The Lesson: Amish Fiction book review

    Centered on one of Suzanne Woods Fisher's most loved characters, this is the story fans have eagerly anticipated. The precocious Mary Kate Lapp is all grown up (well, almost) and ready to take on the world – with surprising results. Fisher's trademark plot twists and turns are as unexpected and satisfying as ever in this third book in the Stoney Ridge Seasons series.

    In her wildest dreams, spunky and impulsive nineteen-year-old M.K. never imagined herself behind a schoolteacher's desk. A run-in with the schoolteacher compels her to act as a substitute teacher, just as her restless desire to see the world compels her to apply for a passport . . . just in case. The only thing of interest to M.K. in the sleepy Amish community of Stoney Ridge is the unexplained death of a sheep farmer that coincided with the arrival of a mysterious young man into the community. Frustrated that no one takes the crime seriously, she takes matters into her own hands. Unfortunately, as tends to be the case for M.K., she jumps headlong into trouble.

    Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of The Choice, The Waiting, The Search, The Keeper and The Haven, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Suzanne is a Christy Award finalist and a Carol Award finalist. She is the host of internet radio show Amish Wisdom and a columnist for Christian Post and Cooking & Such magazines. She lives in California. For more information, please visit www.suzannewoodsfisher.com and connect with her on Twitter @suzannewfisher.

Joy In Our Journey's review:

    Oh, another Amish book.  I said I would read it, but really, the characters are always so good and proper, always doing the "right" thing.

    But what a surprise!  This book is different!  Characters that have life and are not what we have come to expect from an Amish book.  Suzanne Woods Fisher in book one of her Stoney Ridge Seasons series, The Lesson, has a lesson for all of us who think that to be Amish is to be prim and proper, and just a little boring.   We all need to meet Mary Kate Lapp, better know as M.K.  This delightful young lady can hear a murder being committed, and run into her school teacher with her scooter and knock her into a ditch all in one afternoon!  Boring is not a descriptor of this character! Then, for her punishment, she is told to take the school teacher's place.  And, she hated school!  It was boring!  And now she has to be the teacher?  NEVER!

    How M.K. becomes what she was never going to be, a school teacher, and learns to love it, provides a chuckle if not an outright laugh.  She also meets a very understanding and desirable man who is the father of one of the students.  Could he be the one?  Maybe, maybe not.

    For a fun read, enjoyable story and a completely different take on the life of an Amish girl, make The Lesson a must-read book.  Since it is book one of the Stoney Ridge series, I believe that Mrs. Fisher has more stories for us to enjoy.  Read on!

    The Lesson is available as of January 2013 at your favorite bookseller - from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Julieanne
Joy In Our Journey.com

    I received one copy of The Lesson from Revell in exchange for Joy In Our Journey's honest review of this book.  No other compensation was provided.

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