"A Seeking Heart" by Kim Vogel Sawyer

About this book:

  “A rich, heartwarming story about discovering God's love, acceptance, and healing--for even the most damaged hearts. It's 1917, and Samantha O'Brien, seventeen years old, runs away from Wisconsin to Minnesota to escape a drunkard father and broken home. She is accepted with open arms into the Klaassen family, German-Mennonites who show both love and patience to this lonely and defensive girl. Samantha's fractured childhood and its devastating losses make it very difficult for her to accept the Klaassen's genuine care and concern, because she's sure nobody can love the likes of her. But with prayer, time and love, the family--including the young and handsome Adam Klaassen--begins to break through Samantha's walls.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Mountain Lake Minnesota Trilogy”.


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, read, & talked about; Bible reading; Many Prayers; Church going & sermons; Witnessing & Being witnessed to; Many Talks about God, Jesus, His love, & prayers; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & wanting to witness to someone; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & Scriptures; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, ministers, services, sermons, & hymns; Mentions of (Christians) Mennonites & their beliefs; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of sins;

             *Note: A mention of an evil grin.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘what in tarnation’, four forms of ‘darn’, seven forms of ‘dumb’; Mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; Seeing a dead body (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Hitting, being hit, & fighting; (up to semi-detailed); Being hit/beaten, pain, & tasting blood (up to semi-detailed); Samantha ran away from home; Samantha attempts to steal some food (but it doesn’t work); Many mentions of Samantha’s drunk father & his rages (it’s said that he would beat/whip her and her brother); Mentions of a possible coming war, fighting, & a death (which is all viewed very negatively as Mennonites are pacifists); Mentions of thieves, stealing, crimes, & jail; Mentions of kicking someone & assault; Mentions of bruises, injuries, & blood; Mentions of threats; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, & taverns; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of gossip; A few mentions of tobacco; A few mentions of raising & butchering animals for food; A couple mentions of con artists & robberies; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of hunting trips; A mention of manure.

Sexual Content- two fingers-to-lips touches, a hand kiss, a nose kiss, a head kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and three semi-detailed kisses; Touches, Embraces, Hand Holding, Nearness, & Blushes (barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Noticing; Mentions of flirting & flirts; Mentions of married couples kissing; A few mentions of a kiss & embrace; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of blushes; A couple mentions of an implication of a girl “entertaining” a man; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: Mentions of labor, pain, & screams (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a mother who died giving birth & the father wanting to drown the baby (it didn’t happen); A mention of a rooster wearing out the hinge to a chicken coop.

-Samantha O’Brien, age 16-17(?)

-Adam Klaassen, age 19-20(?)
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a few others

                                         Set in 1917-1918
                                                 275 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

The first time I read this book and now this second time, the plot of this story plays out like a movie in my head; more than the majority of books, that is.

I remember enjoying this novel back when I read it in 2014 (which sounds like so long ago) and quickly got a copy of the second book to read. (Which I never did. That will change now. ;))

I honestly didn’t remember much about “A Seeking Heart”, so it really was like reading it for the first time.

For my thoughts on it: I loved all the Spiritual Content. Samantha is a dear and I love seeing her faith blossom in this novel. Adam and his large family is so sweet and kind to her. The family tree at the beginning was helpful, though a bit inaccurate at times while I was reading. I’m pretty sure this book is classified as an adult historical, though, with the main two characters being young adults, I personally lean towards calling this a YA Historical. If we classify this book as that, however, it is a bit kissy for that genre. Still very clean, but a bit kissy.

Overall, it was a sweet read and I’ll definitely be picking up the other two books soon.

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.