The Search

The Search is a book in the Lancaster County Secrets series, and, as with The Waiting, the other book I read in the series, I was not disappointed by the content of the book written by Suzanne Woods Fisher. The book focused on two seemingly different women, Lainey O’Toole and Bess Reihl. Lainey is a young “English” woman who is planning on spending her summer working to save money to attend culinary school. When her car breaks down in Soney Ridge, the town where she grew up, she must face her past as she earns money to repair her car. Bess is a young Amish girl who is spending the summer with her grandmother at Rose Hill Farm, very close to the apartment where Lainey took up residence for the summer. Unbeknownst to both Lainey and Bess, they have a bond that will come to light due to during a summer spent in Stoney Ridge.

I have read very many books about Amish people in the past, and along with The Waiting, I think this was one of my favorites. I liked that the focus was not entirely on a single Amish family, rather it also looked at the life of an “English” girl who was struggling with her past and also deciding the plan God has for her future. This book contains the right amount of romance, suspense, and some mystery thrown in through the attempts of Bess and her friend to discover what is occurring to the wildlife at a local pond. Another good aspect of the book was that it mentions characters from the first book in the series, but it’s not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy the second book in the series. I cannot wait until I learn more about the residents of Stoney Ridge in the upcoming Lancaster County Secrets books.

“Available January 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”