TEST
I don’t believe in “the one” – as in your one and only true love and soulmate. Sure, I’ll buy the fated mates argument in a paranormal or science fiction story but in a contemporary novel I find it is often used to explain angst of the annoying variety. Most times the hero or heroine will pine for someone who treats them cruelly or with indifference while they steadfastly refuse to fall for the lovely, kind person who cares for them. That is what happened in this novel.
Lila Lehman and Zane Beck were best friends as children but moving that friendship forward as they enter the adult world has proved difficult. As an Englischer, Zane has lots of choices before him after high school – should he join the army, as his father did? Head to the University of Michigan where he has been accepted? Should he work full time? Lila has no choices or at least not very many. As an Amish woman she gets to decide whether she wants to marry or continue on as part of her father’s household. When Zack invites her to come to Michigan with him she turns him down and essentially ends their friendship.
Part of that decision is driven by what is happening at home presently but also what happened in the past. Lila’s mom had gotten pregnant out of wedlock but had decided to go back into the Amish church and married the man whom Lila now calls Dat. When she died thirteen years later, Lila picked up all the responsibilities her mom had previously performed. Lila feels indebted to her Dat for taking her in and she acts out her gratitude by being a helpful, obedient daughter. Since her father wants her to date an Amish man from their church that is exactly what she does.
Well, mostly. She allows the poor sap to court her and help around her family’s farm but she holds him at arm’s length while she pines for Zane.
Zane, meanwhile, decides he needs some real distance from Lila and joins America’s peace keeping troops in Afghanistan. He befriends a female soldier who is a Christian, is lovely, friendly and kind but he pines for Lila. The two can barely interact when he is home on leave, in fact they do their best to avoid each other and yet the feelings remain.
Zane and Lila stay in this holding pattern for the first 60% of the book before they start to do something about their emotions.
I have probably said this before but I really don’t like my romance novels to cover the prequel period of the relationship. In some rare cases it works – like Sleepless in Seattle – but in most instances it is just awkward backstory that makes me bored and frustrated. That was the case here.
I think that was exacerbated by the issues Lila is working through. She has been dating a young man from her church for three years because it is what she should do but it sure doesn’t seem like what she wants to do. In fact, she seems a bit torn on the issue of the church in general. Add to that her issues regarding her past and her current family situation and you just don’t have a young woman ready for love.
The book also has a couple of other factors I found difficult. I didn’t like the author’s writing style, which I felt involved far too much telling over showing. And I didn’t like Zane and Lila’s courtship. All of it seemed to have occurred in the first book in the series, which covered their close friendship as teens. However, these two had been separated for years and all their reunion consisted of was talking about how to work out their difficulties. It reminded me of what someone once said about angst ridden couples: They spend so much time trying to figure out how to be together they forget to ask if they should be together. Aside from the fact that they grew up together and both loved literature I didn’t see a connecting factor for these two, which left me very disappointed in the love story.
There are some good things in the novel, though. I think it does a realistic job of depicting that life among the Amish is difficult and involves a lot of hard work. Many stories just concentrate on the food, friends, quilting and family connections; the author does include those but she doesn’t gloss over the tough stuff, which I appreciated. She also showed why someone who had seen war would admire and perhaps even long for the peaceful, pacifistic existence of the Amish.
The difficult situation in Afghanistan and the sorrow and beauty of that place was handled well also.
Ultimately however, while this book wasn’t bad it also wasn’t good. Fans of Ms. Gould I’m sure will want to read it but most should probably give it a miss.
Grade: C
Book Type: Inspirational Romance
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 10/02/16
Publication Date: 2016/02
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.