Description
<br>All her life, Jolene Weiger has taken care of her developmentally delayed brother, Bennie. </b>Their mother wants nothing to do with him and turned Bennie over to Jolene as a young girl. Now grown, Jolene is engaged to marry, but her beau doesn’t want to start married life with Bennie in tow.<br><br><b>Jolene calls off her engagement, secretly wishing she were engaged to Amos Zook, her best friend from childhood.</b> But Amos is engaged to another.<br><br>Jolene’s mother announces she’s marrying an <i>Englischer</i> and is leaving the Amish church. Jolene staggers under the implications. <b>Getting no help from her married sisters, Jolene is on her own with Bennie.</b><br><br><b>As Amos watches her struggle, the truth of his feelings snaps into place. </b>But he’s engaged to another, and he’s a man of his word. How can he unentangle himself so he can court the woman he really loves?<br>”
May Anderson –
Thanksgiving is suppose to be a time for being thankful and for family, but that definitely is not the case for poor Jolene and Bennie! Jolene’s biggest wish was to have a big Thanksgiving dinner this year, instead, she just got one shocking sad blow after another. There were times I cried right along with Jolene and wondered what was coming next. Other times I wanted to reach through the book and shake Fran or Steven or her sisters for caring only of themselves.
I have mixed feelings about Kasey Logan the narrator for this book. She does a good job of reading, but when she gets to the different characters she slows down and for me that was just a bit jarring. It felt like you’re cruising along and then hit a small speed bump. At first I thought she was doing so only when people were talking to Bennie, but that isn’t the case. Now when it comes to the emotional parts of the book the slow cadence draws out the part and you hear and feel every bit of what the character is going through and that kept me reading.
Disclaimer:
I received this book for free and the review is voluntary!
Benita Dilley –
A bad Amish mom? Who knew they existed? An engaged Amish lass, with primary care for her developmentally delayed brother, manages a relationship and her lasting crush on an equally engaged neighbor.