When I received my copy of Lynette Sowell’s A Season for Change (first in her Seasons in Pinecraft series), I was instantly intrigued. The front cover has a photo of an Amish man and two children at the beach…and another photo of a woman and two big tops (as in, from the circus.) Needless to say, I was certain that this was not going to be your run-of-the-mill Amish fiction novel!
A Season of Change follows the lives of two very different people. Jacob is an Amish widower with two small children who has gone to Florida to stay with his grandparents to get away for a while. Natalie is an Englischer, who makes her living as an aerial artist (think Cirque du Soleil), who soon crosses paths with Jacob’s family. When Natalie finds out that her deceased mother kept a shocking secret (she was Amish!), Natalie’s world is turned upside down.
What does this newfound information mean for Natalie? And what might it mean for Jacob?
A Season of Change was an interesting read. There are not many books in the Amish fiction genre that go into such detail about the day-to-day living of the Amish and Mennonite communities of Pinecraft. That being said, the storyline seemed to be lacking. Although the novel is a hefty 316 pages, the last third of the book seemed to drag out. And yet at the same time, the final pages of the story seemed to end the storyline too abruptly, as if forcing the ending into a tight little bow.
This novel can be read as a stand-alone, but I would hope that Ms. Sowell will use at least part of Book Two (A Path Made Plain, due out in November 2014) to further flesh out some of Book One’s characters. I was given this book in exchange for my honest review. It is a little rough around the edges, but the peek into Pinecraft was worth the trip.
Susan Ferrell and her husband make their home in the Atlanta Metro area. Although Susan struggles with chronic migraine headaches, she stays very busy as a stay-at-home mom to one very precocious 5-year old. While catching her breath, she feeds her Amishaholic tendencies by reading vast amounts of Amish literature!