When seventeen-year-old school teacher Rosanna Keim moves to Honey Ridge, the last thing she expects is to find the love of her life.Zachariah Zook thought he always knew what he wanted – to buy a farm in his beautiful state of Kentucky, settle down, and live a peaceable Amish life. But John Christner, his wayward-leaning best friend, has him worried. When the Keim family, including beautiful … beautiful Rosanna, temporarily move into the Zook family’s home, Zach thinks this might just be the ticket to secure John’s future among the Plain folk. Believing his departure will be best for all, Zachariah selflessly steps out into the unknown. Little does he realize that his sacrifice will alter all of their lives forever …
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A SECRET SACRIFICE by J.E.B. Spredemann is the fifth book in the Amish Secrets series. It’s a very well written story of love, loss, honor and sacrifice that will keep you turning pages, falling in love with the characters in the story and learning a little bit about what true friendship and loving someone else more than yourself along the way.
The Keim family have moved to Kentucky after having lost pretty much everything in a fire. Rosanna’s father bought a farm sight unseen. They find on arrival that the land is what he bought since the buildings on the land are inhabitable. The family moves in with the Zook’s, whose home is already filled with parents and five children, while a home and barn can be built on their new property. Roseanna is drawn to the eldest son, Zachariah who goes by Zach, but finds him too forward when he up and kissed her without warning or permission.
Although Rosanna felt an attraction to Zach, she was smitten with John Christner, Zach’s best friend, when we started courting her at a rapid pace. Their love was sweet and leads them to the marriage and expecting a child.
When Zach disappeared leaving word that he had joined the military, something definitely against Amish belief, everyone was shocked. However, John steadfastly continued to pray for Zach and for his safe return to the Amish remaining true to his friend. After Zach was hurt in battle and given a medical discharge, it was John who stood by his side with support and prayer during his recovery, bouts with PTSD and dependency on alcohol often sacrificing time with his new bride and neglecting his marriage.
It’s not until a tragic accident that events begin to unfold and the truth comes out about who was the one to make the major sacrifice and why. When the truth comes out, the reader as well as the characters in the books will see clearly what friendship, devotion, dedication and true love is. The author had definitely written a story that will have you turning pages, wiping a tear and finally realizing why things happened the way they did. It’s a story that will stay with you and one you will want to share. I highly recommend A SCRET SACRIFICE to anyone that loves a great story with twists that will have you feeling with you heart, if you love the Amish genre, or just out and out loves a wonderful written story that will make you laugh, cry, smile, and frown all within its pages and leave you happy at the end, but hoping the characters in this book continue on in another book.
This story seems to be rather strongly anti-Amish: about their apparent strict, dogmatic, unforgiving nature. At the same time, this story seems to be pro-Christian: grace at the cost of Christ’s worldly life. Not having an Amish background, I wonder if this is a fair and reasonable representation of their faith. Or the ramblings of one disillusioned of that faith. About two-thirds through, the characters and story seem almost incidental. It becomes more evangelical than anything else.
I received a review copy of this book from a third party. This is my honest review.
I really enjoy books about the Amish. We should all be inspired by their simple faith in the most High God!