Allison's Journey by Wanda E. Brunstetter Published by Barbour Publishing on July 17, 2006
Genres: Christian, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 284
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Allison Troyer is of marriageable age and needs to learn how to manage an Amish household. Can a girl who feels as faceless, purposeless, and neglected as her tattered Amish doll, find her way among strangers? James Esh likes what he sees when Allison Troyer walks into the barn. Will anything keep this brash young Amish man from stealing her affections? Aaron Zook has vowed never to lose his heart to another. Yet when James makes advances on Allison, Aaron can't help but intercede. Can threads of faith and love unite tattered hearts? Allison's Journey is book 4 in the The Brides of Webster County series. Other books in the series include Going Home: Book 1, On Her Own: Book 2, Dear to Me: Book 3.
Back in Webster County for the fourth time, and sadly the final time. Remember when we first met Aaron Zook, way back in ‘On Her Own‘, the second book in this series. He was just a small guy at the ripe old age of 9 at the time. He’s spotlighted in ‘Dear to Me‘ as his friends fall in love and he continues to eschew the idea. Well, the Aaron I adored all that time ago is now all grown up, still chaffing at the bit working with Paul in the leather shop, and still bound and determined that love and marriage and family are not what he wants. Halfway across the country in Pennsylvania we meet Allison. The epitome of tomboy we re first introduced as she is thrilled to pickles when her brother gives her a new baseball glove. Mind you, she’s a grown adult with little in the way of ‘wifey’ skills like cooking or sewing and minimal interest in cleaning. All things that most people think are the hallmarks of the perfect woman. Just for the record, I am not the perfect woman 😀
Here’s the thing about this book. I loved it for a myriad of reasons that are so different from why I usually love a book. Allison *is* on a journey, just not the obvious one. She leaves her home to visit her aunt (she doesn’t know) in Missouri to learn to be a proper woman which is the obvious journey. However, she’s got some other traveling to do. She’s got to find her way through the longstanding hurt of losing her mother when she was quite young. She’s got to find her way through the resentment and hurt at her aunt (her dad’s sister) who moved in to help out after her mother passed away. She’s got to deal with the fact that she feels ‘faceless’ both in life and before God. I loved that description. It covers a multitude of feelings from struggling to find your place in the community or even your family to finding yourself lost in the shuffle before God. Wanda did something here though, that I’ve never seen before in Amish fiction. Allison found God. She found what she had been missing. Allison found salvation. Not only did she find it herself she became almost a one woman missionary team to help others find what she was missing. Allison shared the plan of salvation with the jerkwad toadnugget of the Missouri community. Allison shared the plan of salvation with her aunt before she passed away (spoiler?). And through Allison, Wanda shared it with every reader that comes across this book.
The reason I love this so much is because it’s easy to forget that just because you are raised in church doesn’t mean you are saved. Just because you read Amish (or even Christian in general) fiction mean that you are a Christian. I know many non-Christians that enjoy Amish fiction. Go figure? How like Wanda to step into that gap and truly show that even religious people still need salvation. How like Wanda to step into the gap with a gentle reminder that even a group as devout as the Amish still have the need for salvation. And on a completely different note I also adored (SPOILER HERE) that Allison found the love she deserved without having to change who she was. And Aaron? He found that he could fall in love and that it would be OK. He even found the woman who met all his crazy criteria. Just proof that those that search can find love. And those that seek will find; love, salvation, acceptance, whatever. I’m sad to be leaving my backyard as I truly did enjoy this series. But I’m ready for the next one. Just to decide what it will be. . .
About Wanda E. Brunstetter
Wanda E. Brunstetter is an award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of Amish and historical fiction. She’s also written Amish cookbooks, Amish-themed devotionals, and several children’s books with Amish characters.
Wanda E. Brunstetter writes about the Amish because they live a simple life, which she feels we all need in this day and age.
Wanda and her husband Richard, who grew up in a Mennonite church, have Amish friends in several Amish communities.
Besides writing books, Wanda’s a professional ventriloquist. In her spare time she photography, gardening, knitting, looking for shells and agates on the beach, and spending time with her family.
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