At Home In Trinity Series
Conclusion to a three part series involving Martha, a Midwife in Trinity Pennsylvania 1831. Christian Historical. This is one of those series for your shelf that you'll always look at fondly, as it's a companion for the time you're reading it, and lodges in your heart in the same way as Jan Karon's Mitford series. Martha is a very stubborn woman and you're bound to get frustrated with her. She's surrounded by lovely characters, and everything is changing in Trinity. Things that she was always sure of are tipping and turning, and she's not sure of her place anymore - she doesn't know what she wants to do with herself when she grows up. This is one lady who doesn't move fast or make a hasty decision. Everything is done in it's own time. Sometimes it's frustrating to read about her - you want to tell her to just do it!. But that's not her way, and in the end it's all in God's time as well.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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I struggled with this book. The first aspect was the rewrite- taking this story from two books and changing it into a trilogy. Not much changed in the beginning. However, one key storyline was completely reworked. Initially it was bittersweet. I spent much of this story wondering if it was still going to play out the way it originally did. It did not and keeping these couple of characters around seemed to serve almost no purpose, other than to maybe accentuate the feel of community and close knit family Martha had built. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered me if I didn't know what I was missing.

The story itself felt like one being strung along. The things I had loved about the first two books ( the spiritual journey) and Martha's character (her strength and shortcomings, her ability to be wrong and change ) fell short for me. Martha (and Thomas) seemed to be overcomplicating things. Why exactly did she NEED to have a midwife replace her? There was a doctor there now and her daughter was publishing their specialty knowledge. She was complaining that she didn't want to be a midwife anymore and that she was losing more and more work to the doctor... so her need for a replacement just didn't make any sense to me.

Additionally, while I agreed with Martha that Thomas was pressuring her too much and damaged trust by changing his mind, I thought she was wrong to continue delaying and hiding their relationship. She set a pretty bad example for her daughter there and probably added to Thomas' doubt and insecurities. And I understand that she didn't want to start their relationship off with such a challenge, but that's life. And that's marriage. You weather the storms together. You compromise. You sacrifice. Your spouse should be second only to God, not fall somewhere behind your career, your kids, and your family legacy. She wasn't willing to commit unless everything else fell perfectly into place and she got everything she wanted. That's not commitment.

Jane's story was not a surprise. And felt way too easy. And I had no idea why Martha never shared the information with Thomas.

I did like the way Martha and Jane prayed together and leaned on God. But that was the only spiritual aspect that really touched me. For the most part, this book was all too realistic; an accurate portrayal of how misguided we can be keeping ourselves bone weary with busyness, accomplishing little of actual value and often missing the blessings that God has given us: relationships.