I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging For Books and was under no obligation to post a review. No compensation was received for sharing this review and all opinions are my own.
Series: The Amish of Summer Grove #2
Published by Crown Publishing Group on August 16th 2016
Source: Blogging For Books
Genres: Fiction, Amish & Mennonite, Romance, Contemporary, Christian
Pages: 352
Family, community, faith, and love. These “quilt blocks” sewn together made Ariana’s beautiful life. When they are pulled to pieces, will anything familiar remain?
The Old Order Amish life Ariana Brenneman loved vanished virtually overnight with the discovery that she was switched at birth twenty years ago. Now she’s immersed in the Englischer world, getting to know her mother and under the authority of her biological father, an atheist intellectual with resolute plans to expand Ariana’s worldview. Only Quill Schlabach, a childhood friend living Englisch, can steady the tilting ground between Ariana’s two worlds, but can she trust him after so many betrayals? At the same time, Skylar Nash is forced to choose rehab or spend several months with her true relatives, the large Brenneman family and their seemingly backward life—no electricity, no technology, no fun. What the young woman can’t leave behind is her addiction to illegal prescription drugs and a deep emptiness from the belief that she doesn’t belong in either family. New ties are binding Ariana and Skylar to the lives they were meant to have. Can they find the wisdom and strength they’ll need to follow God’s threads into unexpected futures? Fraying at the Edge is the second novel in The Amish of Summer Grove series.
Fraying at the Edge is the exciting second installment in the The Amish of Summer Grove series by bestselling author, Cindy Woodsmall.
If you’ve not yet picked up a book by this author, you should. Cindy Woodsmall really has a way with character building and I promise you that even her supporting cast of characters are very well fleshed out.
If you enjoy a good “Switched at Birth” tale and you’re a fan of Amish fiction, this one isn’t going to disappoint you at all. You’ll see the struggle that Ariana faces as she tries to get to know her English family and deals with a lot of culture shock. I know that we don’t think about how shocking it is to see a girl dressed in skimpy clothing or even if we see a commercial or a billboard for something like cigarettes or alcohol. To a sheltered Amish girl, all of those things would feel like a demonic assault.
Likewise, imagine the culture shock for a young woman who comes from a broken home, addicted to drugs and used to all the comforts of the world to find herself in an Amish home with no access to her drugs, television or other amenities.
My heart went out to both of these young ladies. Honestly, I’m so torn with how I want things to turn out. I want to see Skylar remain clean and I would like to see Ariana stay close to her Amish family and her birth mother. Her birth father is a bit snooty so I’ll have to wait to see if something profound happens for me to actually like the guy.
The only thing that really bothers me is that I have to wait until August or September to read the next installment. I want to know what’s going on and it’s going to drive my daughter and I insane. Yes, the book is really that good!
This book offers real thought about topics like adultery, drug addiction and even sensitive topics such as what God may expect of us when growing our families should we suffer from health conditions. Most of all, it will challenge you to stop thinking of God as some dictator in the sky that is looking down on you with hate and condemnation. Through the characters you will begin to look at Him as a Father that looks down on us with love and compassion.
I highly recommend this book and this author. Be sure to check out book #3 in this series that is set to be released on August 15,2017
Gathering the Threads (The Amish of Summer Grove #2) by Cindy Woodsmall
Series: The Amish of Summer Grove
Published by Crown Publishing Group on August 16th 2016
ISBN: 9781601427021
Genres: Fiction, Amish & Mennonite, Romance, Contemporary, Christian
Pages: 352
After three months of draus in da Welt, Ariana has returned to Summer Grove, the Old Order Amish community where she was raised for twenty years, and life with her Brenneman family. Skylar Nash, the Englisch-raised young woman is working in Ariana’s café while getting to know her birth family and their Plain way of life. Skylar’s time in Summer Grove has changed her outlook, just as Ariana has grown to see her personal faith in God in a different light than the manner she was taught while growing up. Both women will have to make decisions about their paths— and Ariana must decide what role her childhood friend, ex-Amish Quill Schlabach, will play in her life.
Gathering the Threads is the third and final novel in the Amish of Summer Grove series.
About Cindy Woodsmall
Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times and CBA best-selling author who has written nineteen (and counting!) works of fiction and one of nonfiction. She and her dearest Old Order Amish friend, Miriam Flaud, coauthored the nonfiction, Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women. Cindy’s been featured on ABC Nightline and the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and has worked with National Geographic on a documentary concerning Amish life. In June of 2013, the Wall Street Journal listed Cindy as one of the top three Amish fiction writers. – Learn more about Cindy at: http://www.cindywoodsmall.com
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