Book Review: The Search

The Search, by Suzanne Woods Fisher is a Lancaster County Secrets Novel and is the 3rd book in this series. 

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.

 

"Beautifully written, 'The Search' is a skillfully woven story that takes readers through unexpected twists and turns on the long country road toward truth. Fans both old and new will find themselves immersed in this heartwarming--and surprising--tale of young love, forgiveness, and coming to grips with the past."

 

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

 

MY THOUGHTS:
Lainey O'Toole makes a decision as a young girl that will forever change many lives.  Her secret is known to only one person and that one person is Bertha (Mammi) Riehl...a force to be reckoned with!  When Bess is summoned to her grandmother's home (mammi) she's not sure what to think, somewhat fearing this grandmother she doesn't know well, Bess spends her summer in Stoney Ridge learning Mammi's rose business and falls in love with mammi in the process.  Love for Bess is not only for her grandmother but for Billy Lapp as well!

Soon, circumstances bring Bess's father to Stoney Ridge as well and he is mortified to learn of his mother's shenanigans!  This woman is one of the more unlikely Amish women you'll meet, she just does her own thing and is really quite funny, once you get past her stern exterior.

Of course, when a secret is involved it ends up being revealed, but it's how the revelation happens that makes the story and this story is one that will break your heart yet make you feel a great love.  Lainey is one person who really seems to grasp the full meaning of loving God as well as others and this book will make you smile as the characters work their way into your heart.

As you can tell, I loved this book and I highly recommend it, I have read a lot of Amish books, and I love them all, but this book has a different twist to it that is rather refreshing!

Suzanne Woods Fisher's latest installment of the Lancaster County Secrets, The Search,  is just out and to celebrate Suzanne is hosting The Search iPad Giveaway!

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?)

 

Facebook Party:

Join Suzanne for the Everything is Coming Up Roses Facebook Party on February 3rd! She’ll be announcing the winner of the The Search iPad Giveaway, hosting a book club discussion of The Search, giving away copies of all three books and HEAPS of other readerly prizes! Including roses delivered to your door for three months for you AND a friend! Be sure to join us on Thursday, February 3rd at 5:00 PM PST (6:00 MST, 7:00 CST & 8 EST) at Suzanne’s Author Page.

“Available January 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


**I received a complimentary copy of this book to review