I have not read the two previous books in this series. This book was on the library's sale rack and I picked it up because I recognized the author. I didn't realize until later that it was the third book in a 6 book series.

The story bothers me for a number of reasons. The Amish don't act like any Amish I'm familiar with. If Joel Byler truly left the Amish church after joining it, why is he not shunned? (This is not explained in this book.) I do not claim to be an Amish expert, but I've read quite a bit of Amish fiction--and while I do realize that different districts have different rules, enough Amish fiction has mentioned that if a person who has joined the church chooses to leave the faith, then shunning seems to be the norm. No one in Joel's family or in the group that comes to the funeral seems to acknowledge this--Anna Detweiler even seeks him out.

Also, it seems there are a lot of red flags in Kristi's and Joel's relationship. Red flags that others have noticed (such as Kristi's mother) but that Kristi rationalizes away. Yes, while it is good to give the person we love the benefit of the doubt, Joel's reticence about talking about his family or about his business concerns with Kristi and his irritation when she questions him are both red flags to me. Then, we find he took money out of their joint account to cover bills after he splurged on a classic corvette without ever telling Kristi. (He hoped to replace the money before she noticed.) He also asked his dad for a loan and was refused. (As we learn later, his dad was supposedly a millionaire--at least according to Joel--and if that was true, surely his father would have loaned Joel the money for a true need--so I have to believe that his dad was trying to teach Joel the consequences of putting his wants ahead of his needs. I realize now that we only have Joel's perception of his dad's finances and I do wonder if Joel's perceptions were perhaps not correct.)

Joel also seems more worried about how much his father left him rather than being sensitive to the fact that his sisters are grieving the loss of their father. Joel doesn't seem affected emotionally by the loss of his father. It could just be his way of grieving. Not everyone has to cry to excess to grieve. But he seems very insensitive when he's pressing the issue of the will and he seems very impatient with his sisters for not finding the will quickly. (I don't know much about Amish wills, so I'm not quite sure how that works or whether it is different than the non-Amish method.)

I don't blame Kristi for breaking up with Joel. As I said, the relationship just had too many red flags for me throughout the book. Joel seems more concerned with himself than he does with his fiancee--unlike the Bible verse that tells men to love their wives as they love God--your spouse's needs and wants need to be taken into consideration. It's not just all about you and what you want. I think she did the right thing.

I'm not sure whether to root for Joel to get back together with Kristi (assuming he learns some life lessons) or whether to hope he returns to his roots and gets back together with Anna (assuming he learns some life lessons in the meantime). ( )