reviewsbyerin

This conclusion to the Amish of Summer Grove series continues the story of Ariana and Skyler, two young women who were switched at birth. In Book One the mistake was uncovered, and in Book Two the women traded places, with Ariana going out into the world to learn new things and Skyler experiencing the Amish way of life for the first time. Ariana managed to reach an agreement with her biological family to go back to the Brennemans before the end of their one-year deal, but now that she is home she's met by a cacophony of inner voices telling her who she is and what she should believe. Has she lost herself in the midst of trying to navigate both Amish and English worlds?

Meanwhile Skyler has remained on the farm, recovering from her bad choices in the past and learning about the joy of hard work and family togetherness. She isn't really thinking of joining the faith that binds her Amish family together, but she has come to value much about it. She gains clarity about her goals and dreams through the love and support the Brennemans offer her.

Though Skyler is flourishing, Ariana feels like she's drowning. Her district ministers are in a hurry for her to renounce any form of worldliness she came across while she was away, but she refuses to lose contact with her biological family or turn her back on the things she's learned. She would like to see reform within the Amish church to bring the Old Ways more into balance with the Bible, but that's a tall order for any twenty-year-old woman.

This book felt a bit like the series had become larger than the author originally intended. For example, in the first two books I felt like Lovina was a valuable point of view character to help us understand the anguish she felt at finding out the daughter she raised was not her own. In "Gathering the Threads," the scenes from Lovina's perspective were more confusing than anything, because all but one of them seemed like they would have made more sense if they had been presented from Ariana's viewpoint. I nearly felt the same way with Abram as a point of view character, although I did enjoy the wrapping up of his storyline. It just seemed like too many characters for this particular story.

I also did not like how the passage of time was portrayed in the later chapters of this novel. It seemed like it was the quickest way to show the progression of time, but was rather clinical and put distance between me as a reader and the journey of the characters. While I do believe the series ended as it was always meant to, I felt like we missed the joy of coming to Ariana's final conclusions alongside her. After the jump of so much time, we were reintroduced at the point of Ariana's making decisions, rather than shown her growth and struggle to reach them. It felt rushed and was disappointing to me in that aspect.

That said, I still enjoyed this whole series and feel that this book in particular delves into some of the very real problems in the Amish faith. Cindy Woodsmall did an excellent job exposing them in an understandable way through Ariana's unique experiences. I look forward to Cindy's next release and all she'll bring to her readers in the future!

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.