I enjoy reading Suzanne Woods Fisher's books. Her Amish fiction is well-researched and light-hearted. Her contemporary fiction is truly compelling. Suzanne often takes on real world problems and then provides real world solutions to the problem while wrapping it in engaging fiction.
In this novel, the situation is undiagnosed ADHD and the overbearing grandmother who wants to "fix" the issue. Lydie has never held down a job, often getting fired the same day she gets hired. Her father's sister, the local doctor, needs a fill-in receptionist. Lydie wants to leave the Amish because she just doesn't fit in. Nathan loves Lydie and can't understand why she wants to jump the fence.
Lydie's aunt gets an inkling of what's going through her mind and how it works, because she suffered the same thing and understands why Lydie is so flighty. She goes to Lydie's dad, who is also the bishop of the community, and explains what Lydie is feeling and how she can use some techniques to overcome her lack of focus.
In a parallel story to the main plot, Nathan's father pits him against his brother, Mick, to see who will "win" the farm. Nathan wants to get back to organic farming instead of using chemicals all the time. He feels that the chemicals are leaching the soils of nutrients and causing some health problems. It's not until his mother is hospitalized with a severe asthma attack that his father concedes that the chemicals MIGHT have something to do with her issues.
When all the pieces are wrapped up and put together into a cohesive whole, the reader is loving Lydie for who she is and the reader is left satisfied with how things turned out also . Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a tidy desk with a full planner.
Revell Publishing provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
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