Review: Tender Mercies by Eli Easton

Title: Tender Mercies (Men of Lancaster County: Book Two)

Author: Eli Easton

Length: 216 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: I adored many things about this story. It was wonderful watching both Eddie and Sam fall more in love with the farm and the animals; the author’s descriptions of the property were so vivid and beautiful.

Reviewed By: Jules

Blurb: 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 clubfoot. 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 Benny who might be the key to life, love, money—and even a happily ever after for two castoffs.

Review: I just finished Eli Easton’s Tender Mercies with a happy little sigh and a smile on my face. Much like my reading experience with A Second Harvest, the first book in Easton’s Men of Lancaster County series, this second book left me feeling hopeful and satisfied. I love the feeling of being transported to rural Pennsylvania, immersed into farm life, and into the lives of these engaging men. Like David and Christie from book one—who we also get a brief glimpse of in this book!—Eddie and Samuel come from very different backgrounds and lead very different lives. Eddie grew up privileged and well educated and recently left his home and life in Manhattan to start a farm sanctuary in Pennsylvania, whereas Samuel was raised in the Amish community, left school at thirteen, and is in desperate need of a place to stay as well as a job after being beaten and thrown out of his house by his father.

This, unfortunately, wasn’t the first time Samuel suffered abuse at the hand of his Da. Both having a disability and hiding the fact that he’s gay have made growing up Amish even more difficult for Samuel. He’s learned to live with his club foot and compensate for it however he needs to in order to get his share of the chores done, but when his father catches him having ‘impure thoughts’ about a young man on a neighboring farm, he leaves Samuel’s back raw and bloody from his switch, and kicks him out of the house, telling him not to look back. Of course, it doesn’t immediately feel that way, but after stumbling upon Eddie Graber’s ad for help on his farm, it looks like being shunned might end up being the best thing for Samuel after all.

Like Samuel, Eddie is a complete love. It has been his dream to build and own his own farm sanctuary, and despite the last-minute drop-out of his ex, Alex, Eddie is forging ahead with the farm purchase. Having been a vegetarian for over ten years myself, I certainly understand the instinct to view animals as valuable simply in and of themselves rather than for what they can produce or provide for us. I liked that Eddie wanted to incorporate information on cruel farming practices and the benefits of vegetarianism or being vegan into his open houses and/or tours of the farm.

Having Samuel live and work at the farm was difficult at first. The early getting-to-know-you phase was awkward, both because of Samuel’s quiet, unsure demeanor in the beginning, and because they were each fighting a growing attraction to one another. Initially, Eddie was extremely unsure if hiring Samuel was a good idea. This line was too funny:

Eddie was a Jewish, agnostic, liberal-assed homosexual. It sounded like a recipe for disaster. Or an episode of Big Brother

It was also very tough for Samuel at first because he was incredibly lonely. He missed his family and the comfort of being around his siblings so much. And, Eddie was so busy trying to keep things professional between them that he didn’t realize how lonely and unhappy Samuel was becoming. This passage really touched me:

Samuel craved touch so badly he thought he might die. It didn’t even have to be sexual, just…he needed to feel like he was worthy of being held, that he was visible and real, young and alive. Not ugly. Not unlovable. Not forgotten.

I adored many things about this story. It was wonderful watching both Eddie and Sam fall more in love with the farm and the animals; the author’s descriptions of the property were so vivid and beautiful. I loved Samuel and his sweet vulnerability, and I loved how, after discovering Eddie’s collection of gay romance novels, he began to realize that his fantasy of Green Valley, his make-believe world where it was ok for gay men to make a life and home together, was maybe not as far off the mark as he thought it was. And, the supporting cast was great, too; I hope the next Men of Lancaster book is about Devin!

Honestly, Tender Mercies is just a quiet, simple, lovely romance. If you’re a fan of Easton’s books, especially her sweet, slow-burn stories, I have no doubt that you will enjoy this one. I know I did.

You can buy Tender Mercies here:
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