Series: Brides of Lancaster County #3
Published by Barbour Pub. on February 1st, 2007
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian Fiction
Pages: 292
Is it good for two people-one plain, the other fancy-to fall in love? Laura Meade loves her modern life, yet she fascinated by the Amish culture in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where she is studying interior design. Upon their first meeting, she is immediately attracted to Eli Yoder, one of the Plain People, but Laura has no real concept about faith, God's love, and forgiveness of sins. Eli is also enamored with Laura, but to marry outside his faith would be forbidden. What then is the hope for love?
Note: Kristin reads and reviews both Christian and secular fiction on A Simply Enchanted Life. Out of respect for my readers, I am including a content review. This content review will help you decide whether this book is suitable for you.
Christian or Secular: Christian
ASEL Rating: no profanity, violence, bedroom scenes, or other content that could otherwise be considered disturbing
Content to be aware of: None
Suggested Age: 15+ (Best enjoyed by adults or older teens. This suggested age is not due to inappropriate content.)
Plain and Fancy is book #3 in the Brides of Lancaster County series by Wanda E. Brunstetter. Other books in the series include A Merry Heart (#1), Looking for a Miracle: Book #2, The Hope Chest: Book #4.
Two quick things to note:
1. There’s a big time jump between Looking for a Miracle and Plain and Fancy.
2. This book is very unrealistic.
Having said all of that, I honestly liked this book. If you’re a romancy-shmancy person that can buy something like Pretty Woman, you should be able to buy this romance.
Laura Meade is a spoiled rich girl who meets and falls into the ever dreaded insta-love with Eli. Only, in this book, the insta-love weirdly didn’t make me want to claw my eyes out.
She has absolutely no idea what it means to be Amish and she honestly doesn’t even believe in God but she converts for Eli and finds herself fairly miserable. Fairly pregnant and miserable.
Still, she does her best, pretending as much as she can—until her world comes crashing down on her.
Laura had to come to a moment of conviction in which she turned her heart to God. Being Amish couldn’t save her. Going through the motions of being a good church member hadn’t given her peace. It took placing her trust in God for her to find her way.
This book was so unrealistic to me and Laura was so childish that I can’t believe that no one had outed her for being a phony. Honestly, I’m surprised she had been allowed to join the church at all.
But, again, this book held a strange appeal to me. Isn’t that funny? How I can read a book that logically I know isn’t the author’s greatest work and yet I like it despite the imperfections.
I think this book was the best for me out of the series so far and I’m super curious about book number four. I don’t know whether to expect another time jump or if I might get another visit with Laura and Eli.
About Wanda E. Brunstetter
A nationally recognized authority on the Amish community, Wanda E. Brunstetter has sold more than seven million copies of her fiction and nonfiction books. Wanda enjoys an uncommon kinship with the Amish and continues to visit their communities throughout the country. Her books have won numerous awards and topped several bestselling charts.
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