Amish Weddings (Neighbors of Lancaster County)

Amish Weddings by Leslie Gould is the third book in Neighbors of Lancaster County series. Lila and Zane announce that they are going to be married in one month in October 2015. Rose Lehman (18), Lila's sister, has been dating Rueben Byler and was hoping they would wed first. But then Lila is in a terrible buggy accident and suffers a broken pelvis, ruptured spleen, and bruised organs. Lila will be recovering from her injuries for months. Lila and Zane's wedding is postponed, and Rose is enlisted to help with Lila's care (Lila did not wish to enter a rehab facility). Tim Lehman, Rose and Lila's father, is preoccupied with Beth Yoder, the local schoolteacher. Beth's husband left the Amish and divorced her. The Amish, though, marry for life (they are in a holding pattern). While Tim is inattentive and Lila recuperating, Rose has an opportunity for a little exploration. Rose never took her rumspringa when she was sixteen. Trevor Anderson, an Army friend of Zane's, comes to town and flirts with Rose. Rose is disgruntled with Rueben's high standards and starts sneaking out to spend time with Tyler. Will Rose remember the teachings of the Amish church? While Lila is recovering, she begins to think about her birth father, Butch Wilson. Lila believes that Tim does not care for her the same way he does Rose and Trudy (his natural children). Lila begins a search for Butch Wilson much to her Daniel's, her twin brother, dismay. Shani Beck goes above and beyond for the family during this time. But Rueben does not like the Beck family spending so much time with the Lehman's. He feels that the Beck's are a bad influence. It is going to be a rough couple of months for the Lehman's, Beck's, and Byler's. Come join them in Amish Weddings to see how it all turns out.

I found Amish Weddings to be very well-written and an engaging novel. My attention was captured from the very beginning. While Amish Weddings is the third book in the series, you can read it alone (you will be confused at first though). I do, though, recommend reading the first two books in the Neighbors of Lancaster County series (they are very good). By reading the first two books, you will get to know the various characters (it will help you keep them all straight and see them grow up). Amish Weddings has a good pace, nice setting, and interesting characters. I give Amish Weddings 4.5 out of 5 stars. I knew that the one character was going down the wrong path (making very bad decisions), but I did like reading to see how the storyline would play out. The ending is expected, but I did find it pleasurable (it will make you smile). It was nice to see what happened to all the characters the readers have come to know and love through the series. There is quite a bit going on in Amish Weddings. I found it, though, easy to keep track of the characters and their storylines (I did not tell you about all the characters in the summary above). I am sad to see the series end, but I look forward to reading more books by Leslie Gould in the future.