Plain Proposal, by Beth Wiseman

Paperback: 296 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: March 29, 2011

Language: English






This story, Plain Proposal, is about a young Amish girl who is going through some changes in her life to see where she really truly wants to be. Miriam is on her rumschpringe and is really enjoying it. The one thing she hasn't done is left her small little community. She loves it there and doesn't plan on leaving. One thing she does know for sure is that her heart belongs to a young Amish boy named, Saul. She has liked Saul for many many years. Even though he is shy and hardly ever speaks to her, she knows that he is the one for her. He is also known as the community "bad boy", but she doesn't let that faze her. Nor does she believe all the rumors going around about him saying he is not going to be baptized and will be leaving the community.


Saul has issues of his own that Miriam doesn't know about. He happens to care for her also, but tries to veer from her so that leaving will be easier for him. On top of that, his father has become an alcoholic, since his sister and mother were killed. He also is caught up with having to help or practically raise his two younger brothers. The one silver lining for him is that he has been offered a job in another city as an apprentice chef. Cooking is something he enjoys a lot and that job would be a dream come true.

Shelby is Miriam's cousin and is an English person (someone who isn't Amish) and has been sent to stay with Miriam and her family for a while. Shelby's parent's divorce has been hard on her and the fact that her boyfriend broke up with her left her getting into all sorts of trouble. What better place for one to go and stay and get one's life situated, an Amish community. At first she doesn't seem to like it much, but then realizes that there is a family unity that they have that she has been missing with hers. She also starts to enjoy the company of one of Saul's friends. Unfortunately, Shelby gets blamed by Miriam's mother for her daughter's new behavior. And for a slight minute, she thinks that maybe this place isn't for her.

Once Miriam and Saul realize that they do honestly care for each other and nothing can or will stand in their way. They do whatever possible to make it happen. Of course, once their parents are on board, they also help them out.

I really enjoyed reading Plain Proposal. Beth Wiseman does a really good job of writing and getting the reader involved in the story. At the beginning of the book, she has a list of Amish words and their English meanings and at the end of the book are a couple of Amish recipes. One could really immerse themselves in the Amish culture while reading the story. If you love Amish stories, I recommend this one for your bookshelf.

This book was given to me for my honest review.

Left At The Altar, by Kimberley Kennedy

Have you ever been humiliated, embarrassed, or even ashamed? If you are a woman (I guess even a man), being left at the altar is one of the worst feelings that you could possibly go through. Luckily, I can say that it has never happened to me, but for Kimberley Kennedy, that became a life story.

Kimberley's story begins like most others. She was raised in a traditional family. Of course there were typical problems in her family like most others, but she got through them. After college, she met who she thought would be the love of her life, on a blind date. This was the guy she was going to marry and she was determined to make it happen. After sometime, her fiance started to act different. He started to find fault in everything that she did. A big hint that she didn't pick up on, was her engagement. She was asked for her hand in married out of an argument. But even so, this was still her knight in shining armor. And so the planning began, which led to the downward spiral of her life.

Left at The Altar is Kimberley Kennedy's book about how to deal with rejection whether it comes from divorce, dating, or even her, like marriage. Her goal in writing this book is to be able to help other women understand that they are not alone and don't have to feel the pain of rejection forever. She has ways of helping them heal and move forward in their life by not staying in that same painful place. There is a section on the Five Stages of Grief, diagrams, and different quotes and antidotes. She also relies on God throughout the book to help people understand that it is not the end of the world and that there IS life at the end of the tunnel. There are also other people's stories that help you understand that you are not the only one.

I feel like this is a book that everyone can benefit from. Anyone going through any kind of issue can take this book and remember that they are not the only one going through it. Everyone should include this book on their bookshelf.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for giving me the opportunity to review this book.