Two Truths and a Lie:
Publishers Weekly has this to say about new release A Beautiful Arrangement: “series devotees and newcomers alike will find this engrossing romance hard to put down.”
“Listening to Love is vintage Beth Wiseman . . . clear your calendar because you’re going to want to read this one in a single sitting.” – Vannetta Chapman, author of the Shipshewana Amish Mystery series
Hearts in Harmony—book 1 in the Amish Journeys series—introduces readers to southern Indiana and a couple of very different Amish communities in and near the towns of Orleans and Montgomery. Several of the characters from Hearts in Harmony carry over into Listening to Love, continuing to explore these new areas. The correlation between these books is that they all dive into situations that aren’t usually covered in Amish novels. For Mary and Levi, their story centers around their love for music but also the way that families come together in unexpected ways. Similarly, Listening to Love travels down a path rarely taken in Amish stories. To say too much would reveal spoilers, but I can tell you that there are two very untraditional romances occurring in Listening to Love.
Listening to Love’s primary message is that there are good and bad people in every walk of life. Things aren’t always what they seem. The story focuses on the characters opening their hearts in ways they couldn’t have foreseen, accepting God’s will even though it wasn’t in their plan. The Amish are known to accept God’s will without question, but what about the Englisch characters? We are all humans with faults, misdirected perceptions, vulnerabilities, and qualities we aren’t always proud of—even the Amish, who are often portrayed in an unrealistic way. Listening to Love story explores the universal truths about all people, that we are more like our Amish friends than we might think, and vice versa.
A Beautiful Arrangement –the third and last novel in this series, tells the story of a young couple who was introduced in Hearts in Harmony. We know Lydia and Samuel were forced into an arranged marriage by their parents after conceiving a child out of wedlock. In this book, we delve into their lives, exploring the many types of love people share. Lydia and Samuel love their six-month-old daughter, and in their own ways, they love each other. But, due to their circumstances, they skipped an important phase in their relationship—any type of courtship or opportunity to actually fall in love. But when the couple begins to live vicariously through two friends, they watch with envy as romance blooms, even though they don’t know how to achieve such a relationship for themselves. As things begin to look up for Lydia and Samuel within their marriage, Lydia begins to investigate the mysterious past of a local homeless woman. Samuel is fearful of his wife’s involvement, a curiosity that threatens to drive the couple apart. But by forging together and respecting each other—agreeing to disagree—they inadvertently discover a true love that’s been there all along.
