Missing Your Smile (Fields Of Home Series) by Jerry S. Eicher ~ review

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (February 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736939431
• ISBN-13: 978-0736939430

Book Description

Series: Fields of Home | Publication Date: February 1, 2012

Readers will delight in this heartfelt novel by bestselling author Jerry Eicher, a former Amishman, who writes with authenticity and compassion about the people he grew up with.

When Susan Hostetler has a falling out with her boyfriend, Thomas Stoll, she leaves her Amish community and moves to Asbury Park to experiment in English life. There she learns to drive a car, takes her GED test, and falls in love with young and handsome Duane Bower. Back home, her parents are devastated and miss their daughter terribly. But what can they do? Susan has a mind of her own.

Just as Susan is enjoying her new life, her plans are interrupted. She meets Teresa Long, a young, unwed, expectant mother who asks Susan to help her have her baby adopted by an Amish family. As Susan is drawn into the young woman’s life, she also finds herself drawn back to her Amish roots. But can she truly leave her life behind...and Duane?

My take on this book:

Susan Hostetler's plans were to marry her beau Thomas and take over the running of her datt's farm. Things change though when she catches Thomas kissing one of her friends. She decides the only thing to do is get away and with the help of an Englisher friend  leaves the farm in Indiana and moves to Asbury Park New Jersey. She goes to work in a bakery for a very nice woman named Laura, who also happens to be the sister of the English friend that helped her leave home.Life seems to be going ok, she has an apartment, a pretty good job and meets a nice Enghisher man named Duane. She decides to try and get her GED and drivers license, and with the help of Laura's son Robby it seems as if she might achieve her goals. A young pregnant girl named Teresa starts coming into the bakery. Teresa has a fascination with the Amish and when she learns that Susan is Amish she asks Susan to help her find an Amish home for her unborn child. To help Teresa, Susan soon realizes she will have to take a trip back home.  Meanwhile Thomas is missing Susan and decides to take a trip to Asbury Park. How will the relationship between Duane and Susan work out? Will the Amish community accept Teresa and her unborn child, and will Susan move back home? What about the relationship between Susan and Thomas, will they ever get  back together? Your just going to have to read the book and find out!

I am a huge Amish fiction fan and Jerry Eicher is quickly becoming one of my favorite Amish writers. He has the ability to pull me into a story and make me feel as if the characters are people I know. As Susan's story unfolded it was easy to see she wasn't really settled with living away from the Amish, but she didn't let that stop her from trying to move forward with her life. I thought Susan did a good job of trying to steer Robby in the right direction, and actually I sort of hoped a relationship might develop between those two. There were a few secondary stories going on that kept me turning the pages to see how things would work out. I thought the story line with Teresa was quite interesting, I can't help but wonder if she will find what she is looking for in Amish country.With a few unanswered questions at the end of the story, I will easily say the author knows how to leave me wanting more! I can't wait to read the next book in the series titled "Follow Your Heart" due out May 2012.
 rating 5/5
I was provided an e-book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.