Book Review - The Gift

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Schwartz family is happy to be spending Christmas on their new farm in Hart County. But when Susanna Schwartz hears gunshots that causes her buggy to overturn, and then her little sister falls through a wooden bridge into the icy creek, it becomes clear from these dangerous "accidents" that someone wants them gone.

Neil Vance has been heartbroken ever since his parents lost their family farm. He knows it's not the Schwartz family's fault, but he can't help but be resentful. Until he meets Susanna. She is kind-hearted and bold, and Neil can't stop thinking about her pretty green eyes.

Neil thinks the accidents are just that, but Susanna's father is convinced the Vance family is responsible. Susanna refuses to believe Neil would do anything to harm her. She's fallen in love with him and knows he is a good man. But her family is ready to pack up and move, and time is running out to uncover the truth before someone gets hurt . . . or worse.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shelley Shepard Gray is a "New York Times" and "USA Today" bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town's bike trail.

Find out more about Shelley at http://www.shelleyshepardgray.com.

MY REVIEW:

This is a wonderful Amish mystery romance. It's a book that I found hard pressed to put down! I spent one late night reading into the night!

The story starts right off with a mysterious episode of Susanna hearing gunshots quite close to her buggy and having a serious accident. She feels in her heart that these gunshots were quite deliberate but she has no proof and then decides she was over-reacting.

When she and her family go off to church, they quickly realize that they have been given a bad reputation by the family that formally owned their farm. The owning of the farm is a dream come true for this family and they have no idea why the former owners are spreading such malicious gossip about them.

When Susanna meets Neil, the son of the former owner, there is a lot of tension between them. There's bad feelings on both sides but they also are attracted to one another. This begins the relationship that we follow through this book.

After more dangerous incidents directed at Susanna's family, they realize that someone is trying to drive them away but they have no idea who. I wasn't sure who it was either until it got close to the end of the book, so the mystery of this story is quite good. There's no guessing early on in the book, which is nice.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. This author is one of my favorites and, as always, her characters are well developed and you feel like you know these people. The mystery and romance part of the book are very good, too. I think you'll like this book as much as I did! I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity Group


Blessings - Julie