Amy

Beatrice Zook knows God wants her to learn patience toward others. When assisting a family overwhelmed by triplets proves surprisingly successful, her confidence in dealing with others, both young and old, grows.

One person she’ll never be able to find peace with though is Ben Rupp. They’ve known each other forever, and Ben understands precisely how to antagonize her. What neither she nor Ben will admit is that beneath all their bickering, attraction awaits. When friends decide to try and bring the couple together, will the pair be able to find true love? Or will they damage their relationship beyond repair?

Becoming Bea is a true delight.  Painfully honest with herself, Bea struggles to interact comfortably with others.  Gould writes the story in such a way that this problem becomes easy to relate to, and as Bea overcomes this issue, others take its place so that the tension continues to build throughout the story.  I loved the ebb and flow in Becoming Bea!

The overall message is an important one – too important for me to spoil by sharing here.  Gould builds into it with her fantastic ebb and flow technique, however, and it highlights the spiritual lessons that Bea is learning, in addition to the interpersonal ones.  These are all things that we all must learn at one time or another, whether in as toddlers or teens, and I appreciate seeing these added into a story about adults.

Amish books often portray life through rosy lenses, but Bea faces personal issues on all fronts, and some of them are the stuff of today’s newspaper headlines.  I appreciate the honesty and blunt look at life from an Amish perspective – because it can’t all be stars and hearts all the time.  This edginess made the story more realistic and refreshing to read, because while I wouldn’t wish problems on anybody, there are things to learn from overcoming problems, and Bea definitely grows from hers.

I loved Bea, and I loved her story.  I love that it continued Cate’s story, and I loved the balanced drama, romance, and life lessons shared along the way.  Becoming Bea is just a solidly great book, and I think you’ll like it, too.

Read other reviews on this bloggy hop here, or click here to purchase your own copy now.

Leslie Gould is the coauthor, with Mindy Starns Clark, of the #1 CBA bestseller The Amish Midwife, a 2012 Christy Award winner; ECPA bestseller Courting Cate, first in the Courtships of Lancaster County series; and Beyond the Blue, winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice for Best Inspirational Novel, 2006. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Portland State University and has taught fiction writing at Multnomah University as an adjunct professor. She and her familyl live in Portland, Oregon.

For three years, Kate Marshall has been grieving the loss of her husband and their four-year-old son in a boating accident. But when she spots a familiar-looking child on an escalator in the mall, she is convinced it is the son she thought was dead. With police skeptical of her story, she turns to private investigator Connor Sullivan. The former Secret Service agent is dubious but agrees to investigate. Digging into the case he discovers that the incident may have been no accident at all. But if Kate’s son is alive, someone is intent on keeping him hidden–and may be willing to go to lethal lengths to protect a sinister secret.

Kate Marshall is my kind of lead character.  She’s had a rough time of it, but she’s doing her best to make the best of things.  Kate’s not afraid to admit her mistakes and knows her own limitations – including when to ask for help. 

Kate’s tragic past is more than any one person should have to handle, and that combined with her personality gave the book high marks in my book.  The fact that the action mixed with the emotional drama to create high energy and suspense only ratcheted those marks higher. 

I flew through this book in a single day because I couldn’t put it down.  I knew what I wanted to happen, but would it?  I couldn’t wait to find out, and so I turned page after page, eagerly trying to figure the ending before I reached the last page.

In the end, only one detail left me disappointed, and that was the end.  In typical Hannon fashion, she included a prologue that ended the story after a few months had passed, and in this way she filled in the end of a certain character who’s journey I wanted to know.  This particular ending was for the best, I’m sure; but still, the details fascinated me, and I’d like to know more.  I suppose, however, that this is another mark for a fantastic writer – that even though a satisfying conclusion has been reached, I’m nevertheless hungry for more?

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.