Valentine Dmitriev

Naomi Knapp lives with her Amish family, at sixteen she is the eldest of four girls. Her mother is now pregnant again, hoping to have a son.
Young Naomi is in love with Jacob. The two Amish teens plan on getting married, until one day Jacob tells her he is going away for two years to work with his uncle. Over two years pass, and no sign from Jacob. Naomi decides to forget about him, since she thinks he is not returning for her.

Jacob however, throws a wrench into the mix. What no one knows is that he is living as a successful male model and actor in NYC since leaving the Amish community.
Naomi doesn't yet know that her communities Bishop, who is also Jacob's father, has asked for her hand in marriage. The Bishop is old enough to be her grandfather, but Naomi's father agrees to the match.
As soon as word gets back to Jacob, he arrives in the middle of the night and kidnaps the unknowing Naomi in hopes of saving her from a loveless marriage.
He whisks her off to NYC and explains everything to her. There's some drama here as well because Jake now has a jealous girlfriend who is weary of the beautiful Naomi. Naomi herself decides to stay for a while in NYC and live life a bit.

Author Valentine Dmitriev gives everyone in this book a background story. She makes the characters multi-dimensional and as you read you get to know a bit about Naomi, her siblings, her parents and Jacob among others. I enjoyed that.

At first I thought this book was mostly about Naomi and Jacob, but as I read, I saw that her parents each had a past that was shared here and their stories could have made for books themselves.

Although there are several different characters and the book branches out with each of their stories, I didn't find any of it confusing or hard to follow.
I found this an entertaining read. It was almost like a mini-Amish soap opera of sorts.

I must say, I did have to suspend disbelief for some of the story. For example Jake's girlfriend behaving so childishly towards Naomi. Also, Jake's being a successful model and actor in NYC. It all seemed to fall into place very easily for him.
But hey, it's fiction where anything is possible, and the author did a good job at writing an interesting story.

I have read Amish fiction before and always enjoy the coziness of these type of reads. I enjoyed reading more so about life on the farm as opposed to Naomi's visit to NYC. I will be picking up more Amish fiction after this.

I recommend this one if you enjoy this genre or if you are looking for a sweet story, with plenty of character plot twists and turns to get immersed in.… (meer)

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