Suzanna "Zanna" Lambright fails to show up for her wedding day to James Graber. When her sister Abby finds her the next day, she realizes her sister is pregnant. Although she initially insinuates James is the father, the truth finally comes out of her. Zanna must face the consequences of her choice. The story is one of forgiveness and restoration, but it goes far beyond the main story and is woven throughout the different pieces of the story. King writes with better skill than many writers of the Amish fiction genre, providing a story likely to resonate with readers and provide encouragement and food for thought for years to come. While its message of forgiveness is faith-based, it is delivered in such a manner which is likely to be non-threatening to unbelievers. I look forward to the next installment in the series. ( )

This story was great. I couldn't put the book down and the author kept me guessing as to what would happen next. It is James and Zanna's wedding day, but the. Ride has vanished, cutting her wedding dress into pieces before she left. Zanna's has a secret and felt she had no alternative but to run away. ( )

It's a busy day in the Amish community of Cedar Creek, Missouri as close to four hundred family members and friends gather at the Lambright's for the wedding of Zanna Lambright and James Graber. James, a thirty year old buggy maker, is excited to marry his seventeen year old neighbor, Zanna. Unfortunately, Zanna proves not to have the same feelings.

No one can find her but they do find her wedding dress slashed to ribbons on her bedroom floor. Her older sister, Abby, and her Mamm are beside themselves with worry but her older brother Sam, now head of the household, is extremely angry that Zanna has put them through such expense and work bringing humiliation and shame on the family. When Abby does find Zanna, it doesn't take too much to find out why Zanna acted as she did but now she has to figure out how to break the news to James and her family and where to go from there.

In an Amish community, this is not just the immediate family's problem but it is the entire church's concern. Abby takes it upon herself to look out for Zanna, make James, Sam and the rest of her family understand and do what is right, not what is expected. It takes some doing but eventually the church and the Bishop agree to the best course for Zanna even though it is not easy.

It takes a near tragedy in the community to put Zanna's concerns to the side and focus on what is really important for the whole community; their deep abiding faith in God, their love of family and the invincible power of forgiveness.

This is Naomi King's first Amish novel; I think she's written a real winner with these characters. Most of the females are strong women, Abby in particular. Being a single maidel, she runs her own sewing business along with helping her brother in the local mercantile. Abby is also tender-hearted and totally selfless. She seems to be the community peacemaker when emotions run high at times, faith can be sorely tested and tempers get out of hand. Ms. King has developed her characters so well, it's as if the reader can see into their hearts and minds. I just fell in love with the whole community and can't wait for the sequel, Rosemary Opens Her Heart, coming in October of this year. ( )

When Zanna does not show up on her wedding day, long-buried secrets come to light and test the faith and friendship between the two families. Abby, Zanna's sister, is at the center of trying to maintain everyone's happiness, including her own.

Abby Lambright is the envy of so many within her Amish community. She has the wisdom of someone beyond her years and is responsible and very organized. Perhaps that is why her family felt she could run her own sewing shop alongside the families mercantile. Abby has a knack for putting back together what seems to fall apart in the lives the people in Cedar Creek, Missouri. She just wishes she had a knack for helping herself find a way to heal her broken heart, when the man she grew up loving, James Graber, decides to marry her sister Suzanna instead.

On the day of the wedding with preparations in full swing, family members arriving from all over including out of state in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the bride vanishes. Leaving in the middle of the night on the eve of her wedding, to avoid having to deal with explaining things to her family, Zanna cuts her wedding dress to pieces and vanishes without anyone hearing anything. Now it's up to Abby to tell James that he doesn't have a bride to marry and for once she doesn't know what to say to the man that still owns her heart.

In the novel, Abby Finds Her Calling, by Naomi King, the reader is introduced to the first book in a brand new Amish series, Home at Cedar Creek. Here we are introduced to the Lambert and Graber family's and how they are intertwined in a wedding that has failed to take place. Now turmoil ensues when Zanna returns home to face the music of not only her family, friends and James, but also the consequences of defiling the church with her actions. At only 17, Zanna has more on her mind that just her explanation of why she left but now having the deal with the talk of her community.

Abby once again takes up the role as the mender and wise counselor to her torn family. Her mother is distraught at not knowing quite what to do with Zanna, her older brother Sam who now has stepped into the role of the man of the house when there father died is beyond angry at not only the expense he had to pay but now answering to the elders of the church for Zanna's actions. James will not escape unscathed when he learns just why Zanna couldn't marry him. Will he finally see the qualities in Abby that he's been blind to before, or will Abby spend the rest of her life simply being a maidel?

I received Abby Finds Her Calling by Naomi King compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours for my honest review. I LOVE it when a book will take you on a journey and make the characters in the book truly come alive. A different view is offered from the Amish point of view when Zanna's character goes against her moral and spiritual beliefs and makes the reader ponder just what would they do if faced with similar circumstances. A wonderful new series that I can wait to finish and get to know more of the characters that live in Cedar Creek as Naomi King continues with her upcoming books. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars!!! ( )