RELEASE DAY REVIEW: 'Tender Mercies' by Eli Easton
Title: Tender Mercies
Series: Men of Lancaster County #2
Author: Eli Easton
Published: October 27, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Brooke Albrecht
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 216 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Animals: Farm; First Time; Forbidden Love; May/December; Religion/Faith; Standalone; HEA; CW: Physical Abuse
About Tender Mercies
Eddie Graber’s dream of a sanctuary for rescued farm animals was about to come true when his partner backed out at the last minute. Now Eddie risks losing the twenty-five acre property in Lancaster County—and all the hopes he held for it—before the project even gets off the ground. He needs help, he needs money, but most importantly, he needs to rediscover the belief in a higher purpose that brought him here in the first place.
Samuel Miller worked hard to fit into his Amish community despite his club foot. But when his father learns Samuel is gay, he is whipped and shunned. With just a few hundred dollars to his name, Samuel responds to an ad for a farmhand and finds himself employed by a city guy who has strange ideas about animals, no clue how to run his small farm, and a gentle heart.
Samuel isn’t the only lost soul to serendipitously find his way to Meadow Lake Farm. There’s Fred and Ginger, two cows who’d been living in a garage, a gang of sheep, and a little black pig named Benedict who might be the key to life, love, money—and even a happily ever after for two castoffs.
Don't miss Tracy and Annie's Banter Buddies where they chat about their favorite characters, scenes, endearments...and more from Tender Mercies!
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
In her aptly named Tender Mercies, Eli Easton shows that love can tether dreams. Pairing two innocent men, in this standalone installment of the Men of Lancaster County series, she combines spirituality and practicality to sweet conclusions.
Just as Eddie buys a property to house his farm animal sanctuary, his lover and co-investor leaves him. Knowing nothing of farm work and financially strapped, Eddie advertises for a farmhand, in exchange for room, board and a small stipend.
The position perfectly suits Samuel, a club-footed Amish man, beaten and disowned by his Amish father, who concludes Samuel is gay. Though highly skilled with animals and crops, Samuel knows nothing of the world he’s dreamed about, a place where men can openly love and mate. While Eddie’s vegan/sanctuary lifestyle is foreign, Samuel perceives his boss to be a gentle, hard-working man with high ideals.
Can faith and dreams rescue two abandoned men and a stray pot-bellied pig named Benny?
One delectable element of this book is its early 20th Century-style section and chapter headings. For example, “II. How Samuel Came to the Farm. Home is a place that finds you.” While Easton is telegraphing the upcoming plot, these pithy statements give an added spiritual layer to her writing as the heading states, “Being small does not equate to the amount of impact you can have in the world.”
In rescuing animals, both men are completely aware they are rescuing themselves.
Samuel thinks to himself, “It was the way Eddie stroked and talked gibberish to Benny and looked at him like he wasn’t just some dumb stray nobody wanted, but that he was lovely and special. He thought about the way Eddie teased him over pinochle, the way he treated Samuel like he was someone special, like he was a blessing to the farm, like he had value.”
Easton paints strong characters. For all his innocence, Samuel thinks to make the first move to clarify that both men are gay, “He figured it was best to just come out and ask so he could stop fretting about it one way or the other.” And Eddie considerately weighs the ethics of touching a younger, naive man, his employee, with the feeling that, “It was like walking into a strange house and recognizing at once that it was home.”
This is less a book about rescue than about the courage it takes to trust.
Samuel and Eddie are independent, yet their goal of an animal sanctuary requires they rely on each other and their community. In this, Easton is espousing a basic Amish ethic, that God requires a singular proof of devotion. His people demonstrate trust in Him by humbly trusting and giving compassion to equally flawed humans.
“Love is such a primal force in our being that it cannot long be smothered, hidden, denied, betrayed, or ignored. To attempt such is like attempting to paint the noon sky black,” Easton wisely notes.
Tender Mercies is a novel to be savored on days when our hopes are shattered, when we’ve lost sight of the fact that our intentions and behaviors may not bring about the results we wished, but can still leave “tender mercies” in their wake.
A copy of Tender Mercies was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreamspinner Press, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
Having been, at various times and under different names, a minister’s daughter, a computer programmer, a game designer, the author of paranormal mysteries, a fan fiction writer, an organic farmer and a profound sleeper, Eli is happily embarking on yet another incarnation as a m/m romance author.
As an avid reader of such, she is tickled pink when an author manages to combine literary merit, vast stores of humor, melting hotness and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Pennsylvania with her husband, three bulldogs, three cows and six chickens. All of them (except for the husband) are female, hence explaining the naked men that have taken up residence in her latest fiction writing.
For more from Eli be sure and visit her website!
