The Bachelor by Stephanie Reid
{More about The Bachelor}
The Bachelor | A Plain City Peace book, (Kregel Publications, October 2014)
In this sequel to The Bargain, Betsie Troyer is back home in her Amish community where she knows she belongs, free from the confusing Englisher way of life.
She and Charley Yoder have made promises to each other, and her life is back on track–until Gerald Sullivan shows up with his young daughter, asking for Betsie’s help. He’s on his way to find his estranged wife, and begs Betsie to take young Sheila in. When she agrees, Betsie’s carefully planned life is shaken up again. Sheila’s newfound faith is troubling to Charley–and his attraction to another girl is beginning to be a problem. But how can Betsie confront him when she is still trying to confront her own feelings about Sheila’s brother, Michael? Keeping the peace between the Amish man she’s always loved, a twelve-year-old Englisher girl, and a draft-dodging hippie is more than she ever thought she’d have to deal with in her simple, orderly life. Still, Betsie is convinced she can keep things from falling apart completely. Then during her best friend’s wedding, tragedy strikes and her world is upended. She has to make a decision: does she love Charley or Michael . . . or is she craving a deeper love that only God can give?
The compelling second novel of the Plain City Peace series, The Bachelor deftly weaves together the strands of a solid, simpler time with the turmoil of an era of change, revealing the strengths of both in its powerful narrative.
MY THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK
The Bachelor is a really, really good read. And it is different from a lot of Amish books I have read. I enjoyed the 1971 setting too, because I have read many Amish story during that era. Betsie, Abijah and Sadie live alone because their were shunned by the Ohio Plain Amish community, and the reason is, they accepted Jesus as their Savior, and the Bishop and the rest of the community wanted nothing to do with them. Betsie is left to try and hold their family together. And that’s not all, the man she is suppose to marry in just a short while decides that he can no longer handle taking care of Betsie and her two siblings. So he walks off. Oh, he did stick around for a while, but when he realizes that Betsie is not going to give up her brother and sister, that’s when he takes a flight. And to drive the nail in a little more, this ex boyfriend ends up getting married. But in the meantime, there is Michael, Betsie’s English friend who she is writing to.
Charlie is just a jerk! It was difficult on all of them when Betsie’s parents left home, but I admire Betsie for keeping them all together. I would have done the same thing! If I had to pick a favorite character, it would be Michael. He was the one that seemed to get blamed on everything, but yet he was the only one who cared. And I could keep going on and on with this review, but I don’t want to give anything away, even though some people do in their reviews. Stephanie Reed does an excellent job writing The Bachelor, and I can’t want for the third book in this series. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it!! It will be quite different from any you have read before!
I received this book from Litfuse to read and review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 55.
Learn more and purchase a copy here.
{More About Stephanie Reed}
Stephanie Reed lives on the outskirts of Plain City, Ohio, site of a once-thriving Amish community. She gleans ideas for her novels from signs glimpsed along the byways of Ohio, as she did for her previous books, “Across the Wide River” and “The Light Across the River.”
Find out more about Stephanie at https://www.facebook.com/StefReedBooks.
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