Fraying at the Edge

GIVEAWAY

WOODSMALL, CINDY
FRAYING AT THE EDGE

Family, community, faith and love. These 'quilt blocks' sewn together made Ariana's beautiful life. When they are pulled to pieces, will anything familiar remain?

The Old Order Amish life Ariana Brenneman loved vanished virtually overnight with the discovery that she was switched at birth twenty years ago. Now she's immersed in the Englischer world, getting to know her mother and under the authority of her biological father, an atheist intellectual with resolute plans to expand Arian's worldview. Only Quill Schabach, a childhood friend living Englisch, can steady the tilting ground between Ariana's two worlds, but can she trust him after so many betrayals?

At the same time, Skylar Nash is foced to choose rehab or spending several months with her true relatives, the large Brenneman family and their seemingly backward life -- no electricity, no technology, no fun. What the young woman can't leave behind is her addiction to illegal prescription drugs and a deep emptiness from the belief that she doesn't belong in either family.

New ties are binding Ariana and Skylar to the lives they were meant to have. Can they find the wisdom and strength they'll need to follow God's threads into unexpected futures?

Fraying at the Edges is the second novel in the Amish of Summer Grove series.

My Review:

I somehow missed the first book in this series and like most of Cindy Woodsmall's stories this is a continuous series where major elements play out over the course of all three books. So, if you are looking for closure, you won't find it until book three comes out. But having said that, this time round the author has done something fabulous -- she's included a brief overview of the story so far at the beginning of this book. So I was able to read that and then dive right into Fraying at the Edge without any trouble. That's a brilliant perk that I hope more authors who write serial type series adopt. Plus she has included a comprehensive who's who list of characters at the back of the book. So you can definitely dive into this story right now if you don't want to play catch up with Ties that Bind first.

And what a captivatingly convoluted novel! My emotions were all over the place as I got deeper into the story. Both Ariana and Skylar are displaced and totally out of their element. I think Skylar got the better deal -- though she wouldn't agree with me. She's all gnarly and rude and completely self-centered at the beginning but a bevy of siblings are pretty hard to ignore and they slowly begin to wear her down. But she feels abandoned and lost and is just beginning to find herself by the time this book winds down. I feel like there's a possibility for romance in her future and I'm anxious to see how that plays out. Plus Skylar is at a crossroads and I have no idea what she's going to do next.

Ariana -- oy -- I spent most of the read feeling furiously indignant on her behalf. Her biological father is...gah!...words cannot express how I feel about his tactics. Manipulative. Conniving. Major superiority complex. Watching how that relationship plays out and how it influences Ariana kept me an emotional pretzel for the whole read! But again, I have no clue as to what she will do next. Two men interested in her -- one Englisch, one Amish -- and she's not certain where she belongs.

A complicated story with promises of much more to come. Can't wait until book three comes out...and hope it's soon!!!!

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

 If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of  Fraying at the Edge please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you post a comment and add your email address, please use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in the address to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email please remember to put the title in the  subject line so that it's easy for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday December 11 2016. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!