What a wonderful story! This book captured my interest from the beginning and kept it until the end. I also became very interested in bird watching- it might become my new hobby!
Ben Zook left the Amish faith when his brother passed away. He became a world renowned bird expert. When he needs help finding a rare bird he turns to Micah, an Amish youth who is becoming a popular bird expert. In his search for this rare bird he also finds forgiveness and love! ( )

This book probably deserves more than the 3 stars I gave it. Unfortunately, I won a later book from the series in a giveaway and read it first (not realizing that this one came before it in the series). Knowing what comes later kind of gave away some of the plot of this book.

This book features Micah Weaver's bird journal entries (whereas the other book contained entries from Trudy Yoder's bird journal. Trudy tended to talk about the significance of or meanings attributed to the bird. I missed that aspect in Micah's entries.)

What I liked:
*learning more about Micah and Penny Weaver and how they came to live there and came to love birding.
*learning about the Zook family history.
*How various characters attributed happenings from their lives to God/God's will.
*learning about birds

What I didn't like:
*So much was made of Micah's love for Shelly Yoder in the other book, it was a bit of a let down that we didn't see much of what happened with her that drew her away from the Amish lifestyle. (Perhaps that is a separate book by this author that I haven't read yet.) ( )

This book is about two lovely Amish folks. One named Micah and his older sister Penny. We meet a fellow twitcher who looks a little lost and does not seem to want to remember his past. Will he remember Penny Weaver? Or will he be a stranger?

We have birds, and bird logs mentioned at the end of each chapter. Will Ben see his way back to the Amish and find that his love is the one that sparked his love for birds? Will there be romance sparked for Penny and Ben and maybe even Micah? Ben's cousin seems to may have found a love interest.

Ben seems to need to get over an illness but does not know he has it. While he is in town, Happ seems to recognize Ben, and so does Penny when she first steps and arrives at Lost Creek Farm. What will Ben do, and will Ben go bird searching with Micah? They seem to be on a rare hunt for a White-Winged Tern.

We are getting more of the relationships from Natalie and Boyd. Micah seems to be interested in Shelley Yoder. But is Shelley into Micah? Ben seems to be on the edge of his past life and does not want to see his father. All because of his brother Levi. But will Ben come around soon? He keeps getting memories of this little brother Levi. Are they good or not? It seems the lord is working on them all. Including Penny. Will Ben and Penny get together?

The CBC is around, and all of them are trying to partner up for the big event. The Christmas Bird Count is the first for StoneyRidge. How will it go, and Will Ben catch his rare bird? It seems to be evading Micah and Ben, this little White Tail Tern. Natalie may be falling for Boyd, but will she run away too? I hope she stops comparing Boyd to her ex-husband Joel. But we will have to see.
( )

Suzanne Woods Fisher has a way of spinning a tale that never disappoints, and this book is no exception. I have read hundreds of Amish novels—inspirational, romance, suspense, and historical—and this book combines all these genres into a beautifully flowing and compelling read. There are plenty of suspense, drama, romance, and unexpected plot twists to make this book very difficult to put down. I highly recommend this book. I received a free advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. July 8, 2021.

I received this book as part of Librarything early reviewers. I have read a number of Amish books previously. Penny and her brother Micah have moved away from their parents to a farm that was their grandmother’s so that he can lead birders to spot rare birds. He has a gift for spotting birds. One of his first customers is the renowned birder Ben Zook who is writing another bird book. Ben and Penny are attracted to each other. The book had an interesting feature of bird sighting journal entries at the end of chapters. I haven’t run across this before. This was a charming, well-written book that I didn’t want to end. ( )