Beth Shriver

Emma is on the cusp of marriage, and her younger brother Mark is ready for his rumspringa. Afraid that Mark will run wild, Emma puts her future on hold to with him to Philadelphia, to keep an eye on him. They are staying with others at a rundown church, and helping to feed and minister to the homeless and others in need. Heading this group is Caleb, Emma’s former beau. A truly bad man tries to disrupt and threaten everything. How Emma and Caleb cope and resolve the situation is the crux of the book. Complicating the situation is a neighbor who wishes to marry Emma, but not for love, even as her heart is turning in another direction anyway. The characters are quite interesting, but the plot has a few holes that are never addressed or resolved.… (més)

There seems to be quite a bit of disagreement about this book… most people love it but at least two reviews I’ve read were clearly not impressed.

I think a good part of the problem with some judgments might be similar to what we see from fans of historical fiction – readers who are familiar with one specific community expect every book to be the same and that’s just not how it works.

Personally, I think the book is written as well as the last book of Beth Shriver’s I read.

No, every Amish fiction story is not the same. Life would be awfully boring if that were the case – but Beth Shriver writes an interesting story about Clara and the community she is a part of.

Clara’s Wish is a heartwarming Christmas read and a sweet story about friends coming together to give a wonderful gift to a dear friend.

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.… (més)

Beth Shriver has written a very unique book with “Rumspringa’s Hope”

Typically when you read a book about the Amish, Rumspringa is part of it but not the focus.

Even with stories where the main conflict hinges on that mysterious time in an Amish teens life, we only get a glimpse of what goes on during that oh so secret period.



And that is exactly why we “Englisch” are so fascinated by it, why we have reality TV shows that imitate it, why we read about it in almost every Amish book on the market… because it is intriguing to us and yes… because it is such a mystery.

And that is only part of the reason this book will be a hit!

Beth Shriver has focused almost entirely on what goes on during the Amish rumspringa… at least as far as her own characters go.

It is like getting a glimpse at a forbidden world and I know I will not be the only one to keep reading out of sheer curiosity!

It’s also exciting to see that this is book 1 of the new series! Readers love series!

Admit it – you know you do!

What fun is it to get attached to characters when you only to get to connect with them in one book? It’s not and that is why most authors of Amish fiction are smart to make their books into series – because they know their readers LOVE THEM!

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.… (més)