Once Upon a Farm: Lessons on Growing Love, Life, and Hope by Rory Feek - Review by LAWonder10!

Once Upon a Farm: Lessons on Growing Love, Life, and Hope on a New Frontier by Rory Feek 
National Bestseller
Sometimes it’s not only what we plant but where we’re planted.
    Now raising their four-year-old daughter, Indiana, alone, after Joey’s passing, Rory Feek digs deeper into the soil of his life and the unusual choices he and his wife, Joey, made together and the ones he’s making now to lead his family into the future. 
    When Rory Feek and his older daughters moved into a run-down farmhouse almost twenty years ago, he had no idea of the almost fairy-tale love story that was going to unfold on that small piece of Tennessee land . . . and the lessons he and his family would learn along the way.
     Now two years after Joey’s passing, as Rory takes their four-year-old daughter Indiana’s hand and walks forward into an unknown future, he takes readers on his incredible journey from heartbreak to hope and, ultimately, the kind of healing that comes only through faith.
     A raw and vulnerable look deeper into Rory’s heart, Once Upon a Farm is filled with powerful stories of love, life, and hope and the insights that one extraordinary, ordinary man in bib overalls has gleamed along the way.
   As opposed to homesteading, this is instead a book on lifesteading as Rory learns to cultivate faith, love, and fatherhood on a small farm while doing everything, at times, but farming. With frequent stories of his and Joey’s years together, and how those guide his life today, Rory unpacks just what it means to be open to new experiences.

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MY REVIEW:
Although ths can be read as a "stand alone", I feel my review would have been more complete if I had read the first book about his life before and after his second wife's appearance.

Once Upon a Farm, was a heartfelt story of country musician, Rory Feek's, courageous journey through life, after the dreadful loss of his beloved wife. 

He reminisces of events past and present, and offers much wisdom he has gained.

I would like to expand on two separate comments he made.

#1 in a reference to "new information" he received from a daughter that devastated him he stated, "I'm not the judge.." ..."It's my job to love her."
I feel many of us could beneficent from this if we applied it to not only loved ones, but to others as well. For Christians, it would be well for us all to remember those are the words Jesus taught..

#2 When discussing his reading (or lack of) he stated he was "a non-fiction guy..." and liked to "read about real people and the lives they lived."
I felt this way for many of my adult years. I read both non-fiction and fiction (almost any book I could get my hands on) as a youth. Then I decided I needed "real knowledge" so pursued only non-fiction. 

In my more "mature" years, I have made a new discovery. Fiction can not only stimulate one's imagination, but many authors do hours of research before writing a book. I have learned about the Amish lifestyle and the variations of Amish cultures and the difference between Amish and Mennonites, in a delightful way, through fiction! 

I considered my knowledge of history was quite good until I read a few Historical Fiction stories, which brought out little known facts in history. I have realized by having a wider interest in most genres, I have enhanced my reading enjoyment.

Rory Feek, writes in a personable manor which enables the reader' to feel like he/she is being "spoken" to. There are many more valuable and interesting points of consideration he makes throughout his personal "journey".

The book Tile and Cover are very well-chosen. 
I offer a Four and a Half Stars rating.
*This book was gifted me with no request, whatsoever, for a positive review. This is my honest review.

ABOUT the AUTHOR:
Rory Feek is a country music singer, songwriter, filmmaker and a former United States Marine. In his career, he has written singles for Kenny Chesney, Randy Travis, Clay Walker, Tracy Byrd and other artists. In 2004, Feek achieved his first Number One as a songwriter when Blake Shelton topped the country charts with "Some Beach". Feek wrote and produced a film, Josephine, which was set in the American Civil. The film later debuted at the Nashville Film Festival.

In 2002, he married Joey Martin, with whom he started the country, bluegrass and gospel duo Joey + Rory. They have one daughter, Indiana Boon (born February 17, 2014), who was born with Down Syndrome. Feek also has two adult daughters, Heidi and Hopie from a previous marriage. Joey died of metastatic cervical cancer on March 4, 2016.

Rory shares his life with the world through his thislifeilive.com blog that has over 2 million followers. His blog follows the amazing love story of him and his wife, her recent battle and loss to cancer, and inspirational stories of faith and hope.