Friday, October 21, 2016

The Devoted

The Devoted. Suzanne Woods Fisher. 2016. Revell. 336 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: The bad thing about Ruthie Stoltzfus's job was that it barely paid minimum wage and she had no job security. She was only employed when someone from the Shrock family, who owned the Inn of Eagle Hill, was busy or unavailable, like now.

Premise/plot: The Devoted is the third book in The Bishop's Family series by Suzanne Woods Fisher. The focus is not only on one specific family but on a whole community. In the spotlight this time: David's sister, "Dok;" David's daughter, Ruth; David's son, Jesse; and David himself. (Patrick Kelly is the potential love interest of Ruthie; the other potential love interest is Luke Shrock. Dok has two potential love interests as well: Ed Gingerich and Matt Lehman. Jesse has two potential loves as well: Miriam Schrock and Jenny Yoder.)

My thoughts: I love, love, love this series. I do. I have loved getting to know David...and Birdie. I have loved spending some time with David's children. Some time has passed since the first book! Katrina, for example, now has TWO children and is happily married. This third book was satisfying precisely because I already loved the characters and couldn't wait to catch up with them.

This one may come across as somewhat preachy to some readers. I personally loved it. David is a bishop, and his insights into scripture were welcome to me. Though I mentioned this one might come across as preachy, I want to clarify that this one is very realistic. It is Amish fiction set in contemporary times. The characters are flawed, and definitely tempted. I would say that Luke "struggles" with alcohol and drug addiction, but, the truth is that he has ceased the struggle, ceased fighting it. He is an addict, and, his addiction is destroying lives. This book does not make light of the real world in which we live.

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