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Love anything by B. Lewis. It is like brain candy, and since I am obsessed with the Amish this book fits the bill! ( )

Perhaps I've read too many of Lewis's books or too much Amish fiction. I feel like they are starting to get repetitive.

Most feature the "running around" period granted to most Amish teens before they make the decision to join the church. Most feature a young courting couple. In this case it is Nellie Mae Fisher and Caleb Yoder.

This is the first book in the series (according to this site anyway) but I feel like I missed something that came before it because Suzy's death is referred to so often.

There are two schisms that seem to be brewing. One between a group that wants certain farming equipment such as tractors to be approved by the bishop (the bishop is not so inclined) and another group that wants to study the entire Bible not just the parts that the church leadership sanctions. This second group reminds me more of Christianity.

I guess I never realized that the Amish were not permitted to read or study the entire Bible. Then again, each community has its own rules so that may only be true of this particular one that Lewis is writing about. It's hard to tell.

I guess I also never realized that the Amish believe that if you died before you joined the church you weren't saved. I wonder if they have an age limit for that? If a newborn dies, is there a way you could claim that it would have understood enough about the church to be able to join? Does that mean the newborn is forever separated from whatever afterlife the Amish believe in? (Suzy was a teen so it could be argued that she had the intellectual capacity to understand what she needed to choose between.) Again, this may be a belief particular to only certain Amish communities. I can't say.

I half expected things to happen that did or didn't:
*I expected there to be trouble between Caleb and Nellie--there is though not as severely as I'd thought there might be.
*I expected there to be some problem with Kate giving Rosanna the babies--that Kate or her husband would change their minds because it was twins or because one was a boy--or that Kate would miscarry--or that Kate would die and her husband wouldn't be willing to give up the last children he'd have with her. So far, none of that seems to have happened, but there are two more books in the series, so we'll see.

I do intend to read the next book or two in the series because they are on my list of "want to read" books--yes, I'm only up to ones I wrote down around 2007 or so so far. ( )

The people themselves dare to challenge the old ways of their heritage and each patriarch must choose a side.

The Courtship of Nellie Fisher Book I

loved this book ( )