Dear to Me by Wanda E. Brunstetter Series: Brides of Webster County #3
Published by Barbour Pub. on March 1, 2008
Genres: Christian, Fiction, Historical, Romance
Pages: 285
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Melinda Andrews loves two things deeply-her Amish friend Gabe Swartz and the wild animals she helps to heal. When an Englishman tells Melinda she has a special gift with "critters," she dreams of becoming a vet. Could this be God's plan for her life? Gabe loves Melinda and wants to make her his wife. When he finds out about her wild dream, he realizes he must either sacrifice his faith or lose Melinda forever. Will Melinda stay with Gabe and become an Amish fraa or pursue her dream only to be shunned by family and friends forever?
Wanda and I are back in Webster County in the Ozarks region of Missouri, also known as my stompin’ grounds. We are also back with Faith’s daughter, Melinda who was just a child in Going Home, is all grown up and starting to explore life as an adult. Oh, and Aaron, the subtle star of On Her Own, is also all grown up now. Don’t worry, these two are not the ones falling in love! I’m going to be honest right out of the gate, I didn’t love this book as much as the first two. I didn’t not love it but. . . Melinda is a bit of a twit and entirely too idealistic to be an adult and Gabe (the love interest) is a bit petulant as well. Just to be honest. Let’s talk shall we?
I still love Wanda’s writing style in this book and I still love this community and these characters. However. . . Melinda first. When I say idealistic I mean literal about it. Animals are her life, almost to the exclusion of people. She abhors the idea that people hunt for food and can’t understand why not everyone things that all the deer in all the woods need to be protected and saved. Not just deer however but all the animals. She’s developed a menagerie of wounded animals she’s nursing back to health and a few she’s bound and determined to keep (a blind racoon for example). Bells, the girl thought she was going to rescue a skunk, you get one guess how that turned out! She’s so tuned out of the human world that it’s causing a rift between her and her family and also Gabe, the man she’s promised to marry. She’s set her sights on the ideal of going to school to become a veterinarian. She’s put the ultimatum to Gabe that she wants this, if she ever passes her GED, and in order to be together he needs to agree to go English with her. Way to change the rules Melinda!
Gabe, on the other hand, is so set on his love of hunting and venison that he doesn’t necessarily credit Melinda for her passion. Or find ways to work about it. He’s also too caught up in his desire to own his own woodworking business so he can show his father that he’s more talented than just sanding down the pieces his dad makes. He’s torn between his love of Melinda and his roots in his Amish faith. And guess what?!? They don’t *talk* to each other. Nope, like their parents before them they carry on all the doubts and fears and thoughts and most importantly feelings in their own heads. They break up because they can’t talk to each other. Heck, they don’t even talk to other people, nope all in their heads. I mean it all works out in the end, as the way books tend to do, and with the little nudge on the path by a porcupine (that doesn’t even live in Missouri) and a shotgun blast. I really did enjoy this book and one day in the future perhaps characters will learn to use their words.
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.
[…] 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 […]