Seek Me with All Your Heart by Beth Wiseman

Seek Me with All Your Heart Reviews

• 
  Laura

  Title: SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART
  Author: Beth Wiseman
  Publisher: Thomas Nelson
  October 2010
  ISBN: 978-1-59554-824-5
  Genre: Inspirational/Amish
  
  Emily Detweiler and her family are looking for a new beginning. They have joined the Amish moving west to Colorado. The climate in Colorado is very different than what they are used to in Ohio, so to make ends meet, Emily is working at a salvage store while her father and brother install solar panels. Everything is going well until an ill-tempered Amish man walks into the shop…
  
  David Stolzfus’s family moved west for the cheaper farmland. David is bound and determined to save his money so he can return to Lancaster County where his extended family and friends are. And he senses that his parents aren’t honest with him as the reason why they moved. He is attracted to the kind and beautiful Emily, but both of them are adamant they can never be more than friends.
  
  Emily and David begin to fall in love, but Emily fears of his rejection of her once he knows her secret, and David fears the same thing of Emily. What will it take for them to see that the truth will set them free?
  
  SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART is the first book of Ms. Wiseman’s newest Amish series, A Land of Canaan, but it does include some characters from her earlier books. I have read all of Ms. Wiseman’s books so far, and I think that SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART is the best books of hers I’ve read, hands down.
  
  The characters are all very well developed, and real, and some of the secondary characters are just adorable. I couldn’t help but fall in love with Emily and David, and even a cranky Englisch lady named Martha. There is a secondary story line included in SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART which will be the main theme in book two, coming in Fall of 2011. Discussion questions and a few recipes are included at the end of the book. If you like Amish fiction, don’t miss SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART. $14.99. 310 pages.
  
• 
  Emily

  I can truly say that I am impressed! Seek Me With All Your Heart was the first Amish book I've ever picked up. And it won't be the last! Beth Wiseman did an amazing job with this book! I love how she dealt with some issues that aren't the norm for Christian fiction. Bit don't get me wrong, she still kept it appropriate! For some reason I had in my mind that all Amish fiction was lame and cheesy. Boy oh boy, I was wrong! What an awesome read. I just loved it! I completely fell in love with the characters, yep, even Martha. :) Both Emily & David were wonderful. And I absolutely LOVED the first time they met. lol.. They both had issues in their pasts lives that they had to overcome. But with the help of God, all things are possible...As we read about in the book. :)
  
  I loved the message about seeking God with all our hearts. It wasn't too heavy, I thought it was just right!
  
  There are several stories going on in the book, and I loved that! She wrote it wonderfully. Even though there were several stories going on, she tied them all together amazingly in the end. I CANNOT wait to read about sweet Katie Ann. My heart goes out to that poor girl. I will definitely be eagerly awaiting the sequel!
  
  This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to Thomas Nelson publishers for my copy to review.
• 
  Jerry

  WOW! What a story! Such triumph over dire circumstances! This book hits hard, but, we need more Christian fiction that doesn't shy away from the difficult issues; this one definitely falls into that category!
• 
  Pebbles Montoya

  Seek Me with all your Heart by Brenda Wiseman
  
  Reviewed for: Mommykins, who loves her some Amish/Inspirational/Bible-Toting Romances, but thought this was just the outside of enough.
  
  Disclaimer: SPOILERS! Like whoa, majorly, and totally filling the ante room of yon review :)
  
  Warning: this book review is rated G. It is also probably filled with plot inaccuracies due to skimming and boredom (but this may be the fault of the author, she was kind of random). No offense is intended towards the author, only constructive criticism delivered with a pinch of humor and whoa-tons of snark.
  
  Note: These romances are apparently called “Bonnet Rippers” oh yaya.
  
  Aaah…the INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE novel! Guaranteed to be free of sex and heavy petting, and chock full of stilted language, properly cited Bible verses and more prayer meetings and hymn singings than the normal church going population could shake a stick at. Usually, these things are terrible, and terrible as in ‘it’s not even so bad it’s funny it’s just…boring’. Ditto for the Amish romance, if I have to hear another random use of Pennsylvania Dutch (so I feel fully immersed in the culture, dontcha know) I’m quite sure I shall become ill.
  However, every once in a long, long, took-an-Amish-buggy-to-get-to-the-grocery-store-twenty-miles-in-town while, there’s one that’s fantabulously awful. Such is the case with Beth Wiseman’s Seek Me with all your Heart (that’s how it looks on the cover), and just in case we’re so awesomely caught up in this novel that we just want MORE MORE MORE! It’s part of a series! YAY! “A Land of Canaan Novel”. LGMs from Toy Story go ooooOOOOOOOooooo!
  Anyhoo, so this story is loaded as in overloaded WIDE WIDE LOAD with so many MAJOR plot points just in the set up that I was confused if this was one novel, three novels or just a survey of what a happy ending MIGHT look like if all these people with a myriad of horrible pasts got together and hashed out their problems. Here’s the breakdown:
  - Emily Detweiler’s family moved from Ohio (BUCKEYES!) to Colorado after she was raped. Heroine with BIG traumatic event in the past? CHECK!
  - David Stoltzfus (LOVE the name! but give me some Yoders and Millers and Schwartzentrubers-like-Starship-Troopers too please!) had a kidney transplant some years ago in his teens, he now thinks he only has a few years left to live, and he’s really, really annoyed that his family has moved from Pennsylvania to Colorado because, um…I don’t know, maybe he thinks his lost kidney might provide some emotional support if he still lived closer to it. Hero with MAJOR illness who thinks he is going to DIE?!?!?!?! CHECK CHECK!!
  - To quote the summary: “As Emily and David each struggle with fears that haunt them, their faith and resolve are tested beyond what they could have imagined. Though it’s not long before their feelings grow beyond friendship, they’re both too stubborn to follow their hearts. Will it take a cranky, Old Englischer woman to help them see past their own worries? Will they realize God has chosen a path for them in this Promised Land?”
  …Will Stoltzfus’ kidney back in Pennsylvania ever find its way to Colorado to be reunited with its body?!?!?!?!?! Possibility for non-stereotypical studio character actress cranky older woman who will bake cookies, show love, get an inward and outward makeover and become less cranky all while unknowingly blessing and assisting our bearded hero and bonneted heroine towards emotional healing and greater faith and true love??? *major inhale* CHECK CHECK CHECK!!!
  Okay, so…there’s A LOT going in this book, but not in a good way. Usually, the author picks either a majorly emotionally/physically scarred hero or heroine, and the other player might have issues but not scary awful major ones. Here, we’ve got both of them so depressed they should be kept far, far, away from the harvester, the hay baler and the food processor. Which means, MAJOR TOUCHING MOMENTS AHEAD! Break out the extra-absorbent hankies!!!!! Then there’s the cranky “Englischer” woman heading for hell but managing to get back on the straight and narrow way to heaven by healing her own inner wounds by lending support (avec adorable crankiness) to the two MAJORLY wounded main characters…and, in case you were wondering, no, you totally don’t see her in every Lifetime/Hallmark/Feature Films For Families made for TV movie that’s been released since 1985. Honest.
  ON TO THE READING!!! Or, as Dr. Jackson from Freshman Rhetoric used to say, “Let us peek into the text!” Our story opens with Emily Detweiler working in an Amish like, grocery/bulk food/buy-your-flour-sugar-oatmeal-in-giant-clear-trash-bags store (I LOVE me an Amish bulk foods store…with the honey in the giant white ten gallon bucket labeled HUNNY??? Zow-wee!!!). It is here that our noble, heroic, single-kidney-ed (at least, single original kidneyed, he got that transplant) hero ventures to purchase a ten year supply of flour and possibly twenty pounds of brown sugar (10 points for Anne of Green Gables reference!). Of course, they don’t have what he wants because, as Dear Damaged Emily points out in highly eloquent prose:
  “This is – is a salvage store.” Her fingers ached as she twisted the strings of her apron tighter. “We sell freight and warehouse damaged groceries.” She bit her lip, but didn’t take her eyes from him.”
  
  Keep in mind, this book is in large-ass print, okay? So I feel like the author is MAKING A REALLY BIG POINT ABOUT THIS!!! Anyway, yes, I understand at this point Ms. Wiseman is attempting to kill two Amish birds with one stone (YODER BIRDS!): show Emily’s understandable discomfort around men, and explain to us idiot English people what a “salvage store” is…all through delightfully scintillating dialogue and internalized thoughts. Suh-WEEEEET! And, as a side note, I so totally want to buy me some warehouse-damaged groceries…do they have like, weevils in them? ‘One must always choose the lesser of two weevils’ ah HAHAHAHAHA…HA…ha…fine, whatever, moving on!
  So, David Stoltzfuzz is like, SO not happy:
  
  “He threw up his hands in the air. Emily thought his behavior was improper for an Amish man”
  
  …one, he’s throwing them up? I know the phrase but it just sounds weird when you add “in the air” because you know, if you hadn’t said that, I might have thought he was throwing them somewhere else AWAY from himself. I mean, honest mistake, right? His kidney’s still Lonesome in Lancaster so maybe he can detach his hands and make a 30 point jump shot with them or something (15 points for totally possibly misused sports reference!)
  Also, why is irritation/indignation/annoyance/show-of-temper “improper” for an Amish person? Like…they don’t get mad? Because I’m pretty sure they’re like…members of the human species. It’s not like she said he swore or anything…oh well, what do I know?
  NOTHING. I shall defer to the ALL KNOWING Brenda WISEman. MOVING ON!
  So his exasperation frightens her and she freaks and tells him to leave if he doesn’t like the place and he’s like, dag, yo it be a LONG drive to Monte Cristo with a buggy in the snow!! And then her brother gets there and she’s all crying because he doesn’t like her store or because they don’t have cheese and milk or something (this is all to impress upon us the emotional trauma that one has if they’ve been raped) and then her brother comes in and is like I WILL CUT YOU STOLTZWUZZY! And he’s all “bro I didn’t do NOTHIN!” and then Emily “straightened her kapp” and then big brother tells Emily to “go back to the haus”…
  YAY! We get to learn random bits and pieces of Pennsylvania Dutch in order to give the story an authentic feel!!!!!!
  LGMs go ooooOOOOOOOOoooo!!!!!!
  Seriously? “straightened her kapp” and “go back to the haus”? Like, they would really randomly say that? Damnit, Beth, they speak ENGLISH too! Now I feel like you just thought, “Hmmm…I am writing an Amish romance. If I use stilted dialogue and a small smackeral smidgen of the dialect sprinkled on top, then bake it at 350* for about 45 minutes in my hawt haus, I’ll end up with an authentic piece of romantical kapp wearing krap!”
  On top of that, in case you were sitting there tilting the book about like the illiterate Gaston going “what the f*** is a kapp and a haus????” she includes a wonderfully helpful BOLD printed minor dictionary in the beginning. Because, you know, I was just dying to know if “Aamen” really was “Amen” or if “Englisch” was really the same thing as “English”. Has she never heard of “translation by context”? Or the fact that, English being a Germanic/French post-1066 language and Pennsylvania Dutch being a derivative of Palatinate German, we might look at those words and just kind of, you know, figure it out for ourselves? Although, I was kind of wavering for a few moments between haus translating as either a house or the Bonanza character Hoss who was as big as a hoss (horse) and a haus and house all put together. But, given the context, I rightfully settled upon a house. *phew!*. Dear Ms. Wiseman, most authors, when they include non-English words or dialogue, don’t give us a dictionary, because, quite frankly, that’s annoying. Or, as your dictionary would say, “dumm” (can you guess what it MEANS?!?!?!??!)
  But, you know, major props because, in this book, every time someone is told to return to their haus it is always their haus and never their house so without that dictionary we might have been wondering if they were all randomly leaping into hobbit holes or something. YAY! OR, it’s a curse, as in “Why don’t you go back to your HAUS of DOOOM!?!?!?!?!”
  Moving on!
  So David StoltzenFuzzy meets Emily’s bro Jacob who’s like “WAZZZZZZUUUUUUP!” and they like do some Top Secret Amish-bowl-cut Handshake (just guessing) and he’s like “is yo sister a NUT?” and he’s like “Nooooo, she’s just WOOOOUNded” and then little cute plot-moppet sister Betsy comes in and she’s described as follows:
  
  “a little girl came through the door. She was wearing a black cape and a black kapp and black shoes. She came to stand near the counter before David. She thrust her hands on her hips and scowled at him and chewed her lip.”
  
  WOW…one, I’m confused, she was wearing a black kape, kapp and klodhoppers but was she wearing a DRESS and SOCKS?????? I am SO sick of authors telling me soooooo many details in really choppy ways, if you want like, lines and lines of description that’s fine but could the sentences be a little easier to read? Talk about an over-usage of pronouns, I think she used up her novel’s quota by page three. And, okay, the horrible laying out of how she’s walking, standing, arm position, facial expression yada yada is really really really really REALLLY unnecessary. I’m thinking in my head “okay wait let me picture this…feet here, hands there, face like that, mouth like that, eyes looking here, okay got it so then what happens?” Like, lady, we all have an imagination, we can figure a few things out for ourselves, don’t be such a control freak, it sounds like you were sitting there thinking “AND DON’T YOU DARE THINK HER ARMS WERE CROSSED OR SHE WAS STANDING NEAR THE DOOR BECAUSE ‘I was there I was there he DIED ON THAT ISLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!”…
  
  … anybody?
  
  *crickets*
  
  …*sigh* minus ten points for ineffective National Velvet reference.
  
  Moving on.
  
  So, I’m also impressed that the little girl can say krap while chewing on her lip and thrusting her hands on her hips (which is, I think, a wrong way to use that verb because the image is like a weird game of hokey-pokey) all while scowling too, so it’s kind of like playing that really dumm Josephine game, but hey, what do I know? Anyhoo, so the plot moppet also wants to be a vegetarian, and she is SMART (we’re told this, in like, a solitary sentence. “She is smart.” Woot!) because:
  
  “she is in a program for gifted children at school”
  
  she gives her family a lengthy lecture on how vegetarianism will reduce her risk of heart disease and improve the regularity of her bowels…
  
  Well this obviously won the American Heart Association’s Seal of Approval
  
  Suh-WEEEEET. Someone’s fudging their word count *wink*
  
  And she tells Mr. David StoltzenF***er that:
  
  “I want you to know that if your behavior instigated this outpouring of emotion from my sister, it would be best for you if you did not visit us here again.”
  
  No seriously, that’s what she said, and she’s SEVEN. Now, I was an ornery little punk-ass kid who read Shakespeare at seven but I don’t think my friends or I wandered around delivering such brilliantly stilted lines of dialogue to strange dudes in grocery stores…krap, that’s a salvage store. I’d better calm my temper before I throw up my hands into Mississippi and let my improper exasperation show.
  Moving on!
  So then we find out about Emily/Jacob/Betsy’s “bruder Levi”, and I’m guessing some extra bruders and cousins named Ezekiel and Ezra and Noah and Jebadiah and Obadiah and Mephibosheth are going to show up here soon because so far we’re on a ROLL!
  So, Jacob invites the scary improperly exasperated StoltzFuzzenator back to the HAUS for the DINNER which to me was really insensitive to the Emily and therefore kind of illogical in terms of plotting but our author was desperate to throw this kouple together and she figured “inviting a stranger back to haus is soooooo GUUUT!” so they break bread and probably milk a few cows while singing Amish Paradise and then Mamm sends him home with cookies and other various munchies after he and Emily have begun to progress from foot staring to optical intercourse (see Bob Jones University Definition: “staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex” as in, look DEEEEP into my EYES!!!! But be careful you don’t make any eye-babies), because now she can look into his:
  
  “blazing blue gaze”
  
  …O.M.G. like whoa! Turn up the AC because it’s getting HOTTTT!!!! Tall Dark & Loser in the HAUS! And they invite him to a hymn sing at their haus and then poor Emily is like geez ‘rents what’s with the sudden over-the-top pressure of shoving weird guys into the haus??? Like, they’re not insensitive, they just wish that she would get married and have babies and move out of the haus because she’s like twenty and by this time all her friends have herds and flocks and veritable droves of bopplis and kinner which are *frenziedly flips thirty-five pages back to glossary* babies and children.
  MOVING ON!
  So Emily is like I’ve got only FOUR DAYS to find a way to NOT BE IN THE HAUS during that hymn sing!!!...*ahem* well, Emily, if I were your therapist I would suggest that you use the door to escape, but you’re right, it might take you four days to find it. Ms. Wiseman really needs to work on her like…writing in general.
  So anyhoo, David is with his aenti and onkel. EEEE GADS! *flipping back* aunt and UNCLE *finds BIG PERMANENT MARKER and writes in translations in margins*, whatever, I’m going to just change the word to “Ents” (he he he) named Ivan and KatieAnn…
  
  Not.Saying.Anything.
  
  Who apparently have marital problems because Ivan was unfaithful with some other schtinkich-ing mudder (you see what I did????? I used the glossary and put two words together!!!! I AM learning from this book! I am I AM!!!) and then David’s like yakking about how the Dead-wheelers have like a big haus and then KatieAnn:
  
  “Moved toward David and touched his arm. She could still see him as a teenage boy, sick from kidney failure, which had been the scariest thing her family had ever gone through. And look at him now. A tall, handsome young man.”
  
  …Wow. Great prose. *standing ovation* NOT. Okay, lady? I’m pretty sure kidney failure isn’t like a disease, it’s caused by other internal issues or an underlying condition that RESULTS in kidney failure, you aren’t just like “oops, dag yo, this damn kidney decided to bonk out on me”. But then, these are unusual kidneys, because David didn’t want to leave Pennsylvania because that was too far away from his failed one…or something. Anyhoo, love that paragraph. MOVING ON!
  So Katie Ann tells David:
  
  “Tell Lillian [David’s schtinking step-mudder] that I will help her with that big haus.”
  
  *with what big haus? With THAT big haus!* [warning, I do this a LOT. What a LOT? THIS a LOT!]
  
  “Because I know there is much to do.”
  
  WOW. These people talk like those god-awful 1st reader kids that we weren’t allowed to read (because, apparently, the padres thought it would teach us really lame improper prose) such as:
  
  “See Jane. See Spot. See Jane see Spot! See Jane run. See Spot run after Jane and CHEW HER LEG OFF!!!!!!” …yeah…I’m just gonna leave that there J
  
  Anyhoo, so Ms. Wiseman informs us that David “was of marrying age now” *bleh* and that KatieAnn hopes he will find someone to marry (OMG who do you think it will BE?!??!?!?!?!?!?!sssshhhhh! it’s a surprise ending, I’m sure!) and then we learn the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING THAT WILL SCARE US KRAPLESS UNTIL WE REALIZE IT WAS just a big misunderstanding…
  David got a kidney transplant when he was fifteen. But then he overheard his parents talking and he thought they implied that his transplanted kidney would only last ten years (sh** those things are like cheap toaster ovens, you know? They just short out after a few years) and so now that he’s like twenty or something he thinks he has five years left MAX!!!! OH NOOOOOOOO ferDOONS!!!!!!
  Does he ask his parents when he comes of age to verify this information? Does he go to his doctor (which he has to have because we’re told he’s taking lots of prescriptions for his Lone Kidney) and ask if like…you know…I’m DYING???? Does he think it’s odd that for the past five years that he’s been going to his doctor, the doctor hasn’t been like “sooo…any feelings of fatigue, vision loss, exploding organs, vomiting your innards…IMPENDING DOOOM?”
  
  Nope.
  
  He’s just like, dag yo, my ears don’t lie! I’m gonna die! CHANT IT WITH ME!!!!!
  
  *Gregorian monks go OOOOoooOOOOOoooo*
  
  So…yeah…I had an argument (*ahem* DISCUSSION) with mummykins about how illogical a plot point this is. Because, seriously, the whole “BIG MISUNDERSTANDING” is like major no-no number one in romance-landia. A source of conflict can’t exist just because some character misunderstood something they overheard five years ago and had five years to verify and never did. That means we have *drumroll* a Too Stupid To Live Hero!!!! Which, he is, and apparently his kidneys have noticed this and are defecting. Or at least, he thinks they are. Mommy dearest argued that you might not conceivably talk to your doctor about that…maybe…sort of…and I said, yeah, if you’re like a dumbass or something.
  So anyway, David ends up spending lots of time at manly manual labor because he’s putting a toilet in his haus.
  
  ….*Romance loving soul cries buckets of symbolic angelic pellucid tears*
  
  Why couldn’t he be putting up a barn? I mean, really, WHY??? And why do all the little kids have to keep complaining about how stinky and schtink-ing the outdoor toilet is????
  
  Romance Rule #9072: Thy hero shall only pursue manly and romantical endeavors that shall permit thee to write of the muscles and the man chests and thus and verily I say unto thee thou shall in this way encourage thy heroine’s good opinion of his great muscular manly powerfulness.
  
  Barn = pine, sawdust, saws! AXES! NAIL GUNS!!!! The guy on Brawny paper towels or from the Old Spice commercials!!!
  
  Toilet = septic tank, leaky pipes, fat plumbers, fat plumbers with low riding jeans…rwar!!!!
  
  O.M.G. Yay...
  
  This has been Silly Songs with Larry, tune in next time to- oh wait...where was I? Oh, to finish yon review, go HERE!
  http://adventuresofpebblesmontoya.blo...
  
  and scroll down...for like a long long LONG time...because The Pebbles is very long winded :)
• 
  Nancy

  This Amish fiction, Seek Me with all your Heart, story centers around Emily Detweiler and David Stoltzfus, and their
  separate families. Emily and her family
  moved to Colorado, after a personal tragedy. David's family moved for reasons he doesn't fully understand, and
  he plans to move back to Paradise, Pennsylvania, after helping his dad start a new farm in Colorado.
  Emily has to struggle to learn to trust men again, and this part of the story was well written, very perceptive\.
  David and Emily form a friendship with an Englischer woman, Martha, who lives alone and is very wealthy. Martha owns
  a pet bird, who is very dear to her.
  Martha meets a man who is helping build an Amish schoolhouse, and the man has a strong faith in God. He takes Martha
  to midnight mass at Christmas, and in a kind of amusing situtation, introduces her to a nun friend of his,
  whom he knows through his church.
  Emily's younger sister, Betsy, was one of my favorite characters! She's precocious, and the dialogs she has with her
  family will make you laugh. Betsy reminds me of how my younger granddaughter used to be, very smart for her age,
  and quite interesting to see her insights into life.
  David's relatives, his aunt and uncle, are having marital difficulties, and that is another well written story line. This wa
  the storyline that kept my interest high.
  The ending is good, and the book keeps one entertained throughout.
  Romans 10:8-13; John 3:16-21
• 
  Katt Hansen

  Every once in a while I get in the mood for a bit of Amish romance (don't tell anyone). I picked up this one because of the Colorado setting.
  
  While I liked this book, there were so many plot lines that I sometimes got lost. I also felt like I wasn't really experiencing the romance between Emily and David though I enjoyed their interactions. Overall this is a solid book, but with a little too much going on. I liked it all the same and will seek out the next one in the series.
• 
  Amy

  I really truly liked this story. So very sweet. David has grown to be a wonderful young man. I just love how the characters persevere through the testings of their faith. Such an uplifting story/stories within this book. I am hoping the library has the second book in so I can check it out today :).
• 
  LINDA BOURG

  I absolutly loved this book. Such a heartwarming story. The lines of communication had been crossed for many of the characters, but each had to Seek God with all their Heart as He led them to places of forgiveness, healing, faith, truth and love. I highly recommend this book if you haven't read it yet. I look forward to the next book in th series.
• 
  Kate

  I loved this book.
  
  It was sweet, sad, and inspiring.
  
  Spoilers.....
  
  I am so glad in the end she spoke up and got together with her man.
  
  I am glad that Levi learned to forgive himself.
  
  And Uncle Ian is a meany head and I think that he should be the one not allowed to marry instead of Katie-Ann.
• 
  Stephanie

  This book was a good read and focused on God's will, which is a strong belief among the Amish. However, I do not believe that God wills evil like the rape in this book for us. God walks through it and brings good out of it, but does not will evil.
• 
  Joleen

  Cute, albeit slightly predictable, I listened to it through the end to see how a few things were resolved.
  (Good narrator, by the way)
  
  Emily Detweiler was having a hard time reconciling what happened to her as God's will. A tragedy had left her fearful of ever being close to a man, let alone marry and have a future. No, at eighteen she was resigned to being a spinster.
  
  New to Colorado and missing Ohio terribly, David Stoltzfus was clueless as to why his family left their hometown and moved so far away to a place where they knew no one. Why did they need to start over?
  
  For some reason David found the shy, fearful young lady, Emily, not just attractive, but someone he wanted to get to know. Little did he realize what a challenge that would be!
  
  Meanwhile, the uncle (who gave David a kidney years before) moved with them in order to escape an indiscretion. But he's miserable. His wife of 20 years tried unceasingly to help him warm back up to her, but it seems his mind is back in Ohio. Pfffft!
  
  A grouchy old, non-Amish widow is a fixture within the neighborhood. She's is clueless about Amish ways or anything Christian. Her loneliness has her insisting her Amish neighbors do things for her so she can have company. How her story progresses is fun. She's attracted to an older gentleman who is also alone and talks about God often. In trying figure out how to be a good Christian she asks advice from an Amish woman. The result is she decides to attends his Catholic Church. Hmmm...
  
  To be honest, I was disappointed in several opinions that were bandied about, and solutions for some issues bothered me. Seems like good works were the best solution, and honesty was not considered on at least four occasions.
  
  Sigh.
  
  Although the story was sweet, it left me wanting.
• 
  Rosa Cline

  My first impression after reading-listening to this is "Wow" As the author did such a fabulous job at not only having all her characters-families learn to "Seek me with all your Heart" but reminding the reader that they can do it regardless of the situations within their lives. I actually would give this a 4 1/2 star but there isn't such rating. The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars (which I don't very often) is two of the characters past "haunts" them and the reader doesn't figure out-learn of the full circumstances until the middle if not 3/4 into the story. But over and over those characters pretty much repeat their worries over their future due to their past. It had started to get 'old' but about that time the author did let the reader in on the past and so wasn't draggin on at that point. But the rest of the stories were so great that you soon forget the few 'dragging on' places. Two Amish main families and an English widow whom all are fighting tough pasts; they all find their way together and find their Faith or reestablish their Faith.
  
  A liver transplant on one character and he feels he will die in a few years so is afraid to love anyone. A recent rape and trying to overcome not feeling 'whole' again. (They do use the word 'rape' within the story but they don't go into any major details except they said 'he touched me'. So a young reader may have questions to an adult if they read this book and not understand.) A family loosing their farm due to finances and not wanting their son to know it was his fault they lost it. A brother being withdrawn and depressed until he finally tells his sister he feels what happened to her was his fault. And other woman wanted a baby for years and never could have one her husband leaves her; leaves her alone and never able to remarry only to have a blessing given to her. An English woman alone and sad watching those within the Amish community without money but with love, and Faith. She soon opens her heart to a family that stops in and checks in on her regardless of her hard ways. She then learns that it's never to late to love and live the way God wants you to. And 'bad things' will still happen but all things in God's timing. Ms Wiseman leaves your heart full as you finish this book. Reminding you that when you don't understand just do what the Lord had said "Seek Me with all your heart" You will want the next book in the series.
• 
  Bonnie

  I read a lot of Amish fiction, but have never read anything written by Beth Wiseman so it took me a little time to become used to her writing style. There were some things in this book that made me question its authenticity at first and at times I found the voices she gave to her characters to be a little modern to really connect with them as Amish. I'm not saying that she did anything wrong here, it really was a lovely story, it was just not what I expected out of the gate. Once I got used to her style I thoroughly enjoyed the book and devoured it over the course of two days. There were enough plot twists and interesting characters to hold my attention and I was really happy with the story that developed around Martha (the grumpy English neighbor).
  
  She tackled some issues that are not often seen in Amish fiction and I appreciated this very much. I think that she wrote about these difficult subjects in a very realistic and sensitive way. Emily's character was beautifully developed and Wiseman did an excellent job of portraying the emotions that one would feel after a traumatic attack.
  
  I was pretty excited to find out that Seek Me With All Your Heart is somewhat of a continuation of Wiseman’s earlier Daughters of the Promise series. I look forward to the next book in the Land of Canaan series and will definitely be picking up her earlier books.
  
  View my full review here:
  http://handsandhome.blogspot.com/2011...
• 
  Meagan

  Inspirational fiction isn't really my thing, but my book club likes it. So, I won't spend too much time discussing the plot and my (predictably) indifferent reaction to it. What I will say is that having the dialogue peppered with Pennsylvania Dutch was driving me up a wall! Every other word was gut and daed and ya, and all it did was jerk me right out of a story I was barely in to begin with and make me want to whack someone over the head with a blunt object.
  
  End rant.
• 
  Laura

  I read this book in the wrong order of the timeline of books. It is sandwiched in between book #4 and book #5 of the Daughters of the Promise series, so I ended up finding out two pieces of information that I didn't want to know yet when I read book #5 first. So, in order to keep it all in the proper timeline, read book #1-4 of the Daughters of the Promise series, then read this book, #1 in The Land of Caanan series. Ater this book, go back to book #5 of the Daughters of the Promise series, then go on to book #2 in this series, which is the book I plan to read next.
• 
  Rachel

  Two families from 2 different communities, but the same Amish faith.. find themselves in the same new small community.
  
  Emily is a young girl, holding a dark secret. Her family only knows part of it.. so she thought..she felt that she was tainted.. that no one would want her
  
  David- is a young man that hold his own secret.. but is it really as he thinks...Can he really have a family..
  
  As the 2 grow to know each other.. both their secrets come out.. and both realize that what they fear, does not have to keep them from becoming a family
• 
  Bekah

  David Stoltzfus is confused why his family ever left Pennsylvania for an unfamiliar place. But he's determined to get back to Lancaster someday in the future.
  
  Emily Detweiler is a woman with a troubled past. She doesn't trust men after a certain incident and wonders if she'll ever trust again.
  
  They are two young adults who wonder what the Lord has in store for them as they learn lessons along the way.
  
  I enjoyed this book, it was a good read.
  
  I recommend this book to ages 16 and up.
• 
  Colette

  A continuation of the story of the people we met in the "daughters of the promise" novels as the author follows those that moved to Colorado. They arrive to find their houses in need of much repair and much to be done. They meet other families that have moved from Ohio and David becomes interested in a young woman but both have their own reasons not to listen to their hearts. I have enjoyed reading Beth Wiseman's Amish novels and find the stories to be relaxing and heart warming.
• 
  Michelle

  This is much different than most Amish romances. The female protagonist was assaulted and raped by an Amish boy before the book began (you find this out in the first chapter, so it's not really a spoiler). The male protagonist has reasons of his own to fight getting involved with someone. It really wasn't what I've come to expect from an Amish romance. That is fine except I chose it to take a break from my usual reads and to read something predominantly pleasant and calm.
• 
  Rachel

  Unfortunately, the Kindle version of this book had an inordinate number of typographical distractions. Entire pages were in italics, and in other places parts of the edits were included within the text. It was very frustrating.
  
  As for the story, Wiseman is a skilled author, and I enjoyed her method of weaving scriptural truth into a modern Amish story. I look forward to reading more of the "Canaan" series, but will hope that the type-setting for Kindle is done better.
• 
  Paula

  This book was recommended to me by a friend. From page one, I was totally engulfed in it. I loved the story and the characters and I love how Miss Wiseman painted the scene of Amish living. This is a good book that was a quick read for me and one that has made me feel like a better person for having read it.
• 
  Megan Rang

  This book has earned a place in my favorite books! It has so many story parts that made me laugh and want to cry. The characters were fantastic. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes Amish stories and also anyone who likes "feel good" stories. I can't wait to start the next one in the series.
• 
  Beverly

  I could not put this book down....It's that good however the storyline of Lillian and her family starts in the Plain series before they move to Colorado..You don't have to read it first to enjoy the story this is just FYI...