Herb of Grace (review)

My Thoughts:
This is the first book I have read from this author, and I enjoyed it very much.  She had a way of making the artist come out in her characters. Sarah and Henry both have artistic natures but seem to fight them, and Adina Senft drew that out of them, very well. I have always loved reading about herbs and their usage so this story was very interesting to me. One thing I noted, I was reading Amish words that aren't used a lot in stories, so I was happy for the glossary at the end of the book. My overall thoughts are this is a good story, it did get a bit slow but it is definitely worth reading. 4 stars from this reviewer.
This book was provided for review purposes only, no payment was received for this review.

About the Book:
Amish widow Sarah Yoder has been struggling to raise her two teenaged sons and provide a home where family and members of her Old Order Amish church can find fellowship and friendship. Though she is close to her in-laws, lately it feels like her relationship with her boys is splintering. Her stepson Simon wants to move out west with his cousins to find work. And her youngest, Caleb, is spending far too much time over at the tumbledown home of a man who left the church long ago. Henry Byler only returned recently to Willow Creek when he inherited the family farm--under protest--and now seems caught in a struggle between the faith of his childhood and the world he's come to know.

Ruth Lehman, the local Dokterfraa, believes Sarah should use her gift for growing plants to become an herbal healer, too. Sarah is reluctant, however, uncertain if caring for others will take her away from her family--the place where she believes God wants her. But when she feels called to help members of her community, she soon discovers that the heart can be scarred as deeply as the body. As she compiles her herbs, she waits for God to do his healing work in a man who rues a harsh decision, in a lonely prodigal who has lost everything, and maybe even in a herbalist-in-training who firmly believes she will never love again.

About the Author:
After leaving the plain church in which she grew up, Adina Senft earned an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. Between books, Adina enjoys playing the piano and Celtic harp, making historical costumes, and spoiling her flock of rescue chickens.