A Patchwork Past by Leslie Gould Review

 Happy Wednesday Friends :)

I pray you're all doing well this week, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

These last six months have been such a struggle for me personally. I've talked quite a bit about the attack from the enemy I've been dealing with, and honestly, sometimes it gets discouraging that it's been dragging on so long.

I love spending time in prayer and in studying God's Word to help pull me through each day, but I've also come to love my time spent reading Christian fiction. I've become so much fussier about the type of content I'm allowing myself to read, and this has definitely been the right decision for me and has helped me so much. The world is such a scary place right now, and I don't want to put anything extra into my mind that doesn't need to be there.

Last week, I had the chance the read and review Leslie Gould's upcoming novel, and today I'd like to share with you all what I thought about it.

A Patchwork Past by Leslie Gould:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Bethany House

Publication Date: March 30th, 2021

Genre: Amish Fiction/Christian Fiction

Series: Plain Patterns

Synopsis:

When wild child Sophie Deiner--the daughter of an Amish bishop--is forced to return to Nappanee, Indiana, quilt-shop owner Jane Berger is one of only a few who welcome her back. It's the last place she wants to be, but Sophie's recent illness requires that she recover for a while.

As Sophie heals, she befriends a group of migrant workers and is appalled to learn of the wretched living conditions they're forced to endure. Sophie begins advocating on their behalf, but soon finds herself opposed by an ex-boyfriend who is the farm foreman.

Jane begins relating the story of an Amish couple who rescued survivors of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, many of whom were Irish immigrants. And Sophie is more convinced than ever that she needs to fight for the powerless. But when digging deeper makes conditions even worse, has she chosen a fight she can't win?

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I've read a lot of Amish fiction novels over the years, and A Patchwork Past is truly unlike anything I've read before. I didn't personally read the first book, but I appreciated the fact that I never felt like I was missing out on anything by not doing so. This one was unique in the fact that a lot of the story focuses outside of the Amish community on immigration and migrant workers, and it definitely added a unique spin to the story.

I wasn't expecting this to be a timeslip novel when I picked it up, and I loved that it was. I always enjoy reading those kind of stories, and I especially loved how in this one the timeslip element is employed by the owner of Plain Patterns telling the main character Sophie a story about her relative's first hand experience with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Sophie's story is not easy to read; as she's been hurt badly by a previous boyfriend, and wasn't offered any love or support from her Amish family or community. She's now dealing with a Lupus diagnosis, and having to come home to the place she was sure she'd never return to. She finds solace with Jane, the owner of the local quilt shop, and in helping an immigrant family working on a nearby farm when their oldest son is wrongly taken into custody.

While A Patchwork Past has many different stories and elements woven throughout it, I never found it confusing and I enjoyed how every element blends together into a beautiful story. Amish fiction is one of my favorite genres, and I always appreciate when a story truly stands out among the others for its uniqueness.

I love learning tidbits of history I didn't know about from reading historical fiction, and that was an added bonus from picking this one up. There's so much information included about the Chicago Fire, and I appreciated how much I was able to learn about that horrific time period in the city's history from picking this one up.

Overall, I ended up loving this one and will be highly recommending it. I'll definitely be going back and reading the first book now, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Final Rating: 5/5.

Thanks so much to Bethany House for allowing me to advance read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Bethany House) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)