Sunday, April 10, 2011

Beside Still Waters by Tricia Goyer

On the night her 2 sisters died in a horrible accident Marianna Sommers was born. Raised in an Amish community in Indiana Marianna has tried her entire life to make up for the loss of her sisters.

Marianna is almost 20 and starting to think about having a home of her own. Aaron Zook has been taking an interest in her. He is building his own cabin and has dreams of one day living in it with Marianna.

Marianna's brother Levi has left the community. He has caused embarrassment and heartache for his parents. When Uncle Ike comes to visit he talks about his life in Montana and how the Amish community there is not as strict as Indiana. Marianna's father decides to move the family to Montana for a year to see what it is like. This causes Marianna great heartache at the thought of leaving Aaron and her brother behind. Her parents ask her to go with them for just 6 months as her mother is pregnant and needs Marianna to help with the younger children.

Marianna is determined to not like Montana. She is only there for 6 months to help her mother and then she plans to return to Aaron and her more strict Amish community. What she doesn't count on is meeting Ben. He is not Amish, but he is a good friend to the Amish community. Hearing Ben talk about God as if he is a close friend raises all kinds of questions for Marianna. Marianna slowly learns to love the community of people, but she also realizes that she is coming to care for Ben and that cannot happen.

Meanwhile back in Indiana Aaron has tried to forget Marianna by trying to learn to love another girl. Naomi is heartbroken over Levi leaving, she too is trying to mend her broken heart. Will the two of them find comfort and love in each other's company?

The story and characters grew on me as I progressed through the book. The second book in the series comes out in October and I am determined to get it so I can find out what happens. I am not normally an Amish fiction fan, but I did enjoy Beside Still Waters.

5 comments:

  1. Another great post. Thanks for sharing this. Spending time with my family is something that truly makes me happy in life. I enjoy reading your blog very much.

    Fun Family Activity Ideas

    ReplyDelete
  2. I keep saying one of these days I'm going to read an Amish fiction book. One of these days.... :)

    You're up as our next host for book club, May 21! Thanks for volunteering.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It wasn't too bad Joy. You might try this one as from what I am reading of others opinions on it it is not a typical Amish read. I wouldn't know as I don't think I have read any others so can't compare. I'll be emailing you about hooking up a Mr. Linky for our bookclub next month!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I signed up with a website called Simply Linked. It was free and pretty self explanatory.

    The other McLinky guy started charging for his services, that's why I switched.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Karin is going to show me a link to put up. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Comments will appear after approval.