Shelley Shepard Gray's Winter's Awakening ~ Reviewed

Winter's Awakening, Seasons of Sugarcreek Series #1
By: Shelley Shepard Gray
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 256
Vendor: Avon Inspire
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 0061852228

Description:

As winter winds blow, three young people wonder where God will lead them. Amish Joshua Graber is expected to marry Gretta Hershberger---but then Englisher Lilly Allen catches his eye. Gretta wonders what's gotten into Joshua. Would Roland Schrock be a better match? And Lilly is attracted to Joshua. Will her dark secret drive him away?

Review:

Honestly Shelley Shepard Gray is probably my favorite Amish Fiction author of the current Amish Fiction craze. Her reflections into the lives that interact and are affected by the Ohio Amish are fresh and refreshing. I enjoyed her previous Sisters of the Heart Series and I am fairly certain that I will be even more impressed with her new Seasons of Sugarcreek Series if this book is any indication.

Most romances these days are all about the new relationship that is budding. This book however shows true romance from a different perspective, the future of a relationship that is already in existence. I have never read a book that touched on the relationship behind marriage quite like Shelley was able to in the pages of this novel.

Reading into the lives of Gretta and Joshua and hearing their thoughts and feeling their emotions while they try to understand whether they were meant for each other in God's divine plan is quite an adventure. Learning the neighbor Lilly's secrets and past relationships and decisions on new ones with throw you for a twist. Reading between the lines on other characters in the way they interact is all so amazing. This book is full of possible routes and choices and really allows a reader to imagine what might be.

I highly encourage you to jump in and read along into the lives of the Sugarcreek Amish and their Englischer neighbors. See if things are how you would imagine they might end up to be. What do you envision your marriage to be? Would you be willing to work on it if it was not quite right?

Reviewed by: Margaret Chind