The Beekeeper's Son

I go in spurts of reading Amish fiction--sometimes I like it and sometimes it just gets too syrupy, but this one is different.

The Lantz family has moved from Tennessee to south Texas, because Abigail's brother lives there, and her old beau, Stephen, lives there too. The Amish community there is not doing well, and the Lantz family is a welcome addition.

Kelly Irvin has written a different sort of Amish story--two romances happening at the same time, two women falling in love with two beekeepers--mother and daughter falling in love with father and son. For Abigail, the mother, she finds her peace with Mordecai instead of Stephen--the man she is expected to marry. Deborah, the daughter, finds herself falling in love with Phineas, Mordecai's son. Abigail has to overcome her grief for her husband, dead for only two years. Deborah has to get Phineas to overcome his self-absorption, especially with the scars left from a car accident that also took his mother.

I found the Beekeeper's Son to be a different kind of Amish romance, but I didn't find it as engaging as others I've read. The story seemed to drag in places--not because there was nothing going on, there was plenty of activity. Events in the book included a hurricane, a prison escape, a trip to Mexico for dental work, a fire that takes a house, and a little girl who falls and hurts her mouth. For MY tastes, there is not enough interaction between Deborah and Phineas, or Abigail and Mordecai. It is readable and quite nice, I give this four stars.

Zondervan has allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.