Highly recommend seems hardly the word to describe my feelings after reading Katie's Choice by author Amy Lillard. This is one of the best books I've read this year and desperately needs to be added to anyone who loves Amish fiction! I would most definitely add this to your summer reading list even if your simply a fan of romance stories and have never read an Amish fiction novel before.
Picking up on the heels of its predecessor, Saving Gideon, the reader is once more back at the Fisher family farm in Oklahoma. This time it's to help with the financial worries facing the community in dealing with Ruth Fisher's cancer treatments. Asking an English reporter, Zane Carson to spend three months in their home learning about what the Amish life is all about, they are hoping since the English are so interested in the Amish way of life, this might be a way to help contribute to the ongoing cancer treatments Ruth has been facing since learning she has breast cancer.
Zane Carson is less than thrilled with his latest assignment in Oklahoma preferring to be in the midst of some war in a third world country at war. Yet still recovering from his last story in which he was shot, his editor Jo, promises if he can cover this story for three months, she send his to Juarez, Mexico to deal with the ongoing drug cartels. For Zane it's a no brainer to do this. Until he discovers that living life as an Amish person is a whole lot more challenging than he ever dreamed. Not just dealing with no electricity, but men are working from before sun up to sun down, plowing, planting and caring for the farm. Something this Chicago based city boy is about to get a rude awakening on. What he didn't plan on, was falling for Katie Rose Fisher, a plain and simple Amish girl dealing with her own heartbreak.
Katie Rose Fisher has been waiting for the man she dreamed of marrying, Samuel Beachy. She's been waiting for six long years and has resolved her fate in life, that Samuel will never return from living among the English and instead cares for her brother and his only child, while teaching the children in the one room Amish schoolhouse. She truly believed that after Samuel experienced his time during rumspringa, that he would return to the church and they would marry, but Samuel didn't want to return to the church. He wanted to remain English instead and never looked back. Katie now believes it's long past time to find someone else to marry and it's certainly not going to be the man moving into her parents home, no matter how good looking he is.
I received Katie's Choice by Amy Lillard compliments of B and H Publishing Group and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable one. Now I can say I thought Saving Gideon was my favorite but after reading Katie's Choice, I am stuck in the middle. Amy Lillard seamlessly weaves two beautiful genre's together in writing her latest novels in the Clover Ridge Series, Amish Fiction and Contemporary Romance, and for me and my book lover's heart, I am in LOVE! Hands down this one is a 5 out of 5 stars, which in my world means it's a permanent keeper on my library shelf, one that I will read more than once and will talk about long after reading it. I especially loved the relationship that Zane develops with John Paul, Katie's brother who himself is in the midst of rumspringa and the lessons they teach one another about growing up and practical jokes. There's even a discussion guide included to make this one a great novel for a book club along with a glossary of Amish words you'll found throughout the novel. Trust me, get this one! While you're at it, better pick up Saving Gideon too because it shares the story of Annie whom you will meet in this one!
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To read more reviews on Katie's Choice on the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Book Tour, please click here.
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: B&H Books (May 1, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1433677539
- ISBN-13: 978-1433677533
- Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
I'm definitely going to have to check this one out. Thanks for the great review!
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