All God’s Children~by Anna Schmidt~ book review

A good Christian historical fiction story about World War 2, set in Munich, Germany.  A German-American woman living as nanny and helper in the home of her aunt and uncle, Beth Bridgewater is caught up in some activities which test her and lead her on a path she could not have imagined.

What I liked about this book by Anna Schmidt is, the characters were believable, and easy to identify with.  I liked the descriptions of Munich, and surrounding areas, from Beth’s point of view, which is that of a person NOT being persecuted or harassed, at least not immediately.   There is a glimpse into the home life of a man in the Gestapo, which I thought to be an unusual point of view.

I really liked Anna’s introduction to The White Rose, a resistance movement which, if you haven’t read about it, you really should.

What I disliked about it was, the favorable view that was given to the Quaker doctrine,  which is, that God is in everyone, which is a blatant lie.  They also believe redemption and the Kingdom of Heaven are to be experienced now, in this world, which is also false doctrine.  So, for that reason, I don’t recommend this book.

Too many false teachings which will confuse and lead astray weak Christians, or lost people.

Here is the Truth:

Romans 10:9-13;  John 3:16-21

Book Review~The Pastor Takes a Wife, by Anna Schmidt

The Pastor Takes a Wife, by Anna Schmidt

Mrs. Schmidt is a gifted author. This book was a “Love Inspired” paperback, which I usually stay FAR away from, but I’m glad I didn’t this time!  It’s published by Steeple Hills, 2010. The book has good discussion questions for book clubs, too.
It is a fresh, unblemished romance, focusing more on the stories of the characters than on some rhapsodic flirtations nonsense.  You can trust this book to actually reflect Christian values and morals.
This clean Christian novel completely outshines any contemporary romance novel I’ve read, for several reasons:
1. There is good character development and relationship development that has a definite Christian focus.
2. Every sentence is important, and adds to the novel. I’m not kidding, every sentence adds something
that builds on the stories.
3. The romance between Megan and Reverend Jeb is so subtle and pure, that you can relax and know
Mrs. Schmidt has no intentions of taking the cheap and easy way out, so to speak, by writing paragraphs
of tripe and fluff that insults the Christian reader.
4. The problems are resolved in a logical, real-life way, the reader can easily believe the solutions are
credible and could happen in real life.

Allow me to digress just a bit here.
So MANY contemporary Christian romance novels, and even modern Christian historical fiction books are pure junk, not worthy of the name of Christian, and not worth your time to read them. Anna Schmidt’s book
is so much above almost all of the Christian fiction available today that you’d be doing yourself a huge favor
by reading it. Satisfying, original, believable, and refreshingly intelligent writing is what this book is all about. This book should have won a RITA award.

The main characters are Megan and Jeb. Megan was an unwed teen mother years ago, and has worked hard to give a good life to her daughter, Faith, and she has, with the help of Reba, the owner of an Inn, and Reba’s husband, now deceased. Jeb is a widower, a former manager of a global company, who became a
pastor after his wife’s death. They all live in a small town, where gossip is rampant, and the pecking order is rarely changed. They slowly begin a relationship with Jeb and Megan as friends, and they become close as events in the community give them new perspectives.

Anna Schmidt is a three-time finalist for the coveted RITA award presented annually by Romance Writers of America (RWA). Her novel A SISTER’S FORGIVENESS gave Anna her fourth finalist honor for the Reviewers’ Choice Awards from Romantic Times magazine. She has won that award twice before. In 2013 she was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by her local Wisconsin chapter of RWA.

Anna Schmidt:  CHECK OUT:
* Anna’s website at www.annaschmidtauthor.com