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Title: The Forbidden (The Courtship of Nellie Fisher, Book 2)
ISBN: 0764203118
Author:
Beverly, Lewis
Publicate Date: 2008-05-01
Publish: 2008-05-01
List Price: $13.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.93
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $1.61
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.19
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| Customer Review: |
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1: LOVE STORY, YES! IT'S ALSO A BOOK ABOUT STRUGGLE AND CHOICES
This is book two of a Beverly Lewis trilogy. It is filled with the deeper struggles unfolding for all of the Amish community as a division is taking place within the church. Questions over religious rules, grace, Bible study, use of tractors and cars, personal prayer, electricity, and telephones. Considering changes to "fancy" ways is an inner struggle for all. The end of a 90-day grace period to decide on what form of faith to stand with, Old Order, New Order, Beachy, or Mennonite, has consequences for the young and old, the men and women. Hard choices for all.
The faith question also plays a serious role in love relationships. More than one courting couple gets caught up in the conflict. Truly a heart struggle for many between love-family-faith. The lines are beginning to be drawn. Who will be shunning who? This book definitely leads right into book #3, "The Longing".
You'll not want to put this book down. You'll thank yourself if #3 is in your possession ready for the finale of The Courtship of Nellie Fisher.
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2: Religious conflicts within the community
Nellie and Caleb are madly in love, yet the obstacles are too large for them to see a way to be together. The Old Order Amish is beginning to splinter in several directions, separating lovers, families and friends. Nellie's personal family is going many directions after the untimely death of one of her sisters after she had changed religions. There is an interesting "adoption" of twins that turns out differently than expected. There were several interesting interactions between Amish families, but for the most part, the book was very, very slow to come alive, and I certainly hope book three in this series is more active, and interesting much faster than this one was. This was not one of Beverly's better books.
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3: The Forbidden
I enjoy Beverly Lewis books about the amish as much as I do Wanda Brunstetter. They are such wonderful books. Makes me want to visit the amish communities.Recommend highly.
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4: Not much is new
Please understand, I've read all of Ms. Lewis' books and enjoyed greatly her peek into Amish life, however, this one (as well as THE PARTING), is crawling at a pace that is painful. I was over half way through and nothing had happened! Just a retelling of the same information over and over. Now I realize that a factor in Amish life is the pace, but when writing fiction, the author has an obligation to keep his or her reader awake. I'm beginning to wonder if she has said all there is to say about Amish life and as a result, the repetition in succeeding books is just inevitable. I realize the splits in the church are a factor she hasn't touched on before but at this point the subject is just not engaging my interest and I feel like I've read it all before. I will concede that she must be going somewhere with all this but right now, this series is wearing me out and I'm not sure I'm motivated to read the rest of the Nellie Fisher books.
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5: Wonderful Story - Superb Characters
Book two of Beverly Lewis' COURTSHIP OF NELLIE FISHER series picks up the quandary that both Nellie Fisher and her beloved beau, Caleb Yoder face when Caleb's father, a staunch supporter of the Old Order Amish church, orders Caleb to give up Nellie, or give up his inheritance.
Nellie is torn between her long standing love of Caleb, and the love of her family which has pretty much gone over to and found a new sense of peace in the teachings of the New Order faith. Nellie doesn't want to lose either her family or Caleb vowing to stick to the Old ways, but she is slowly beginning to see why the New Order has her family so captivated. As Nellie experiences the gentle tug towards the New she knows must choose or risk losing her beloved beau.
*** Times are a changing and Beverly Lewis' new series is a realistic view of how difficult the choice was for those who chose to break away from the Old Amish ways. The conflict of separation between the two sweethearts is heartbreaking as it threatens to split not only Caleb and Nellie apart, but families as well.
Within the pages the author continues ongoing storylines from the first book THE PARTING, continuing the strife that existed not only in Nellie's family, of her sister Rhoda who wants to leave the Plain life behind for the Fancy; but also in Caleb's family and the strained relationship of his Mennonite cousins Chris and Zachary Yoder who witnessed Nellie's sister Suzie's drowning. Deeply in love with Suzie at the time, Zach is having a serious problem reconciling her loss and his sense of guilt.
Another storyline involves the turbulent stress and emotional upheaval Rosanna Lapp is going through after being given her cousin Kate's twin babies to raise. Rosanna and her husband Elias are also being pulled in the direction of the New order and sense Kate's change in attitude and unbalanced state of mind towards them and one of the twins.
While Ms. Lewis keeps the individual storylines fresh and interesting I realize that I have the benefit of having read book one and understand where everyone is coming from and their motivations. Because of this, in my opinion, as well written and appealing as THE FORBIDDEN is, I do think the reader would be less confused by reading the first book which I felt laid out the emotional journey each participant traveled in getting to this point.
Bottom line: As an inspirational author Beverly Lewis is a phenomenal writer and her continuing books of the split between the Old and New Way orders are fascinating and not to be missed. I have no problem recommending this book, but feel the enjoyment will be heightened if read in order. Personally, I cannot wait to read the conclusion.
Marilyn Rondeau, www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com
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