The Bishop's Son by Kelly Irvin, © 2015

Book 2 in the Amish of Bee County series



This story is going to give you a lot of food for thought, whether Amish or Englischer, you will not passively read Leila Lantz's story. Would you choose differently for her? Would you wonder if she chose from her heart, from a need to choose a decision, or from knowing God's exact plan for her?

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. ~ Colossians 3:1, 2 (The Message)

I got tugged at, even near the end, wondering if Leila was going to change direction after she had professed her intention. A peace that passes all understanding, a surety that we belong to the One who has claimed us as His own.

How do we leave home to go home?

Leaving childhood behind, entering adulthood, making future plans that encompass more than herself, Leila Lantz has new beginnings. Helping her family, making a way for future links with other young women, Leila is given permission to take a job in town. She is an inspiration to one young father as he asks how to care for his daughter. With wise counsel and even a hand in a new perspective for him, Leila sets his life on a new course. A young couple, torn between honoring their family in finishing high school and caring for their young son, Leila is a true friend and a strong foundation in hope. Cousins Jesse and Will bid for her hand and her heart. Decisions they make wrap around her heart as she finds what is her true course.

Kelly Irvin is a strong writer. Both of these first two stories could be read as stand-alones but you will enjoy getting to meet the surrounding families as they meld their lives together. Mordecai King, his sister, Susan, and his son Phineas, are favorites in my view, and I hope to find them interspersed in book 3, The Saddle Maker's Son, releasing in June of 2016.

Meet Kelly
Kelly Irvin is the author of The Bishop’s Son, the second novel in the Amish of Bee County series from Zondervan/HarperCollins. It follows The Beekeeper’s Son, which received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, calling it “a delicately woven masterpiece.” She is also the author of the Bliss Creek Amish series and the New Hope Amish series, both from Harvest House Publishing. She has also penned two inspirational romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine.
   The Kansas native is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism. She has been writing nonfiction professionally for thirty years, including ten years as a newspaper reporter. She has worked in public relations for the City of San Antonio for twenty-one years. Kelly is married to photographer Tim Irvin. They have two young adult children, two grandchildren, two cats, and a tank full of fish. In her spare time, she likes to write short stories and read books by her favorite authors.


***Thank you to author Kelly Irvin and to Zondervan/HarperCollins for sending me a copy of The Bishop's Son to review. This review was written in my own words. No other compensation was received.***

 
The Saddle Maker's Son (June 2016), Book 3 in The Amish of Bee County series by author Kelly Irvin.