The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eakes
What it’s about:
From the publisher:
“For nearly two hundred years, women in Ashley Tolliver’s family have practiced the art of midwifery in their mountain community. Now she wants to take her skills a step further, but attending medical school means abandoning those women to whom she has dedicated her life, the mountains she loves, and the awakening of her heart.
Ashley Tolliver has tended to the women of her small Appalachian community for years. As their midwife, she thinks she has seen it all. Until a young woman gives birth at Ashley’s home and is abducted just as Ashley tries to take the dangerously bleeding mother to the nearest hospital. Now Ashley is on a mission to find the woman and her newborn baby . . . before it’s too late.
Hunter McDermott is on a quest—to track down his birth mother. After receiving more media attention than he could ever want for being in the right place at the right time, he receives a mysterious phone call from a woman claiming to be his mother. Hunter seeks out the aid of the local midwife in the mountain town where the phone call originated—surely she can shed some light on his own family background.
Ashley isn’t prepared for the way Hunter’s entrance into her world affects her heart and her future. He reignites dreams of having her own family that she has long put aside in favor of earning her medical degree and being able to do even more for her community. But is it commitment to her calling or fear of the unknown that keeps her feet firmly planted in the Appalachian soil? Or is it something more—fear of her growing feelings for Hunter—that makes her hesitant to explore the world beyond the mountains?”
My thoughts:
I am very interested in midwifery, so this story was a compelling read! The Mountain Midwife has it all; everyday life and struggles, romance and mystery. I do think having a strong interest or curiosity of midwife skills makes this tale so engaging. My favorite part of the story were the characters though, and how real they were. This is not a light, fluffy book where characters are perfect or almost perfect with little annoying quirks. These characters are like real friends and people in my community with some really bad choices and fallen pasts. I don’t love anywhere near this setting, but the small-town/community mindset was nailed to perfection with where I live Ina very rural area. God’s love and truths prevail where the reader is shown God’s grace and mercy through these characters, but that does not mean that everything is tied up in a nice little bow and made perfect. This true-to life story shows how God’s grace and each persons reactions (like forgiveness) to others choices affects each other. There were a few plot twists in The Mountain Midwife that had me shocked and turning pages as fast as I could!
I give The Mountain Midwife 4.5 stars!
I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion/review.
About the author: Since she lay in bed as a child telling herself stories, bestselling, award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes has fulfilled her dream of becoming a published author, with a degree in English and French from Asbury University and a master’s degree in writing fiction from Seton Hill University. She now has nearly two dozen books in print. Laurie Alice lives with her husband in Houston, Texas, with sundry lovable dogs and cats.
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