Strength in the Storm

About the Book

Book: Strength in the Storm

Author: Laurel Blount

Genre: Amish Romance

Release date: February 22, 2022

StrengthStorm_Final[16677] In this touching Amish romance, a brokenhearted woman and a steadfast man discover that the safest place to weather tragedy is in each other’s arms.

After the murder of both her parents, Emma Hochstedler returns to the small community of Johns Mill, hoping to resume her quiet existence. Reclaiming her place proves harder than expected—especially now that a movie is being made about her family’s loss. But then, an old friend offers her a lifeline that gives her new purpose.

Amish builder Samuel Christner is the biggest—and the strongest—man in town. In fact, the gentle giant has only one weakness—Emma. Even though she broke his heart, he won’t let his childhood sweetheart face her troubles alone. He hires Emma as a nurse for his elderly aunt…and finds himself falling for her all over again.

But while romance blooms, storm clouds gather. And when darkness falls, it will take all Sam’s strength—and all their love—to see them through.

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About the Author

Laurel Blount headshot Award-winning author Laurel Blount writes inspirational romances full of grit and grace—with characters who’ll walk right off the page and into your heart! She lives on a farm in Georgia with her husband, their four fabulous kids, and an assortment of ridiculously spoiled animals.

A enthusiastic multi-tasker, Laurel writes for both Berkley/Penguin Random House and Love Inspired/Harlequin. She’s the recipient of ACFW’s Carol Award, The New England Reader’s Choice Award and GRW’s Maggie Award. She’s represented by Jessica Alvarez of Bookends Literary Agency.

Strength in the Storm is Laurel’s seventh book—and four more stories are in the works! Stay tuned!

More from Laurel

A word from Laurel:

Oh, I can’t wait for you to meet Emma and Sam—they’re one of my all-time favorite story couples! And what an intriguing combination they are: a gentle man known far and wide for his physical strength…and a heartbroken woman—his boyhood sweetheart—who’s his one and only weakness.

Don’t you just love a good second chance romance? I know I do! There’s something so satisfying about seeing a broken love story beautifully mended. Of course, it won’t be easy. Emma and Sam’s story is mixture of joy and sorrow, laughter and tears—lots and lots of bumps on the road for these two. But they’re about to discover that love and faith shine their brightest in life’s darkest moments—and that trouble only makes a hard-won “happily ever after” even sweeter!

MY REVIEW

This is one of those stories that you don’t forget for a very long time. It opens the door to a world where Amish beliefs are well represented by the characters who become family to you. I enjoyed following Emma and getting to witness her go through pain but still find grace to help others. There is much talk in the book about how beautiful she is. What I found was a young woman who had a heart that spread compassion everywhere she went. Emma has been the talk of the town because of a tragic accident that some blame her for.

Sam I think has been in love with Emma for years but for some reason he never thought he was good enough for her. Oh he is quite handsome himself doesn’t have enough confidence to pursue her. I loved how he always watches out for Emma especially since someone may still want to harm her after the attack on her parents. I think Sam is humble but still a little angry at Emma for breaking his heart when they were younger.

The story does give a great example of helping others in need and being kind even though it may be hard to do. Ruth is a lonely woman who mostly is unkind but the truth is she is wants to be needed and deep down wants to be loved. Emma shows the woman grace when others might not. We have all been around someone who always seems to be miserable and never has a kind word to say. Following Emma’s example of grace, we may be able to help someone who doesn’t know how to show love. For some reason I liked Ruth because she represents many of us who long for a friend but don’t want to get hurt so we stay to ourselves. I loved the saying, “hurt people hurt people.” Ruth has been hurting emotionally for so long, that she hides behind her rough exterior to protect herself from rejection.

I loved how the author illustrated how we can overcome obstacles by trusting God. Sam has a long journey ahead of him and at tines wanted to give up. Emma was determined to help him even when he pushes her away. There are times that Sam felt hopeless but in the midst of darkness God is there to protect him and rescue him from hopelessness.

I loved this book so much that I wanted it to continue because it brought such peace to me as I discovered how blessed we are to know that from the broken ashes comes beauty, hope, forgiveness and a new beginning.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.