THE FORGIVING QUILT by Lenora Worth is the second book in The Shadow Lake Series. It’s the fabulous story of Eliza King and Levi Lapp and centered around the Shadow Lake Inn in Lake Erie, Pennsylvania.
While her sisters, Abigail and Colette, helped their mother working in their home turned Inn, Eliza’s love is working the stables and gardens. She loves nothing more than to be out of the house and outdoors. Until recently, things had been running pretty smoothly, until a rickety ladder and a broken leg changed everything. Now recuperating from extensive surgery with an extended recovery time, she’s forced to sit more and help with chores she’s not very good at. Worse yet she must now partly turn her beloved stables over to an outsider because it’s too much for her brother-in-law to do. He’s already spread thin enough with all his other chores and now with his wife (Abigail) being pregnant. After being highly recommended by her Englisch doctor, she’s willing to accept help from this stranger. Little did she know it’s a man from her past – the same man she thought she would spend her life with and who broke her heart when he left.
Levi Lapp has returned home – to stay. He’s needed at home, especially after the death of his daed. With a mother and two younger siblings who need his help to bring in an income and help tending to their farm, he’s willing to take any and all jobs – even one at Shadow Lake Inn. He knows that will mean facing Eliza and the fiasco he made of handling his first love. They were young and he’d come on too strong in their first kiss. Instead of handling it like man, at only eighteen years old, he took the cowardly way out and just left town. He’d always wanted to travel so going on an adventure and learning a trade in the bargain seems like an easy fix. The problem is his feeling for Eliza never died. There’s never been anyone else for him. Can he get forgiveness and maybe, just maybe, get a second chance? If their first meeting, or even a few more after that, are any indications, it might be a long time coming, but he’s got time and he’s not going to give up so easy this time.
After advice from Abe, Eliza’s daed, of “Just be near” and knowing in his heart that Eliza was definitely worth it, he’s determined more than ever to court her properly, taking his time and doing it right this time, regardless of how long it may take. Eliza’s attitude, aloofness and spells of trying to avoid him altogether, he soon finds out that this isn’t going to be easy or quick.
About the same time, Eliza decided, although sewing wasn’t one of her strong points, that she was going to make her own memory quilt. It was her mamm’s suggestion on what to put in that quilt - the material gifts from Levi that show kindness. As her mamm said, “We Amish aren’t gut at accepting too many showy gifts, but gifts from heart are the best kind. With each gift Levi gives you, thank of the gesture he’s shown you. Gifts from the heart mean the world to a woman. We don’t need diamonds or fancy clothes or fancy homes. We need love, assurance, and strength. The kind of strength that cements a union for a lifetime.”
Are feelings of the heart able to go from a faint flicker of an ember to a full heartwarming glow after events of the past and the passage of time? Can forgiveness eventually turn to forgetting the past and moving forward into the future? Can Eliza conquer her fears of the unknown or change? Can Levi convince her that he’s never stopped loving her? Can he get over his feelings of inadequacy possible learning the riches aren’t always monetarily? Will Eliza finally learn what true love is and that sacrifices in love aren’t really sacrifices at all?
THE FORGIVING QUILT is fabulously written not only taking you one the emotional and exciting ride in the story of Eliza and Levi, but it might give you moments to pause, think and might even give you something to make your own relationship stronger. In a materialistic world, we often get caught up in the “me” society or thinking we need more or better stuff. Lenora Worth remarkably and in such a delightful way reminds us that the best things in life can’t be bought, but come from the heart. THE FORGIVING QUILT is most definitely FIVE STAR reading and I highly recommend this to not only people that love the Amish genre, but to anyone that loves a well-written story that will touch your heart, pull at your emotions and give your that happily ever after feeling on the last page. You will be left with the desire to see who the next book in this series will be about and make you anxious for its release. If you haven’t read the first book, you will be searching for it as well. Lenora Worth never disappoints her readers and proves it again in THE FORGIVING QUILT!
I receive a copy of this book with no requirement or expectations of a review. All opinions are completely my own.