The Imposter (The Bishop's Family #1) by Suzanne Woods Fisher : ARC Book Review

Title: The Imposter
Series: The Bishop's Family
Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Publisher: Revell
Published Date: September 29th 2015
Genre: Christian Fiction, Amish, Contemporary
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Katrina Stoltzfus thought she had life and love all figured out: she was going to marry John and live happily ever after. Those plans started to crumble when her father moved the family to Stoney Ridge, then completely collapsed when John decided to marry someone else. Katrina is devastated. How could she have felt so loved, yet been so deceived?

As she struggles to face a future without him, a widow asks for her help to start a new business and 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 farm hand 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? Deceived once before, Katrina is determined to keep her feelings in check.

When a cascade of events is set in motion by some surprising information, the little Amish church is turned upside down. Soon, everyone has a stake in the outcome, and the community struggles to find the best response to an imposter in their midst. Can they forgive even the most deceitful deeds? 

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 My Review:

"By watching you cope with the problems you were facing. You didn't run away. You didn't look for the easy way out. You faced things, head-on, and tried to work through them, not around them. You woke up my world. "

When David decided to move his family to another community after the death of his wife, he had no real idea what he was getting himself into besides the warning the bishop gave him before he died.

"Beware, David. A snake is the garden."

After I read that I was hooked and had to know who/what this snake could be and why it was such an important thing that he know that.  I was not disappointed.

This story is told in multiple perspectives:

David – The new minister and is trying to take care of his six kids and run a store.

Katrina – David’s daughter, who is trying to get over, a heartbreak and deal with something that has happened because of how in love she was.

Jesse – David’s troubled son who is a con artist in the making.

Birdy – New school teacher, who is the new bishop’s sister.

It was always easy to tell which person the story was following next, and I loved all of the different points of view and how they showed more of what was happening to everyone and how certain things were affecting others.

This was different from most Amish novels as it isn’t focused on someone getting married. There were a few relationships that might start in the next book, but it wasn’t the main focus. This is more of a family dynamic book and what happens as children grow older and have been the minister’s children.  It also shows what happens when things are taken instead of left up to chance.

I don’t want to say too much and ruin the story because it is a really good one, and refreshing to see after the more romance filled Amish books I’ve been reading.

In the past I have always loved Fisher’s writing and was curious to see if that was still the case. Which it is and having read this made me realize how much I missed it. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book, and see what happens to this community next.

If you like Christian and clean fiction then I think this is a must read. 

"Everyone's journey begins somewhere."

Thank you to Netgalley and Revell for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.