Book MYView: Winter's Awakening by Shelley Shepard Gray

Joshua Graber knows his future is set. He′s expected to work at his family business, the Graber Country Store. He′s expected to marry Gretta Hershberger, who he′s been courting for several years. But when a new English family moves next door and their lovely teenage daughter, Lilly Allen, catches his eye, Joshua wonders if all the plans for his future are too set in stone.

Gretta doesn′t know what′s going on with Joshua. When they argue and later stew in silence, it feels a lot like the frosty atmosphere at her home. After promising herself to never have a marriage like her parents, she wonders if perhaps another man might be a better match. A man such as Roland Schrock. He′s steady and kind and somewhat boring. If she marries him, she won′t ever have to worry about loving him and getting hurt.

Meanwhile, Lilly is enamored with the Amish way of life, and especially her handsome neighbor Joshua. But despite being drawn to him, she has a secret that will only drive him away. Her family moved to Sugarcreek to hide her pregnancy from their community back home. Once she′s had the baby, they plan to send her off to college without anyone from their old neighborhood knowing the truth. But as Lilly becomes wrapped up in the simplicity and graciousness of the Amish people, she begins to question what′s expected of her, and whether giving up her baby, and leaving Sugarcreek, is what she truly wants.

As the coldest winter on record blows into Sugarcreek, these three young people must struggle to determine the path of their futures. (Avon Inspire, 2010)

My thoughts: Winter's Awakening is an enjoyable story about three young adults determined to live their life on their own terms, independent of their parents’ and the community’s expectations. All three characters felt stuck, in some degree, by their circumstances. In fact, even the parents were stuck by their past experiences or way of thinking.

This story brings out a peeve of mine. It bothers me when people feel just because someone is different from them they can’t relate enough to form a friendship. Both the Grabers (the Amish family) and the Allens (the English family) believed they were too different to have anything in common. I think variety makes life interesting. Sameness is sometimes boring. (I’m getting off my soapbox now)

Overall, Winter’s Awakening is a good story about shaking off the old to find or rediscover who you want to be. I look forward in April to reading Spring's Renewal, book two in the Seasons of Sugarcreek series.