Sixteen-year old Shannon McNamara has her summer all planned, getting her license, getting a job and best of all, getting a tattoo! Shannon has been taking care of her Mother who has been diagnosed with Meniere's Disease and unable to work. On the last day of school she comes home and her neighbor, who watches Anna, Shannon's mother, during the day informs Shannon that she has family in Ohio and they will be going there for the summer. The two arrive in Ohio and while they are waiting on a bench for an uncle she didn't even know she had, she thinks she has traveled back in time, to the horse and buggy days, then it dawns on her that those are Amish buggy's. She is really surprised when a man in a horse and buggy pull up and ask if she is Anna, her mother had been Amish????? Shannon's Uncle Ben helps her get her mother into the buggy and takes them to her Mammi and Dawdi's home, she also didn't know she had grandparents, she didn't know she had ANY family, only her mother.
On her first full day there Shannon meets Ezra Troyer when she falls flat on her face while mowing the grass. Ezra becomes her Amish boyfriend, they fall in love at first sight. Ezra wants to leave the Amish and Shannon wants to become Amish.
I wasn't pleased with where the story line was leading with Shannon and Ezra but I will say that by the end of the book I was happy with their relationship and yes was even brought to tears for a while. Shannon really is a strong girl for being 16 and having to take care of her mother, moving and having to endure a completely different lifestyle even when her mother continues to get worse she sees things through. Shannon was a believer in God but in the last year she had started running from him, can she find him again to help her through all of this?
A nice quick read that you don't want to give up on because you will maybe find a little more faith in yourself. I was really impressed with how Shannon stepped right up and took control when she needed to and her willingness to try to learn more about the lifestyle and beliefs of her Amish family.
I've heard this one is a bit risque or are the reviews exaggerating?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call it risque, Melody stops it before it goes that far, although there are 2 or 3 spots that could be considered risque for an Amish story. You do have to remember that during Amish rumspringa, some youth will do things most of them wouldn't.
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