Book Review: "The Mercy" by Beverly Lewis

Summary from BN.com: Rose Kauffman pines for prodigal Nick Franco, the Bishop's foster son who left the Amish under a cloud of suspicion after his foster brother's death. His rebellion led to the "silencing" of their beloved Bishop. But is Nick really the rebel he appears to be? Rose's lingering feelings for her wayward friend refuse to fade, but she is frustrated that Nick won't return and make things right with the People. Nick avowed his love for Rose--but will he ever be willing to sacrifice modern life for her?

Meanwhile, Rose's older sister, Hen, is living in her parents' Dawdi Haus. Her estranged "English" husband, injured and helpless after a car accident, has reluctantly come to live with her and their young daughter during his recovery. Can their marriage recover, as well? Is there any possible middle ground between a woman reclaiming her old-fashioned Amish lifestyle and thoroughly modern man?

So, this probably was not my favorite series from Beverly Lewis. I have read every single one of her Amish books, therefore I feel like I have enough basis to compare them to. And this book and the others in the series just did not live up to the standard in writing that I've come to associate Lewis with.

The whole entire situation involving who Rose was going to end up with seemed predictable ever since the first book. Throwing a random guy into the mix in this story seemed very pointless. This is especially evident because this is the first book in which we meet him, Rose gets together with him VERY quickly and the fact that they disagree on very important stuff.

I have to admit that Hen didn't irritate me in this book as much as she had in the past. In this story she is more willing to compromise and work with her husband. I still think though that Brandon came around WAY too quickly after his healing and their relationship ends on a fairy tale. I want to know if their daughter stays true to her word about wanting to be Amish. Me thinks, as Hen thought herself, then when she turns 16 things will probably be different.

This book didn't have the issues that really irked me in the previous book. However it's also never fully resolved about this type of belief unlike other Lewis books. Therefore, I felt very dissatisfied when I finished the book and the entire series. I felt like everyone went around in circles pretty much from the start of the first book to the end of book three. This was a story that could have been told in one book and not need to be stretched out into three. As I said, this is not the best series from Lewis. I have come to expect the best in Amish fiction from her and I was disappointed with this one. Here's hoping that her next series will be better.

The Mercy by Beverly Lewis is published by Bethany House (2011)

This review copy was provided for a blog tour with the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

Other books in The Rose Trilogy that I have reviewed:

The Judgment (Book 2)