An Amish Family Reunion by Mary Ellis - Review of the fourth book in the Miller Family series

An Amish Family Reunion

Fourth book in Miller Family series

by Mary Ellis

Phoebe is the quietest member of the whole Miller family and is content to spend her time drawing. She carries her tablet and pencils with her everywhere. Phoebe lost her mother at a young age then her father married Hannah Miller, she truly loves her mother and Hannah loves her.

Henry, her cousin, tells her about a two day bus tour to Niagara Falls and encourages Phoebe to go since she hasn't joined the church yet. Phoebe's father refuses to allow her to go even though it will be all Amish kids from two different districts. Hannah finally convinces him to let Phoebe go.

Eli Rhiel, a young man from the other district, notices her as they are getting on the bus and tries to flirt with her. She ignores him, but he sits right across from her and ends up in her seat on the girls side of the bus. On these tours the guys are supposed to sit on one side and the girls on the other, when the chaperone sees them in the same seat she thinks nothing of it because of who they are.

Eli can tell a story better than anyone she knows, the chaperone knows this too, so she calls on him to tell a funny story about Niagara Falls and when he's done he returns to his seat, not hers, so she gets her pad and pencils out and draws pictures to go with the story he told. When Eli sees the illustrations, he can hardly believe his eyes. Phoebe can't believe how much Eli knows about Niagara Falls and wonders if he's taken this trip before.

Phoebe hates leaving, she has had a great time and found a new friend. She has talked to Eli more than she's probably talked to anyone in her whole life. The two start meeting on Wednesday afternoons at the library and Eli asks Phoebe to be his partner in writing children's books, he will write the stories and she will do the illustrating.

You will have to read the book to see if this relationship works out, if it leads to more than a working relationship, and if it does, is there something to break one and/or both of the relationships up. There are more family stories for you to follow along with too and you will get drawn into each one.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. Mary does a great job of telling the story of the Miller Family.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley <http://www.netgalley.com/> book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”