This is the second in the A Big Sky series and is equally as good as the first. Though it could be read alone I would greatly encourage the reader to read the first book: Beside Still Waters, in order to get a full understanding of the characters and their histories and struggles.

At the end of the last book I was sure that Marianna would be entering a relationship with Ben Stone. However, this book is the continuing struggle of her heart. With the unexpected arrival of Aaron Zook to her home Marianna is faced with having to decide what she should do. She feels as if she is being torn between two worlds - The Englisch and and the Amish.

As she discovers more about the God that she loves she begins to question the beliefs of the Amish - in that their way is the best and only way. As she struggles to reconcile this she is also dealing with the matters of the heart that seem to pull her in two different directions. One is the safe and expected way - to marry Aaron Zook a good Amish man. Aaron is the one she had planned on marrying while living in Indiana. The other is a path she has never traveled, one that will mean leaving the Amish way behind - this is allowing herself to fall in love with Ben Stone. A man who loves God and serves God with all his heart. This is the man her uncle Ike likes best because he is good christian man - who lives his life according to God not the traditions of man.

I found myself almost crying at the heartbreak Marianna was feeling and at the same time wishing she would follow her heart towards Ben. The ultimate question that must be answered is Will Marianna do what everyone expects her to do in order to maintain peace and happiness or will she ultimately follow God's will.

Though the book ends with an answer to this question I am hoping that this is not what she actually chooses in the next book. This book ends with some unanswered questions that I can not wait to see answered in the next book.

I have to say that Tricia Goyer has done a superb job of leading up to the next book, leaving the reader hungry to know the rest of the story. I can not wait till the next one comes out!!

Thank you B&H Publishing for this review copy.

Release Date Oct 2011! Pick up your copy at your local store! ( )

Marianna Sommer has moved with her Amish family from Indiana to Montana, where they have found a much closer cooperation between their fellow Amish and the Englisch whom, in Indiana, they would have mostly avoided. The man Marianna has long planned to marry, Aaron Zook, has stayed in Indiana, building a house for the two of them and waiting for her return when her family can spare her. But in Montana, Marianna has met the Englisch man Ben Stone. Ben has led her to find a deeper relationship with Christ than ever before--and has stolen a piece of her heart, as well.

When Aaron grows restless with waiting and comes west to try to woo her back to Indiana, the man who picks him up at the train station has an accident on the icy road, and Aaron's leg is broken. He now has to stay with the Sommers for six weeks until his leg is healed enough to travel. While working together with both Amish and Englisch neighbors in the harsh Montana winter, Marianna is forced to examine her heart, her beliefs, and her priorities with both the men she loves in painfully close proximity. Aaron is a kind, gentle, good-humored, loving man, a hard worker, and a talented artist. Ben is a talented musician with a promising career if he chooses to return to it, who found Christ and a simpler lifestyle after nearly destroying himself in the wild, ungrounded life of the Los Angeles show business world. Aaron shares and embodies the ways and the values that have built her life; Ben has led her to see and embrace her relationship with Christ in a new way--and he is also, frankly, a bit more exciting.

As Marianna works in a general store with her Englisch employer and Englisch and Amish coworkers, she learns more about herself, her capacity for kindness and compassion. And from an Englisch coworker who is a struggling, young, single mother, something about the loneliness and struggle to keep a home warm and a child fed that can confront those without the strong, close-knit family and community support she takes for granted. Through all this, she struggles to make the choice that will shape her whole life--does her own heart and Christ's plan point her towards an Amish life with Aaron, or an unknown, Englisch life with Ben?

Sadly, as compelling as the issues here are, the writing is a bit rough, and not all of the characters are as well developed as one would like. Marianna is a strong, well-written character, Ben somewhat less so, and Aaron we get more intriguing glimpses of who he is than any real, solid sense of him. Most of the other characters are, frankly, placeholders. I'd love to get a better-developed depiction of the relationship between Abe and Ruth, Marianna's parents, for instance, and it took a while before I got it straight that Marianna has five younger siblings, and who they are.

Despite that, this is a pleasant read, enjoyable and with hints of, perhaps, more and better to come from this author.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

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This book picked up where the last one, Besides Still Waters, ended. Marianna decided not to go back to Indiana and stay in Montana with her English / Amish friends. This continues to be her story with other minor story lines interwoven. She is confused about the difference between the English and the Amish and these shows throughout the book. Aaron Zook, the boy she loved back in Indiana, decided to travel to Montana to see Marianna. Aaron has an accident on his way and ends up with a broken leg and having to spend many weeks at Marianna’s house, sleeping in her room while she moves upstairs. Ben, who is Marianna English friend, decided to pursue his music career and we only get a small glimpse of that in this book., I believe there is more to come with this as more of Ben’s past is presented in this book. There are so many people to care about in this / these books. And it wouldn’t be a great book without a twist in the end that leaves you wondering and hoping the next book is already on the shelf. ( )

This is book two in a trilogy although I read it first and have no read the first book. (I feel no burning desire to do so at this point.) I saw the book on OverDrive and thought it sounded good so I downloaded it. It's not the typical Amish romance novel because it takes place in Montana in a group of Amish who moved there from Indiana. Because they are a small group, they have much more interaction with their English neighbors than is typically true in larger Amish settlements. In this case, an Englisher named Ben has led the main character, Marianna Sommer, into a closer relationship with the Lord. However, Marianna's "fiance", Aaron Zook, shows up unexpectedly from Indiana and is involved in an automobile accident on his way from the train station to Marianna's house. He ends up spending several weeks with the Sommers family while he recuperates. In the end Marianna is forced to choose between Ben and Aaron. There is a small sample of the third book in the trilogy, and I will say that I feel a definite need to read that installment to find out what will happen next. This is a refreshing change from the usual Amish novel that one encounters so frequently because the characters have all sorts of problems and issues in their lives. ( )

This is the second book of a trilogy; I reviewed the first, Beside Still Waters and enjoyed meeting the characters. In this second chapter Marianna Sommer finds herself in Montana living in an Amish community that lives comfortably with its Englisch neighbors. This would be nigh on impossible back in her home of Indiana but in Montana all must work together to survive. She also finds a new way to find God that goes against what she has been taught from birth.

Marianna has strong feelings for an Englisch man but to leave her community goes against everything she believes in. Her suitor from Indiana has arrived to try and encourage her to return to the cabin he has lovingly built for her. His driver had an accident bringing him to her house and his leg is broken and he now needs to recuperate before he can return home.

How will Marianna choose between the two men that pull at her heart?

This book picks up where Beside Still Waters left off but can easily be read stand alone. Marianna learns more about herself and her relationship with her God as she decides which of her two beaus will be the man for her. The book is easy to read and the story is enjoyable. The interaction of the Amish and Englisch are interesting to read about and Marianna's growth is slow and real. ( )