Customer Reviews

The Choice (Lancaster County Secrets, Book 1)

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a guy, and guys probably aren't supposed to read Amish romance books - but oh well. If I did what everyone else thought I should do, or not do, I'd never have any fun. I have read a few in my lifetime. One of my favorite vacation spots, second only to The Outer Banks, is Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, so I do enjoy books that take place there, such as this one.

I haven't read a lot of Amish books of this type, but I do think it is one of the best I have read. Move aside, Beverly Lewis, you have some new competition!

There is a lot of Amish beliefs/traditions in the book, but through one of the characters, there is also shown grace, and a side of God the Amish don't normally see - and I am afraid some of us non-Amish never see - the God of love and grace. The book is a good story - very likable characters, and it has its low places and high, sad and happy - but among the great story is the message that we can know we are going to Heaven, and God does love us and want a relationship with us - not just a far off worship of fear.

This is Suzanne Woods Fisher's first novel, and I would say she hit one out of the ballpark with this one.

sooo Good!

lol I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I would. I've never read Amish fiction before, but Suzanne Woods Fisher made me fall in love with it! This incredible book just had my heart thumping and my eyes watering! So engaging, I couldn't put it down!

The story is basically this girl falls in love with a boy, but he decides to leave the group while he is on his rumspringa (their time when they get to experience the outside world if they want to before comitting to the church) and she ends up marrying someone else... it goes through love, forgiveness and about the choices we make that it's never too late to find ourselves with God... I even cried, and it takes a lot of me to cry in a book!

Whether your Amish or not this book has a lot to offer, the characters show depth and the emotions run raw in this book. I loved how much turmoil the main character when through and yet she learnt from it. So often we wonder why we go through things and we learn about forgiveness and God's real grace through it all.

It was sort of ironic that one of the books I just finished, Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris started off with the discussion of rumspringa, so the bit I had been learning about the Amish fit in nicely to this book and gave it more flavor for me.

If I could give a story 6 cherries I would! She'll be on my top author's list!

** review copy provided

THE CHOICE is the first book in Ms. Fisher's Lancaster County Secrets series. I couldn't help but fall in love with Carrie as she struggles to find herself among many sudden, shocking changes, but I think Carrie definitely came out ahead, learning to lean more and more on God as each event unfolds.

Some of the events in the first third of the book were quite unexpected and broke my heart. But while I would have liked to not have read about some of the events that transpired, the book ultimately had a happy ending, and I was sad that it ended. I thoroughly enjoyed reading THE CHOICE and am looking forward to Ms. Fisher's second book in the series, The Waiting, coming in October 2010.

This is the first in Suzanne's new series, Lancaster County Secrets. There are so many Amish fiction books out there and they all seem the same, but they are always enjoyable to read. Carrie is in love with Sol and they are planning to run off together, leaving behind their families and community. Why? Because Sol has just started playing baseball with the Lancaster Barnstormers. After the sudden death of her father, all that changes. She can't leave her brother and community, so Sol leaves without her, breaking her heart. She decides to marry Daniel to get away from her controlling step mother. Just when they start to get close, he is killed in an accident by a teenage girl driving too fast. She is then left with the responsibility of taking care of her little brother, grandmother (in law) and the farm all by herself. She has no idea how she will manage. Sol still wants to be with her but she hasn't forgiven him for leaving her behind. Then comes along Daniels' cousin, who has just been paroled from prison for causing the deaths of several people by a fuel accident. There are plenty of twists and turns in this book. You will find people you want to hate and then find out they are human and have a soft side after all. Everything isn't always as it seems and Carrie finds herself and true love along the way.

I'm not a woman of God,but I was raised in Arthur Illinois. I lived with the Amish there, my grandmother taught them in a one room schoolhouse....


This is worth a read I couldn't put it down not for a moment it moved me and made me view my life a bit differently. This story will change you...let it.

As one who loves books but gets easily bored I must say I couldn't put The Choice down. Just when I thought it was becoming predictable there were good twists that kept me going. Ms. Fisher has a great way of using phrases to add color such as "(s)he decided this must be what it felt like to tuck an octopus into bed. An arm or two kept popping out." This book also gives you some insight into the Amish community, an added bonus!

I picked this book up when it was free for download on Kindle. I enjoyed it. There were many unexpected twists in the plot and it kept me guessing right to the end. It seemed like main character Carrie had more than her share of tragedy in her family. But, I live in an Amish community and when I think of it, I do see news of buggy accidents and farm accidents. I'm sure there are many more, non-life-threatening incidents that we never hear about.

The Amish in this series are different from those in some other bonnet fiction. This family communicates and talks things through. And the "dating" couples are much more open about it than in some stories. I enjoyed that about the story. They are also more modern than some as they have a refrigerator. One other thing I loved was that the bishop was tender and forgiving. He wasn't glued to the rules and that isn't typical of they way the church leaders are depicted in some other Amish stories.

If you're not a fan of some Amish fiction, give this one a try.

I can't even begin to say enough good things about this book. This is the first of Suzanne Woods Fisher's books that I've ever read and I can definitely say that it won't be the last. The Choice is set in an Amish community in Lancaster County, PA. The characters each add their own uniqueness to the stories that Suzanne unfolds for the reader. I found that I became Carrie as I read the book and so I laughed and cried right along with her. The emotions that the characters felt were well portrayed and any reader, whether they've gone through similar circumstances or not, can relate to what each character must be feeling at any given time.

This book was easy to read, and hard to put down. It has two parallel running story lines which break the book up a bit so that you don't become bored with what any one set of characters is doing. In one story you are following Carrie's life and in the parallel story you are following the life of Solomon. What two different lives they are and yet there is still a common connection of love between Carrie and Solomon.

Another great advantage to reading this book is to learn a bit more about the Amish lifestyle. There are a number of things that Suzanne writes about in this book that are new concepts to me. If you aren't overly familiar with the Amish ways, then you'd probably enjoy this book just for its educational value. I definitely recommend this book.

Available now at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

I loved this book! I was able to grab it during a promotional period in October when it was availble on Kindle for Free.

I am not sure why it took me so long to actually sit down and read it. Once I started, I could not put it down. Suzanne Woods Fisher does a fabulous job of showing us inside an Amish family ... something I had not experienced until now. The Choice shows the general interactions between the Amish and God, the Amish and the English and the Amish amongst themselves.

In particular, we follow the main character Carrie though her many turmoils (at such a young age) and her trust in God ... and in her Amish family.

It is simply a superb book and easy for anyone to sit down and enjoy. Especially great for book clubs wanting to delve even further into the meanings behind the story.

I'm one of those English teachers who works on getting my students to "show not tell", and won't take less than the best. I want them to describe what is happening and use active verbs instead of "dead" (helping) verbs. Although this is difficult for them, they generally rise to the challenge and write excellent narratives.

Given that I am so difficult in my classroom with amateur, unpolished writers, I expect nothing less than the best from a published author, and this book is the opposite of that. The author tells us what happens instead of showing us and uses too little dialogue, so it is difficult to get involved in the story. The real problem is that she tries to pack too much into too small of a space. For example, she covers two months time in a few pages, and she does this by "summarizing" what happens in that space of time. While this can work sometimes (with infrequent use), it is confusing in this story, and it is difficult to keep track of what is going on because the Fisher does it throughout the entire book. It is also difficult to get emotionally involved in the story because the author doesn't take the time to truly describe the character's feelings or the setting, and when she adds description, it feels thrown in.

Although the story line is okay, I'd say that with all of the Amish books out there, you could find a much better one to read with exceptional writing. I personally enjoy Beverly Lewis (the original Amish author).