Lullaby by the River by Temperance Johnson Review and Giveaway

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Lullaby by the River by Temperance Johnson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Lullaby by the River ‎
Series: Amish River
Author: Temperance Johnson
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Genre: Amish Fiction

An unique Amish love story.

A wounded woman with no way out…unless she marries her ex.

After unexpected abuse, quiet and happy Priscilla Yoder thinks her life can’t get worse. But then she finds out she’s pregnant, and her family and church insist she marry the man who hurt her. When a man she used to love, a man who wants to leave the Amish, offers to marry her, she doesn’t see a better option.

Danny Taylor, charming bad boy of his Amish community, is ready to leave the plain life. But when a woman he used to love finds herself in danger of marriage to an evil man, he can’t resist offering marriage to keep her safe. Only problem is, he didn’t expect to fall for his bride so fast. She’s softening his tough heart and showing him that there’s a good side to the Amish. As they grow closer, he realizes this gorgeous woman in pain has giant walls, and it will take both patience and faith if he wants to scale them.

Caring for Danny was never what Priscilla wanted. And she never expected his faith to bring her closer to God.

But when Danny’s past wounds resurface, and as Priscilla learns to hope again, can they trust God to make their relationship more than just a marriage of convenience?

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon

Also Available

About the Author

Temperance Johnson has always loved to read and write. As one of eleven children, she read from her older sister’s books. With that, her love for both reading and writing has only continued to grow. Passionate about the subjects of adoption, family, and faith, she started the Liberty Chronicles and now her Amish fiction. In her free time, she plays with her ponies and many nieces and nephews. Her horses even made it into her stories. She enjoys spoiling her ten nephews and twenty-three nieces.

Connect with Temperance by visiting temperancejohnson.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

My Impressions

“Care for her and, if or when love comes, take it slow. Show her in small ways you care for her. And you will find her voice. It might take a while. But it won’t disappoint you. She will become a beautiful new creature before your eyes.”

Lullaby on the River by Temperance Johnson is indeed, an unusual Amish book. An Amish marriage of convenience like none other I’ve ever read! It has much to recommend it, but it also needs a few more rounds of solid editing before I will personally recommend it.

Johnson has a heart for those women abused by men in the church, then treated like they ( the women) are the instigators, not the victim. Often, if the man claims repentance, church leaders may accept that without pursuing prosecution for crimes against the women. This happens within the Amish church in this story, but unfortunately, it also can happen within the mainstream church. I personally have experienced this. However, I wished that the author would also have made a little more clear that not all Amish and not all mainstream churches are like this. I think sometimes in highlighting a problem, we also paint such a bleak picture of some that we drive unchurched away for fear all inside the church are hypocrites.

Johnson does paint positive pictures of some within the church like Danny, who loved Priscilla once but lost her due to the fact he wasn’t a “good Amish boy.” We also see his English parents, Pam and Stan, who loved an angry, traumatized youngster back to Jesus. May we all be more like them, or another sweet couple in the Amish church. Both couples have great advice for both Danny and Priscilla as they struggle in their sudden marriage with very different world views. Unfortunately, editorial mix up of locations, sometimes characters, plus which church they belonged to, and multiple grammatical errors made this a very difficult story to finish. Let me be clear about two things. First, the premise and direction and eventual solution of the story is solid. Although I received a copy of the book from JustRead Tours, the copy I read was the one I purchased. ( I went back to double check that.) We cannot fault ARCs for mistakes. But I expect published books to be well-edited and polished to not detract from the reading. I would not have finished this book if not for the need to review.

One other positive I did want to mention is that Johnson does point out that there are positives in the Amish church, even though Danny can only see the reasons he abhors it. I was glad to see that the whole church was not painted all dark. Paul says it well: “So, to review, now you know the Amish are not just black and white…There is a bit of gray in all of us, and we all have a bit of a rebel in us.”

I love that every charge the Amish elders and bishop bring against Danny, he points them to Scriptures. They turn to tradition and fumble, seeming to know that their arguments are not solid, but like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, “That’s the way it’s always been done!” So sad in this case!!

I would be interested to see where this author with her boldness to introduce hard topics can go in the future. Keep your eyes open for more possible unique books from this author. ( And I personally loved the Maysville, KY mention and the fireworks on the river! If you’ve never seen the Cincinnati fireworks on the Ohio River, you’ve missed something!!)

I did receive a copy of the book from JustRead Tours, but I read a copy I purchased. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“She was still learning who she was. God’s daughter.”

“You have me with no refunds. You and me and this marriage are forever.”

“Traditions do not get you to heaven. A faith in God does that. A real relationship with Him does that.”

“God is more important than rules,”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️

An Unusual Amish MOC book that can be great with a few more tweaks

Tour Giveaway

(2) winners will each receive a $20 Baker Book House gift card and a print copy of Lullaby by the River!

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight April 7, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 14, 2025. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!