The Run Around by Bernadette Franklin Publication date: April 28th 2020 Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis:
Arranging a wedding for her brother and a five-time thoroughbride tests Hope’s skills and patience. She’d believed the vows would be the most dangerous part of the ceremony, but a baseball to the head during the photography session proves her wrong and lands her in the sights of her brother’s best friend, Fredrick.
He wants her to plan his wedding.
She wants to be his bride.
Diving into the treacherous world of wedding planning, Hope keeps her word and arranges the vows for the one man she believes she could love. He doesn’t know how much she cherishes him and his friendship.
What she doesn’t know lands her in the heart of a royal mess.
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you’re continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.
The book I am waiting for this Wednesday is…
Book synopsis:
Vanessa Yu never wanted to see people’s fortunes—or misfortunes—in tea leaves.
Ever since she can remember, Vanessa Yu has been able to seepeople’s fortunes at the bottom of their teacups. To avoid blurting out their fortunes, she converts to coffee, but somehow fortunes escape and find a way to complicate her life and the ones of those around her. To add to this plight, her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a matchmaking expert from Shanghai.
The day before her matchmaking appointment, Vanessa accidentally sees her own fate: death by traffic accident. She decides that she can’t truly live until she can find a way to get rid of her uncanny abilities. When her eccentric aunt, Evelyn, shows up with a tempting offer to whisk her away, Vanessa says au revoir to America and bonjour to Paris. While working at her aunt Evelyn’s tea stall at a Parisian antique market, Vanessa performs some matchmaking of her own, attempting to help reconnect her aunt with a lost love. As she learns more about herself and the root of her gifts, she realizes one thing to be true: knowing one’s destiny isn’t a curse, but being unable to change it is.
*****
Why I would like to read this book:
I was swept away by the author’s debut novel ‘Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune’. It was sweet, adorable, full of magic and delicious recipes that could give you love, tenderness, or courage, depending on what you need the most in your life.
I expect this book to be heartfelt and romantic, and focus on family ties and self-discovery in the City of Light.
Title: Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop
Author: Roselle Lim
Publisher: Berkley
No of pages: 320
Expected Publication Date: August 4, 2020.
Have you read Roselle Lim’s previous book ‘Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune’? if yes, did you like it?
Do you like ‘magical realism’?
Do you like fiction books that focus on food or food preparation? What is your favourite one?
From the blurb: A haunting and breathtaking YA contemporary debut, cut through with light and romance, about a seventeen-year-old girl who relives the events leading up to her suicide—perfect for fans of Girl in Pieces, Speak, and All the Bright Places.
Seventeen-year-old Ellie had no hope left. Yet the day after she dies by suicide, she finds herself in the midst of an out-of-body experience. She is a spectator, swaying between past and present, retracing the events that unfolded prior to her death.
But there are gaps in her memory, fractured pieces Ellie is desperate to re-assemble. There’s her mother, a songbird who wanted to break free from her oppressive cage. The boy made of brushstrokes and goofy smiles who brought color into a gray world. Her brooding father, with his sad puppy eyes and clenched fists. Told in epistolary-like style, this tour de force of a novel sensitively examines the beautiful and terrible moments that make up a life and the possibilities that live in even the darkest of places.
***
My thoughts:
The topic of this debut novel is very difficult to discuss, so we often avoid talking about it. Teenage suicide, unfortunately, happens, and let me start by reiterating the main message of this book:
‘Be tenacious in your quest to find hope in your life…The world needs you in it.’
There is help, there are people who want to hear from you, people who will listen and understand. If you are suffering or know somebody who is, reach out. Type in Suicide Prevention and find a number to call.
It takes a particular courage to write a story like this. I wasn’t surprised to find out that the authorworked as a behavioural therapist for ten years. She is very clear about what she wants to say in this brief novel: life consists of good and bad moments, first love and friendship, music, art, dreams of becoming something bigger, and sometimes darker days when you might feel too tired to feel joy or anything at all. Yet, you matter, your life, your existence matters to people around you.
There are only four characters in this book: Ellie Walker, a 17-year-old girl who committed suicide the day before the beginning of the story, her mother, her abusive father, and her best friend (and more) August Matthews. Ellie comes back to a ghostlike existence and sees the effect of her deathon the people she loves, but her memories are incomplete. Gradually, she is trying to reconstruct her life and her last moments. She cannot touch, hug or comfort her mother when she sees her ashen face. She learns that her mother has been saving money to run away with Ellie after Ellie’s graduation. Had Ellie listened, had she insisted on talking, she would have known that there was this possibility of turning their lives round in a different place. Ellie sees August’s despair and gradually pieces together the story of their friendship, their hideaway games, and eventually their love that was full of promise. She sees how much she mattered to him. Had she told him about what it was really like to live with her father, had she given him a chance to prove that not all love ends in a caged existence and suffering, their story might have been different.
The writing is very dramatic, and perhaps I am more used to toned-down realistic descriptions, as opposed to emotional outcries and metaphors. The important thing is that Ellie, the main character is expressing herself, she is talking about her depression and feeling helpless to protect her mother, she is shouting, even if it is ‘a breath too late’, and the reader knows she realises she made a mistake which she cannot correct.
The author chooses to give Ellie a closure. Her mother isn’t going to have one. Nobody gets over a death of their child. They just develop ways of coping. August is left thinking that his love was not enough, he was not enough, and it is going to take time, care, and emotional work to understand that it’s not true. And this is another sad thing about suicides: the person who chooses to end their life leaves their loved ones with permanent self-doubts and unanswered questions. Ellie wishes she could turn back the clock and undo her decision, because she finally understands she loves life. Life gives us possibilities – we need to keep on looking for them, however difficult it is, and sometimes we need to reach for help.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
About the author: Jillian Quinn is an international bestselling author of contemporary romance. Her books are light and funny but also on the steamy side. So, don’t be surprised if you have to fan yourself with your Kindle.
As a lover of coffee and a collector of book boyfriends, you can find Jillian most days, thinking about her next romance novel as she pours another cup.
Perfect for fans of The Mothers and Olive Kitteridge, in this stunning and perceptive debut novel three women learn what it means to come home–and to make peace with the family, love affairs, and memories they’d once left behind. (From the book blurb)
*****
My thoughts:
Multi-layered, deep, thought-provoking.
The House of Deep Water is so good that it leaves you with a bookish hangover. Jeni McFarland’s writing is heart-breakingly beautiful. It is full of rich memorable imagery and human emotion that makes you relate and care about these deeply flawed characters.
At the beginning I took notes to help me make sense of the family trees and interconnections. It is a bit like going to a family reunion or a wedding at the beginning of your relationship. So many people want to talk to you, you struggle to read social clues, desperately trying to remember what you heard about them. With time it becomes easier and you long for that blissful ignorance that allowed you make your opinion without the burden of other people’s set ideas. Every character in this book grows and develops and is essential.
Two families, Williamses and DeWitts, and three women who left their hometown of River’s Bend, Michigan, and came back because they need a closure and a new start in life -that’s all. Newly divorced Linda Williams, who wants to be loved and taken care of, but doesn’t really have clear ideas how, her estranged, foul-mouthed, strong-willed mother Paula Williams, who needs a divorce from Linda’s stepfather, and Beth (Eliza) DeWitt who is trying to provide a stable life for her kids after she lost her job. Linda gets pregnant and moves in with the father of her future baby, sixty-year-old Ernest DeWitt, Beth’s father. Beth is struggling with depression and has unresolved issues with her father, so understandably she isn’t happy about the situation. Throughout the book we read extracts from her ‘diary’ or rather ‘memory flashbacks of Eliza DeWitt’ starting from the age of 4. The more you read, the better you understand the significance of these two names for the character’s identity. Everything in this book is important, there is no superfluous detail, be it Beth’s engagement ring, Beth’s daughter’s scar from a curling iron, or Paula’s truck that allows her escape when life closes on her and becomes unbearably real.
Family ties and the way they break and make us, what it means to fit in and belong somewhere, fear of life and love, motherhood, racism, overcoming childhood trauma are just a few themes that this brilliant book explores. One of the best books I have read this year, The House of Deep Water is incredibly well-written, and although there is a lot of sadness in this book, there is also hope. Hope that we can turn our lives round, we can draw ourselves into history, we can be better parents to protect and give our children confidence to make their own free choices in life.
Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam’s Sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Thank you to Giselle from Xpresso Blog Tours for my post on the blog tour for this fascinating book. With two aunts and a sister-in-law working in engineering, I was immediately drawn to the description. There is a need for this kind of realistic romance and it is my pleasure to present this novel in today’s post.
Synopsis:
Andrea is an ordinary girl in an extraordinary situation.
She left her comfortable home and family to take a job building a pipeline with her estranged grandpa, Buck. She’s curious about his job, and why her mother dislikes the man. She didn’t expect to uncover buried family secrets, or for the job to be so difficult.
Rooster isn’t a bad guy. He respects women; he was raised by one of the best. But that new girl on the job is too small and feminine. She’s a distraction, plain and simple, and she doesn’t belong on a pipeline. This job is his chance to impress Buck Brennan, a pipeline legend, and no girly greenhorn is going to ruin it for him.
Will Andrea prove herself to her grandfather and forge a relationship with the old man, or will continuous disagreements and unexpected sexual tension between Andrea and Rooster derail their hard work?
Book details: Title: Love on the Line Author: Kirsten Fullmer Series: Women at Work #1 Publication date: June 14th 2017 Genres: Coming of Age, New Adult, Romance, Young Adult
Review:
Andrea, a recent graduate in Communications, is offered a job as an engineering assistant on a pipeline. Here is her chance to work with and get to know her estranged grandfather Buck Brennan. At first, Andy feels very much out of place on the site. Everything is new and strange: the protective clothing which doesn’t come in any size smaller than extra large, engineering equipment, cold,mud, miles and miles to walk, and above all, the attitude of her male co-workers, who seem to mostly ignore her. The work is gruelling, but quiet and introverted Andy perseveres and gradually discovers its liberating beauty, the beauty of doing something hard and worthwhile successfully. She also learns more about her kind, supportive and patient grandfather, and makes up her own mind about what really happened to create the long-standing conflict between him and her mother.
Kirsten Fullmer doesn’t tell, she shows. Starting from Andy’s too new boots and hunched shoulders through the hardened blisters and ‘the reverse racoon’ tan of her workmates who have to wear protective googles, we experience Andy’s feelings, her curiosity, tiredness, irritation, joy and satisfaction of a well-done job.
When we meet a pipe tie-in foreman Rooster, we know by the way he cares about punctuality and his attention to safety that he is a strong and dependable man. He is confident enough not to shun the ‘cute engineering girl ‘, but to speak to her as he would to any ‘greenhorn’. Unfortunately,he also thinksAndy is too small for most jobs, won’t last long and is a distraction for his men workers, which may cause accidents. Sexist? Undoubtfully. Gradually, Andy’s hard work,determination and ability to stand up for herself make him see things in a different light. Yes, giving her a pipe tailing job was a mistake as she is too short (it’s not about her gender), but the way she is there to help when necessary shows that she is a team worker and good engineer and Rooster gives credit where it is due.
Both Andy and Rooster change and develop and their growing attraction isn’t that surprising. They have a shared experience and deeper understanding of what it’s really like to work on the pipeline. Their romance is slow-slow-slow-unbearablyslow burn, so be prepared to wait. There are pros and cons of having a relationship with somebody you work. On one hand, yes, it can be difficult and tiring to guard yourself mentally against possible distractions. On the other hand, there is a deep connection when work is that consuming. They also come from very different backgrounds: Andy’s always led a sheltered, priveleged life, while Rooster grew up with the constant fear of being homeless, which explains his need to prove himself to Buck and secure better jobs in this uncertain career.
I was amazed by the level of realistic detail in describing the pipelining world. I learnt a lot: from profiling, throwing skids, building cribs and tie-ins to the final stages of closing the site. The book made me think hard about what it is like to work in a field that is so dominated by one gender. Pressures to prove yourself, do your best and avoid doing anything that can be misconstrued or seen as a weakness.
Love on the Line is a mix of romance and coming of age genres. Andy does a lot of growing up and coming into herself in this book. I would have loved to see an epilogue for a number of reasons. Firstly, the resolution of grandfather-mother conflict seemed a bit too quick, and, secondly, a die-hard romantic in me wants to see how Andy and Rooster’s relationship works out.
Thank you to the author and Xpresso Book Tours for my copy and an opportunity to participate in this tour. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.
Kirsten is a dreamer with an eye for art and design. She worked in the engineering field, taught college, and consulted free lance. Due to health problems, she retired in 2012 to travel with her husband. They live and work full time in a 40′ travel trailer with their little dog Bingo. Besides writing romance novels, she enjoys selling art on Etsy and spoiling their three grandchildren.
As a writer, Kirsten’s goal is to create strong female characters who face challenging, painful, and sometimes comical situations. She believes that the best way to deal with struggle, is through friendship and women helping women. She knows good stories are based on interesting and relatable characters.
A swift and heartwarming Amish romance, full of misunderstandings, tragedy, and the sweet satisfaction of young love.
Mary Wagler arrives in Adams County, Ohio for the new school term, ready to begin her duties teaching eighteen students at the little one room schoolhouse. Marcus Yoder, who lives next door with his widowed mother and his six younger siblings, is assigned the task of meeting the new arrival at the bus station. He is to transport Mary in his buggy to where she will board at Leon and Lavina Hochstetler’s home. Mary is sure Marcus has volunteered for the task to make an early play on her affections and dreads the nuisance he will be in the coming weeks.
Mary opens her first day of school with a firm determination. She will make a solid contribution to this small Amish community nestled on the banks of the Ohio River. When Marcus stops by occasionally to greet his younger siblings after school, Mary is convinced he felt snubbed by her lack of interest in his early affection, and that he’s hanging around to critique her every move and make the school term miserable for her.
When sickness sweeps through the school, Marcus comes to Mary’s aid. Mary blames herself for handling the challenge poorly, and is surprised by Marcus’s gentle response. Perhaps he’s not quite the nuisance she thought he was. But she’s been so rude to him that surely he’s no longer interested in her friendship. Or could she be wrong . . . again?
(From the blurb)
*****
My thoughts:
An extremely enjoyable story with lovely characters that just shows that there is nothing wrong with slow-burn romance.
I loved the characters: Mary with her energy, and good heart, and strong, thoughtful Marcus, who needed his time to mourn his father and accept that it was time to move on in life.
You might not like Mary straightaway. She seems a bit frivolous and stubborn at the beginning, and gives an awfully hard time to Marcus whose only fault was coming to pick her from the station to bring her to their little community where Mary is to take up a post of a schoolteacher. Mary expects a whole delegation of school board ladies welcoming her, so a bumpy ride with a sulky young man who dares to criticise her luggage is a letdown.
As Marcus is single, and Mary is a very pretty young teacher, everybody expectsthem to have tender feelings for each other, while the reality is a bit more complicated. Marcus knows it is time he started looking for a bride, and he definitely appreciates Mary’s beauty, but he is also convinced she would never be interested in him. Mary… to be honest, Mary prays to have her heart open for meeting somebody special she will honour and love, and Marcus is definitely very handsome, but he must have already made a negative opinion of her, and will always find fault with everything she does. It is clear that these two have started off on a wrong foot.
Gradually, Mary wins everybody over. She is enthusiastic and vivacious, but she also cares deeply about her students and the elderly couple in whose house she lives. Mary is independent and hard-working, and fits really well in this small community. She does want Marcus to see that she is sensible and capable, although she does appreciate his help as a school janitor. Perhaps, the way she treated him at the beginning was a mistake, but she will do everything she can to correct it.
We also see that Marcus has been taking care of his mother and younger siblings since the death of his father, which left him very little time for anything but the farm work and a lot of responsibilities. Now his mother is about to marry again and Marcus will be able to have a life of his own, but is he ready to for this change? Is his heart open for somebody new and different, somebody who is like a breath of fresh air in his all too serious life?
There is a strong emphasis on the community life and taking care of each other in times of need, as well as prayer, shared hard work, love and understanding as the basis for a successful marriage. This book will be much appreciated by all the readers who prefer a clean romancewith a sweet couple and a happy ever after at the end.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher (Good Books) for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
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Happy Easter to everybody who observes this holiday! Have a wonderful time with your family and loved ones. If you aren’t together, hope you can videoconference or telephone them or just keep them in your mind and your prayers. Wishing you love, and joy, and new beginnings!
Alien Minds by Christina Bauer (Dimension Drift #3) Published by: Monster House Books Publication date: June 5th 2019 Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Book Synopsis:
DIVERGENT meets OCEAN’S EIGHT in this urban fantasy heist!
On my seventeenth birthday, I wake up in the hospital to find I just survived a sketchy but terrible accident. My parents stand by my bedside—both are beautiful, wealthy, and super-nice. They tell me that once I leave the hospital, I’ll attend the prestigious ECHO Academy, where I’ll churn out equations for the government along with my mega-smart peers. So, I’m living the perfect life. Then why does everything feel all wrong? My parents, my house and even ECHO Academy…none of it fits. Plus, what’s up with Thorne, my brooding yet yummy classmate who keeps telling me I need to remember my true past, which seems to have included a lot of us kissing? That’s one thing I’d really like to remember, except for the fact that I’m pretty sure Thorne is hiding a ton of nasty secrets of his own, including the fact that he may not be from this world. But considering how my own past seems alien to me, it’s not like I can judge. Plus, Thorne has dimples. That’s a problem. And worst of all, why does it feel so yucky to work on these calculations for the government? It’s all supposed to be part of ECHO, but my heart tells me that I’m helping something truly terrible come to pass. Thorne seems to think that kissing him again will release my real memories. Maybe it’s time to pucker up.
“Appealing and engaging. Love the strong female character!” – Arlene’s Book Reviews
This new series is perfect for: fans of urban fantasy, action & adventure, cool science, evil corporations, forbidden romanceand hot new classmates who may or may not be aliens.
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Dimension Drift Series A dystopian adventure with science, snark and hot aliens 1. Scythe 2. Umbra 3. Alien Minds 4. ECHO Academy (Launches April, 2020!)
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Author: Cristina Bauer
Christina Bauer thinks that fantasy books are like bacon: they just make life better. All of which is why she writes romance novels that feature demons, dragons, wizards, witches, elves, elementals, and a bunch of random stuff that she brainstorms while riding the Boston T. Oh, and she includes lots of humor and kick-ass chicks, too.
Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.
Be the first to know about new releases from Christina by signing up for her newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/CBupdates
“Intoxication with technology is the hallmark of an underdeveloped society.” – Beauregard the Great, Instructions for Visiting Parallel Worlds
After spending hours on guard duty, I can finally leave Mass General. Soon I’m tooling my hoverbike toward the outskirts of the Boston Dome. Overhead, a cloud-free sky is projected onto the plasma. Tall buildings loom around me in a maze of chrome and concrete.
An image appears in my mind. Meimi—I never even think the false name Wisteria—lies curled on her hospital bed, drugged up and asleep. Every instinct in my soul says I should’ve stayed behind and guarded her while she rested. Not an option. An important appointment is coming up, and I can’t miss it.
For Meimi.
Of course, Godwin—my boss and Meimi’s doctor—doesn’t know I’m leaving the city. Then again, the doctor doesn’t know a lot of things about me. Like the fact that I’m not from this planet. Plus, I’m not just any alien. My father’s the Emperor of the Omniverse, the universe of universes. So what Godwin doesn’t know about me is quite a lot, actually. Meimi doesn’t know much, either. To begin with, she doesn’t remember that I’m her transcendent. Even worse, she thinks I’m in league with someone as evil as Godwin. Not to mention that I’m part of a government creating an apocalypse for anyone who isn’t perfect. Bands of sorrow tighten around my chest. There’s no avoiding the truth. Meimi sees me as her enemy. I straighten my spine. But being her enemy? That keeps my girl safe. So that’s what I’ll no do, no matter how much it tears at my soul.
Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, in a small town with big secrets, The Familiar Dark opens with a murder. Eve Taggert, desperate with grief over losing her daughter, takes it upon herself to find out the truth about what happened. Eve is no stranger to the dark side of life, having been raised by a hard-edged mother whose lessons Eve tried not to pass on to her own daughter. But Eve may need her mother’s cruel brand of strength if she’s going to face the reality about her daughter’s death and about her own true nature. Her quest for justice takes her from the seedy underbelly of town to the quiet woods and, most frighteningly, back to her mother’s trailer for a final lesson.
(From the book blurb)
*****
My thoughts:
If you are thinking of picking this book, you might have read a few online reviews already and my guess is they all describe it as dark and disturbing. Because it is. Dark, heartbreaking, and totally unputdownable.
The first couple of pages are heart-wrenching and you know that it isn’t going to get better. Izzy Logan and Junie Taggert, two twelve year old girls, two best friends, who are as close to each other as only sisters can be, are murdered in the opening scene. We never really meet them – just see the effect their brief lives had on people who loved them, especially Junie. The rest of the book deals with grief and mourning and trying to survive the worst possible thing that could have happened.
Eve Taggert, Junie’s mother, had a harrowing childhood. Born to and raised by a drug-addict mother, Eve and her older brother Cal didn’t know when their next next meal might come, had to hide in the woods from the sleezy men their mother would bring in, wear the the worst kind of hand-me-downs. ‘We had a hungry, feral look about us, even on the rare times our bellies were ful, which made us instantly recognizable targets. Or it would have if our mama’s reputation hadn’t preceded us’. Nobody messed with Lynette Taggert’s children, because Lynette’s raw, violent, and disproportionate justice would find them.
Cal became a police officer against all odds, while Eve changed her life radically when she got pregnant at 17. She became the mother she and her brother never had. A stable job, a roof over her little girl’s head, regular food, and above all, love and attention Eve and Cal were never given. Eve broke all ties with her mother for fear of Lynette’s cruel lessons in life contaminating the new innocent life. Eve, who has always had a sharp tongue and a quick retort, checked what she said and what she did because she kept thinking about how these would reflect on Junie, how her own behaviour could influence other people’s opinion of her daughter and make her life more difficult. She was an exemplary mother, but it didn’t save her girl. Now Eve needs to revert to what she used to be before Junie came into the world, she needs to go to ‘the familiar dark’, because this is the only way for her to survive her little girl being gone. At the press-conference /police appeal to the public, Eve promises she will find the murderer and destroy them.
This is a mystery and I won’t give away any details. Eve’s ‘investigation’ is dark and depressing as well, as everything in her poor little town aptly named Barren Springs. Eve is looking for justice, and her upbringing didn’t teach her how to forgive or let go. One of the characters points out ‘there’s a world of space between forgiveness and vengeance. A lot of places you can land’. You can rest assured, Eve isn’t going to shy away from facing the truth, even though it might be killing her. She was raised to be strong and fight back. Can you ever forget your mother’s life lessons that shaped you for better or worse or do you always remain your mother’s daughter?
There’s a world of space between forgiveness and vengeance. A lot of places you can land.
The characters in this book are absolutely fascinating. Eve’s strength and ‘unflinching ability’ to be honest with herself and take responsibility for her own actions is what kept me turning pages for hours until I reached the end of the book. I did guess who the murderer was, because the characters were so well-written and so logical that it was the only possible solution. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of shocking endings where completely new information is revealed.
Powerful, compulsive, raw, The Familiar Dark is a story of grief and loss, mother’s love and survival. Definitely recommended for all the fans of dark psychological thrillers.
Take a long honest look at yourself and own the darkness that lived inside.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Dutton Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Will David and Anna be able to reconcile their faith struggles and their love for each other? Beloved Amish novelist Linda Byler once again writes a compelling and surprising love story, showing that even the Plain People struggle with complex feelings, questions, and relationships.
David Stolzfus and Anna Fisher have been best friends as long as they can remember. Sure, it was a bit unusual in the Amish community for a boy and a girl to be so close, but nobody questions it with David and Anna—it has just always been that way. They live on neighboring farms in Lancaster County, they walk to school together (with all their siblings) every day, and when David learns to drive a pony, Anna is the first one to ride with him. Their lives are intertwined, the way the borders of their properties are joined by the Pequea Creek.
As they approach their teen years, David and Anna’s friendship turns quickly to deep love and attraction. But David is headstrong and full of an insatiable hunger for knowledge and new experiences. When Anna’s conservative parents require that he join the church before the two can begin dating, he rebels, eventually taking off to Australia for the adventure of a lifetime, leaving Anna to sort through her feelings alone.
When Anna receives a letter from Leon Beiler, a young man she can’t deny she has feelings for, everything changes again. How can she reconcile a lifetime of love for David with this new potential romance? And what will happen when David returns home?
****
My thoughts:
This was a very complex book. First of all, there are no good or bad characters in it, and everybody develops in their way, by making difficult decisions and questioning their rightness. Secondly, the time flow was very unusual. It is a real saga that spans several decades, although the time flow is very uneven with some events described in a lot of detail (David’s Australian adventure)and others given a cummulative summary. And thirdly, the reader is free to draw their own conclusions, based on their own convictions and life experience.
David Stolzfus is the youngest child in his numerous family. His parents are considered quite liberal in their community, perhaps more liberal than their neighbours, Fishers, woud like them to be. David has a quick temper which isn’t checked by his tired mother and his father who believes in letting children learn things by making their own mistakes. David is an unusually intelligent child who loves reading and is hungry for knowledge. He falls in love with sweet Anna Fisher, who appears to be his exact opposite. She is quiet and thoughtful. Most importantly, her family life and her upbringing is quite different. Anna’s parents are good Christians. They set firm, but fair rules, and follow modern child-rearing advice. Unfortunately for David, Anna’s parents disapprove of him and his family and do not believe he’d make a suitable life partner for their daughter. Anna is caught between David’s unhappiness and refusal to join the church just to placate Anna’s overbearing family, her own strong feelings for David, and her need and desire to be obedient to her parents. Dating should be the sweetest, most tender time of their lives, but for Anna and David it appears to be fraught with inner conflicts and struggle.
Do parents always know the best, even if they mean to guide their child towards the best life choices? Is it possible for two people coming from different backgounds be happy in love and marriage, or will their differences sooner or later cause bitter disappointment? Linda Byler explores this very relatable theme again and again throughout the story, although she doesn’t give you clear-cut, black-and-white answers readers tend to expect from the genre, but rather makes you think and empathize with the characters and their difficult life choices.
I don’t want to give away the story. The ending might surprise some readers, but I believe it shows the characters’ deep acceptance of God’s will in their life, and the strength of their faith. When I read in the afterword that Linda Byler is Amish herself, and is an active member of the church, I was not surprised. There was just one thing that puzzled me and this was the way the author drew attention towards David’s mother’s weight issues. As the book progressed, her character became more complex, but at the beginning Rachel’s lack of energy and bigger size seemed to be a device to render her inability to set firmer boundaries with her children and provide more spiritual guidance for them.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher (GoodBooks) for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
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