About the book:
Fifteen years ago, Lainey O’Toole made a split-second decision. She couldn’t have known that her choice would impact so many.
Now in her mid-twenties, she is poised to go to culinary school when her car breaks down in Stoney Ridge, the very Amish town in which her long-reaching decision was made, forcing her to face the shadowed past.
Bess Reihl is less than thrilled to be spending the summer at Rose Hill Farm with her large and intimidating grandmother, Bertha. It quickly becomes clear that she is there to work the farm–and work hard. The labor is made slightly more tolerable by the time it affords Bess to spend with the handsome hired hand, Billy Lapp. But he only has eyes for a flirty and curvaceous older girl.
Lainey’s and Bess’s worlds are about to collide and the secrets that come to light will shock them both.
My Thoughts:
I am always intrigued by Amish fiction. Sometimes it is typical romance with the Amish name attached to make it … more respectable (?). Othertimes, surprisingly less often, it is a moving story about people with deep faith. The Search is one of the latter. It was a delight to read this book. The characters are so real, you can readily identify with them. In no time, I was hooked to the story and wanting to find out just what this big secret was.
The Search is also a wonderful story about forgiveness and reconciliation. There are so many things going on, that this book will appeal to many readers. I don’t want to make this sound like it is written in such a way that you’ll need to take notes to keep up. It also is not written in a shallow manner where several things are just touched upon. Mrs. Fisher has brought together many elements, taken them through some twists and surprises, and tied everything up neatly in the end. This was a very satisfying book to read.
I enjoyed it so much, I had to read the previous entries in the Lancaster County Secrets series. They are not dependent upon each other, so each can be enjoyed alone or in any order. There are some familiar names/families that are consistent–this is the same community after all. I hope to visit them again in another installment from Lancaster County Secrets. You may purchase The Search from Amazon or your favorite bookseller.
About Suzanne:
In no particular order, Suzanne Woods Fisher is a wife, mother, writer, lifelong student of the Bible, raiser of puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, a gardener and a cook…the latter two with sporadic results.
Suzanne has loved to write since she was a young teen. After college, she started to write for magazines and became a contributing editor for Christian Parenting Today magazine. Her family moved to Hong Kong for four years, just as the internet was developing, and she continued to write articles in a 44-story high-rise apartment, sending manuscripts 7,000 miles away with a click of a key.
After returning from Hong Kong, Suzanne decided to give her first novel a try. For four and a half months, she worked on an antediluvian computer in a cramped laundry room. She didn’t even tell her husband what she was up to. When the novel was completed, she told her family at dinner one night that she had written a book. “That’s why there’s no food in this house!” said her slightly insensitive sons.
Undaunted…Suzanne found a small royalty publisher for that book and wrote three more (all earned multiple awards). With help from an agent, she now has numerous books under contract with Revell. Also look for Suzanne’s Amish non-fiction, Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, a non-fiction book of stories and examples about the Old Order Amish, as well as Amish Proverbs, and coming in Spring of 2011, look for Amish Values for Your Family. The Choice and The Waiting are the previous books in the Lancaster County Secrets Collection.
Writing, for Suzanne, is a way to express a love of God and His word. With every book or article, she hopes readers get a sense of what faith really looks like in the daily grind. She hopes they realize that life can be hard, but God is good, and never to confuse the two.
Suzanne can be found on-line at: www.suzannewoodsfisher.com
Suzanne Woods Fisher’s latest installment of the Lancaster County Secrets, The Search
One Grand Prize winner will receive an iPad Prize Package worth over $500 and includes:
- A brand new iPad (16KB with Wi-Fi)
- Signed copies of all three Lancaster Country Secrets books (The Choice
, The Waiting
, & The Search
To enter, simply click on the icons below to fill out the entry form/s, then tell 5 or more friends about the contest. Oh, and enter soon! Winner will be announced on February 3rd at Suzanne’s Everything is Coming Up Roses Facebook Party. (Did you know The Search takes place on a rose farm?)
I received a copy of The Search through Litfuse. This review is my own opinion; I was not required to share a favorable review.