Fraying At The Edge

I can't imagine leaving behind my entire family and moving in with complete strangers, at least to you, but one's you've learned are now your biological parents. To go from living as an Amish young woman to know having to enter an English home is what some might label as culture shock. You're entire way of living is drastically changed and all your hopes and dreams for the future are now placed on a temporary hold for a year. That is what Ariana Brennerman and Skylar Nash are both having to endure.

Ariana Brennerman believed she was the twin of her brother Abram only to learn that she was switched at birth by the midwife when she and Skylar were born in an Amish birthing center and thrust into the same carrier during a fire that same night in an effort to rescue them. For twenty years, they have both lived a life that now is about to be abruptly changed as both sets of parents have asked for time, a year, to spend time with their biological daughters. Ariana was set on preparing to marry Rudy, and now she learns that the entire large Brennerman family is not really her biological family and even worse that she isn't Abram's twin sister.

For Skyler Nash, living in an English world dealing with a prescription drug addiction as a way of dealing with her set of parents who apparently want nothing to do with her, since learning that they have a daughter with a better track record than she has displayed. Both girls will be faced with the challenges of trying to fit into vastly different worlds with parents who want nothing more than to get to know them. Skyler just wants her next drug fix and finding out a way to leave the Amish family and run off with her boyfriend. For Ariana, she has to come to terms with learning that she was conceived out of wedlock when her mom had an affair with a married woman, something she doesn't believe the Amish community and elders will forgive her for. Now she is faced with learning more about the Amish faith from an outsider looking in and seeing God for who He really is. Is it possible the Amish have it all wrong and if so, can she ever go back to her Amish roots and the man she left waiting for her?

I received Fraying At The Edge by Cindy Woodsmall compliments of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers. In accordance with the new FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book reviewed here at Reviews From The Heart was provided to the reviewer by the publisher, media group or the author for free and were received, unless specified otherwise.  In the second novel of The Amish of Summer Grove series, I found myself really seeing things from both woman's perspective and seeing the difficulties in dealing with the choices they were faced with. Perhaps the one character I found myself truly admiring the most was Quill Schlabach, her childhood friend who had gotten stuck in the middle with keeping some things confidential to those he made agreements with. What a tough place to be. I don't think I could have kept those great of secrets especially if I knew I would hurt the person I was holding them from once they were revealed. Of course that would all come back to him and it does.

Thankfully Ariana's faith is what gets her through some tough obstacles her English parents throw her way and now as in the first novel, this one ends with a bit of a cliff hanger ending, making me wish I had the third one, ready to read. The best part of this series, is the opening on this novel provided the reader with a short overview of what Book 1, Ties That Bind, was about for those who had to wait long months before this one was available. Now waiting on Gathering Threads, and this will be a nail-biter for me. I just have to know how this will turn out. Once again, couldn't stop once I began this one because I needed to know how it would all play out. For me, that is the ear-mark of a true 5 out of 5 stars novel.

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Fraying At The Edge by Cindy Woodsmall

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