Amish Family Reunion, An - eBook
4.6
5
27
27
as always I love all the Amish books I read no dirty words just good clean fun
February 4, 2013
Learn a Lot about the Amish
Family is woven all through out this story. A Mother missing her grown children. A Family reunion to bring them all together. Each person different but bound together by the thread of belonging to a family.
Phobe loves to draw which most Amish find odd. She sescapes often to draw pictures of nature. She begs to go on a trip to Niagara Fall with the young people.
There she meets Eli who loves to tell stories. They decide to write a children's book together. They meet every Wednesday at Library to work on it. Before they get it published tragedy happens in Eli's home. It looks like it could destroy Phobe and Eli's dream. Does it? I'll let you find out.
I had to chuckle over several of the scenes. So many memories of my own childhood and no, I'm not Amish.
A very good read. You will be sorry it ended.
May 29, 2012
Nice reunion
This book is part of a series, which I did not know, but it can stand alone. However, be advised that there are a lot of characters and, if you haven't read the previous books, it might be a bit confusing at times. But, although that can be a little distracting, it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of this nicely written book.
There are many themes woven together like a fine quilt: marital problems due to lack of effective communication, loneliness, fear, jealousy, among others. But aside form the many themes and the many characters, Phoebe and Eli emerge as the true leads in the story. She is a girl who keeps to herself, loves to be alone with her thoughts and her tablet to paint, but at the same time, she longs for something more, something more exciting, a new inspiration for her paintings.
And along comes Eli, whom I loved. He is unique; very outspoken, well read (something apparently not too Amish like) and somewhat fearless. He has big dreams, and Phoebe starts dreaming with him. The two are made for each other. And you wish to know more, to dig deeper into their relationship, but this is where the story is lacking. The reader is left wanting more, and not in a good way. We see Phoebe meet Eli (the Niagara Falls part is really good), and it's obvious they like each other, but then, instead of watching their story develop, we cut to Leah, and then Mathew, and later on Emma, and a few characters later we go back to Phoebe and Eli but already a few weeks have gone by. And this presents a problem because as you get interested in one story, the author cuts to a different one. And I understand that this novel is about the family per se, but when the selling point is Phoebe and Eli's story, and it certainly is a cute and sweet story, then the reader needs to spend more time with them, and it would have been better if the author cut back a little bit on the others, so not only we could see more of Phoebe and Eli, but we could understand better their thought process, their feelings and their decisions.
That said, the fact is that it is a good, enjoyable novel that in the end celebrates the importance of family and remaining close no matter the distance.
More like 3 1/2 stars out of 5
*I received a copy of this book from Harvest House Publishers through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
March 13, 2012
Mary did a great job with this book.
Phoebe is the quietest member of the whole Miller family and is content to spend her time drawing. She carries her tablet and pencils with her everywhere. Phoebe lost her mother at a young age then her father married Hannah Miller, she truly loves her mother and Hannah loves her.
Henry, her cousin, tells her about a two day bus tour to Niagara Falls and encourages Phoebe to go since she hasn't joined the church yet. Phoebe's father refuses to allow her to go even though it will be all Amish kids from two different districts. Hannah finally convinces him to let Phoebe go.
Eli Rhiel, a young man from the other district, notices her as they are getting on the bus and tries to flirt with her. She ignores him, but he sits right across from her and ends up in her seat on the girls side of the bus. On these tours the guys are supposed to sit on one side and the girls on the other, when the chaperone sees them in the same seat she thinks nothing of it because of who they are.
Eli can tell a story better than anyone she knows, the chaperone knows this too, so she calls on him to tell a funny story about Niagara Falls and when he's done he returns to his seat, not hers, so she gets her pad and pencils out and draws pictures to go with the story he told. When Eli sees the illustrations, he can hardly believe his eyes. Phoebe can't believe how much Eli knows about Niagara Falls and wonders if he's taken this trip before.
Phoebe hates leaving, she has had a great time and found a new friend. She has talked to Eli more than she's probably talked to anyone in her whole life. The two start meeting on Wednesday afternoons at the library and Eli asks Phoebe to be his partner in writing children's books, he will write the stories and she will do the illustrating.
You will have to read the book to see if this relationship works out, if it leads to more than a working relationship, and if it does, is there something to break one and/or both of the relationships up. There are more family stories for you to follow along with too and you will get drawn into each one.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. Mary does a great job of telling the story of the Miller Family.
I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
March 11, 2012
Welcome to Christianbook.com! Sign in or create an account
Cart
0 items
Checkout
We now accept PayPalfor ALL orders
