The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen

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Product Details

Tales from Ivy Hill Book 1

I enjoy Julie Klassen's books. I haven't read all of them, but enough to know they are my immediate pick for reviewing if given the opportunity.

This is her first series that she is doing. The story is of a gentlewoman who married an innkeeper. He was killed in an "accidental" carriage accident and the inn was left to her. She learns from the ground up how to run it and jumps through obstacles to make it successful.

As far as themes from the book that you can pull out and learn from, I think one of them is life doesn't always lead in the direction we anticipated as children. As children, Jane (the main character) dreams of marrying and having a big family. She does marry, but her husband dies young and the dreams of children evaporated in a series of miscarriages that left her heart broken and bleeding. Through this, Jane does learn that family can be found in unexpected places and Jane finds it in the staff at the inn she is in charge of.

The book ends on this line, "God had filled her empty heart with love and family and hope for the future."

The book doesn't call out a strong dependence on God. There is mention of prayers and going to church and I think for that era, that is probably how it worked. An audible dependence on God was probably not the norm. I don't know that for sure. To me there could have been more of a mention of prayer and dependence on God through the difficulty Jane faced and yet, how often do I respond in the exact same way? Either by taking matters in my own hands or just being silent about my dependence on God and thinking people will catch on. So in that respect, I think it was true to form.

I did enjoy the book and am looking forward to the next release in the series, "The Ladies of Ivy Cottage" in December, 2017.

This book was given to me by Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review.

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