Olivia Newport is an amazing author. She has a whole slew of successful novels. Not all of her books are Amish fiction, several are historical romance novels, and currently she has a 13 part serial novel called Hidden Falls in publication. I read Taken for English, it is a wonderful book, so without further ado, here is my review:
Reading Taken for
English by Olivia Newport (Barbour Publishing) is like unwrapping a
gorgeously wrapped present then finding that what’s inside is even more wonderful
than the beautiful covering. Olivia
knows how to write an Amish romance and she delivers with several delicious romances
as well as a good mystery within the covers of this delightful book. In addition to the continuing love story of
Annalise and Rufus, interspersed is a separate, yet fascinating, action packed
historical tale of Rufus’s Amish ancestors sent by their bishop to look for a farmable
spread of land to begin a community in the summer of 1892.
Taken for English
is the third in the series Valley of
Choice, but easily stands on its own with no problem. The story begins with Annalise, who was
raised English, taking her Amish baptismal vows as sirens alert the
congregation that something is amiss in their community. Thus begins the mystery of fires being set
around town, always in uninhabited settings.
Several capable suspects are introduced.
Rufus, who is Annalise’s beau, is having financial
problems with his cabinetry business, he doesn’t feel financially ready to ask
Annalise to marry him. In addition, the
family farm is suffering and Rufus wants to help his father. How long can Rufus delay an engagement to
Annalise after her baptism into the Amish faith? Readers will be rooting for Annalise and
Rufus, two very pleasing and engaging characters.
As Annalise is trying to live her new faith the best way she
knows how, she feels called to help a young girl, Leah, who is new to their
Westcliffe, Colorado Amish community.
Leah’s somewhat dysfunctional family left Pennsylvania to move to Colorado
which required Leah to leave her steady boyfriend behind. Leah is disheartened and has run away from
her family. She is looking for a way to
earn money to purchase a train ticket back to her boyfriend in
Pennsylvania. Annalise tries everything she
can think of to befriend Leah, but Leah isn’t making it easy. With all of Leah’s anger issues, could she be
the one starting the fires?
Meanwhile, Annalise’s best friend Ruth, is suffering
growing pains in her journey transitioning from Amish to English lifestyle
while she is working and going to nursing school. Ruth is troubled by the attention she is
getting from two Englisher fire fighters, Bryan and Alan, as well as her old
Amish boyfriend, Elijah. Elijah has
waited for Ruth even though she has left the Amish faith and he has a secret of
his own to reveal. Who should Ruth
trust? Could any of her three potential
suitors be involved in setting the unexplained fires?
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