This is the story of Jancey Rhoder who's world is turned upside down when her parents decide to return to their childhood roots of Amana colonies. Jancey knows that she needs to follow her parents to this unknown world to take care of her ailing mother, but her heart longs to teach the orphans. She also walks away from a possible marriage to go to the Amana colonies. There she learns about a different life of hard work and lots of faith. She meets friends and finds conflict in her attraction to another young man named Ritt when she still does not know what to do with her former beau, Nathan who manages to complicate things by showing up in the Amana Colonies to woo her back to her former life.
Jancey's life gets more complicated as mistakes are made and trust is given to the wrong person. She finds herself a keeper of secrets and her ability to find a solution harder to find. Jancey finds the peace and love she craves in the end.
I must admit that this is the first book I have read that deals with the Amana colonies so that kept my interest to learn the nature of how they survive with the simplicity of life. I thought that the author was very knowledgeable on this subject. The plot itself is what I struggled with. I admire Jancey sacrificing all to go with her parents to take care of her mother. I had a hard time with Jancey and Nathan's relationship. She felt that a time of separation would tell whether things would work out between them, but later on she felt in her relationship with Ritt that separation would break their chance of a relationship. To me the plot was predictable. Also her relationship with her parents seemed to be so important to her that I found it odd that she would not confide in her parents or seek their advice until near the end of the story. I felt the story could have had a bit more romance in it as well.
It was a one time read for me. I was given a free copy of this book from Bethany House for my honest opinion.
