's too wet and not safe, he refuses to go with her so she saddles the horse and goes by herself. Jordan jumps on the horse to go get her, then drives her home. Kayla loans him her cell phone so he can look up truck driving schools because he thinks he'd have a better chance finding his dad that way.

Jordan eventually feels his work is done at the Hartzler's so he hires on at the Davy's farm but when Micah Hartzler gets hurt and has to spend time in the hospital, Jordan returns to their farm to help out. That is until Kayla comes over to show him a text from his dad. Jordan's dad saw a message on the internet that Jordan's looking for him so he sends a text to Kayla's phone. Arrangements are made for Jordan and Clint, his father, to meet and from that meeting arrangements are mad for Jordan to go on the road with Clint.

During the time he's gone Rachel's sister Sadie, who's having a troubled pregnancy, goes into early labor, delivers baby Ella, but loses her own life. Timothy, Sadie's husband, is beside himself and Rachel takes over the care of Ella during the day and his mother stays the night caring for Ella. Rachel tries to get Timothy to spend time with his daughter but he fights her every inch of the way.

Timothy finally decides he can't care for his baby and his work so he asks Rachel to marry him. He explains that he's already gotten the Bishop's approval and they can grow to love each other. Rachel is stunned, she's dreamed about having a husband like Timothy, he loved Sadie so, was kind, caring, everything one would want in a husband, but she can't say yes. She promises to talk to her parents and pray about it.

Throughout this story there are two Angel's, Nathaniel the good Angel and Tangus the bad Angel. These Angels are both assigned to Rachel and Jordan, and they seem more like you would think of your conscious talking to you, but you don't always hear everything your conscious tells you to do and which one do you listen to?

Now you have to figure out, do Rachel and Timothy get married for Ella's sake, since Rachel promised to be there to care for her, does Jordan become a truck driver, does he stay English and return to Kayla or does he become Amish and return to Rachel, and if he returns to Rachel is it too late?

I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone that likes Amish books. The focus on the Angels in this book seem more like what you would experience in your life, like your subconscious talking to you. Very enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the third book in the series Angel At Her Side coming out in January 2013.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

2 comments:

  1. Good angels and bad angels..life decisions this sounds like a great read. Thanks for sharing this one.

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