Book Review: Arms of Love

As an avid Amish reader, I was excited to read this book for many reasons. First of all, Arms of Love is not your traditional Amish romance novel. The author based her time period during the Revolutionary War, which immediately set this book apart for me as well. It was most interesting to see the lives of the  few first Amish people in America.

Amish are a peaceful group of people. With a war raging all around them, it leaves there surrounding lifestyle far from peaceful. Choosing to side with the British to maintain the peace results in chaotic consequences. The Amish are imprisoned, ridiculed, and robbed from all because they do not see eye to eye with the Patriots. They are considered cowards for there unwillingness to take up arms and fight for  American freedom. 

I never once thought how the Amish, who were originally fleeing religious persecution, still had to endure the hardships and persecutions during the early American fight for freedom. Kelly added a lot of different scenarios to the Amish lifestyle that added a lot of emotions and worthwhile thinking to your reading. If you think the Amish are a group of just peace loving people than you're wrong. Kelly shocks you by including physically violent, murdering, hate filled, and even unforgiving Amish people. I definitely enjoyed the fact that the author did not portray them as perfect people as most amish writers do. However, she showed that the Amish are made out of the same things we are. They do make mistakes and they do have their flaws. This factor included in the book made it all the more enjoyable to me.

Having the inside scoop to the lifestyle of Amish in the primitive New World was very engaging. It was interesting to see how even when there was no technology and many "worldly" desires to curb they still managed to separate themselves from others. The plot being very mysterious and exciting was a favorite. The writing style was another great factor to this already good book. However, my absolute favorite thing was the inside view to the early Amish lifestyle and the spirituality of the characters.

Enjoying this book, and having read The Amish Wedding, which she coauthored with two other fabulous others, I would not hesitate to pick up another book by Kelly. I would give this book a 5 out of 5 for  being a wonderfully put together book.

I received this book for free, from BookSneeze, in exchange for this honest review.

You can purchase this book at CBD.