The Imposter (The Bishop's Family #1) by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Title: The Imposter (The Bishop’s Family #1)

Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher

Pages: 320

Release Date: October 6, 2015

Genre: Amish Fiction

Publisher: Revell

Format: Paperback (also available in eBook)

Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the book:

     A heart once deceived should not be easily fooled again…

     Katrina Stoltzfus thought she had life and love all figured out: she was going to marry John and live happily ever after. But as her plans crumble before her eyes, she struggles to face an uncertain future. When a widow asks for help starting a new business, Katrina quickly agrees. She needs time to heal her broken heart, to untangle her messy life, to find a purpose.

     What she doesn’t need is attention from Andy Miller, a farmhand who arrives at the widow’s farm just when help is most needed – and who always seems to say the right thing and be in the right place, at the right time. Is Andy for real or too good to be true? She’s been deceived once before, and she isn’t planning on experiencing it again.

     Bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you back to Stoney Ridge for a tale of love, uncertainty, and trusting God to write your story.

My review:

     This is an incredibly thought provoking novel!

     My interest was captured from the very beginning of the book. During a church service the old bishop of the Amish church at Stoney Ridge had a major heart attack. He grabbed David Stoltzfus’ shirt and whispered, “Beware, David. A snake is in the garden.”

     I knew right then that I was going to have to find out what he was talking about. Over the course of the book we have a great look at how people live in community with each other. Yet I knew that at some point I would be finding out what “the snake in the garden” was. I was aware that it had to be affecting how the different people interacted with each other even if they didn’t know about it. This was a great look at human nature.

     There seemed to be three actual story lines in this wonderful book. They are all connected by the fact that one main person in each of them is a member of the Stoltzfus family. I found this to be very realistic. In each of these stories there were great insights into how we should treat other people and live our lives.

     One character had made a mistake and the consequences of that decision had to be dealt with almost immediately. I enjoyed seeing how it was handled in a forthright manner and no attempt at deception was made.

     In contrast to that another decision had been made years before by someone else. Over the course of the book we saw how that decision affected a number of different people. Many of them didn’t even know about that initial choice made by one person.

     Throughout all of these stories there were a few people who strongly held onto God and what He teaches through the bible. One woman in particular had a marvelous way of seeing God’s handiwork in nature which I found to be a joy to read about. This was a fantastic encouragement to trust God through hard times.

     I absolutely loved this story and will be looking forward to the next book in this series. This book gets a 5 star rating from me and I’m highly recommending it.

     There are a number of books written by this author set in this same town. I haven’t read them so I don’t know if doing so would enhance the enjoyment of this story or not. I was able to determine that some of the secondary characters in this novel are in the earlier books as well.