A Sister's Secret (Sisters of Holmes County, Book 1)

A Sister's Secret by Wanda E. Brunstetter is the first novel in the Sisters of Holmes County series (recently reprinted). I thought the story was well-written with realistic characters. Grace Hostettler is a woman who is keeping secrets from her family, fiancé, and community. When a man from her past shows up in Holmes County, Grace wonders if now is the time to unburden herself. The story is told from Grace's point-of-view as well as Cleon's, Grace's fiancé, and Grace's two sisters, Ruth and Martha. Each one has a different voice, so it was easy to go from one individual to the next. There is also a mystery in A Sister's Secret. It started out with overturned outhouses and cows being tipped over. It soon escalated into breaking into the Hostettler home and destroying property. The violence escalates when someone breaks into Roman Hostettler's carpentry workshop stealing tools and wreaking havoc. It is hard to turn the other check when the violence keeps intensifying. There are several individuals who could have done the malicious deeds. I enjoyed solving the whodunit. There are good life lessons in the story including how we learn with my favorite being that we learn from our errors. One of my favorite quotes is, "That's how life goes—we learn and grow from our mistakes. And hope we don't make them again." The other quote that lingered with me is, "We need to remember that nothing we own is really ours. It's all on loan from God." I am glad that I had the other two books from the Sisters of Holmes County series on hand. This is a series that needs to be read from beginning to end. A Sister's Secret is a story about forgiveness, family, secrets, second chances, love, and faith.