When the Heart Cries by Cindy Woodsmall

Seventeen year old Hannah Lapp has been raised in an Old Order Amish family her entire life. However, she still desires to marry outside the community even if it means breaking the Amish rules. She has been in love with Mennonite Paul Waddell for three years, and when he asks her to marry him once he finishes his last year of college, she accepts.

However, on the evening of their engagement, tragedy strikes Hannah, and life the way she knows it is utterly destroyed. As Hannah finds herself with questions her people cannot answer, she has to face the possibility of losing her place in her family, her community, and in the heart of the man she loves.

When the Heart Cries is a novel filled with the importance of love, forgiveness, and family. However, throughout the novel many times these themes are shown through the lack of love, forgiveness, and family bonds shown to Hannah. Hannah is constantly treated wrongly even when her situation was not her fault. There are only two to three people in the entire novel who treat Hannah with respect, honor, and love despite what is going on.

I really enjoyed the storyline of When the Heart Cries. There were several instances where the plot line shifts that were quite surprising to me. Other portions of the story brought me to tears, others to laughter. Overall I felt the plot was well written and very realistic, and the ending was a cliff hanger that left me eager to read the next book.

The characters development in When the Heart Cries was extremely well done. Hannah's thoughts, feelings, and growth were well laid out for the reader. The supporting characters also were portrayed well and evoked the correct emotions in the reader. Some of the characters made me angry, and others I fell in love with immediately.

As a whole, I particularly enjoyed this novel. I loved the characters, and while the plot line had an overall sad tone, it did not deter me from reading the novel or enjoying it. I will definitely be picking up the second book in this series, Sisters of the Quilt Book 2:  When the Morning Comes.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Press in exchange for an honest review.