August's Read - The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

[Rachel]

Please join us in reading The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis!



Amelia "Amy" DeVries, a 24-year-old violinist, is disillusioned with life and love after the collapse of her long-running romance. Weary of endless rehearsals and performances, Amy sets out on a road trip through the Pennsylvania mountains. She leaves her cell phone behind so life's demands can't intrude on her solitude. She doesn't know, nor care, where she will end up.

When her car breaks down deep in the mountains, Amy realizes the flaw in her "no cell phone" plan. She abandons her car and walks the winding roads, searching for help. Following the smell of woodsmoke and the sound of music, she finds a rustic log cabin. There she meets a young Amishman--and through him a community--that will change her life forever.

As usual, jump in with any thoughts you have on the book! Just please refrain from posting any spoilers until later in the month. If you are going to post any spoilers, make sure you post a warning, like *** SPOILER ALERT! ***. Enjoy!

[Tina]

I have already read the book and will wait for others to comment about it.

Happy Reading Everyone!!!!! 8)

[Brittany]

I've read this book already, too! It's a good one, but I'll try to keep myself from saying too much until everyone else has read it as well. ^-^

[Rebecca]

I have recieved this book to review from Bethany House and have read the book. It is an okay book by Beverly Lewis.

[Rachel]

I'm with Rebecca on this one - I found The Fiddler to be fairly enjoyable story, but I didn't love it. Probably my least favourite of Beverly's books, but it was a decent read. It'll be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on this as I've read some very mixed reviews.

[Diane U]

I have a feeling that it will spark some interesting conversations. I have it downloaded as my next read!

[Brittany]

Has anyone finished it yet? I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks.

[Carissa]

I didn't really enjoy this one as much as I did her other books. But it was good.

[Rachel]

I finished it months ago! ;) I'm probably in the same camp as Carissa - I liked it, but not as much as her other books. What did everyone else think?

[Brittany]

I thought it was a nice, feel-good read, but it certainly wasn't her strongest book. But I think a lot of the reason was because this is largely a stand-alone book, even if it's advertised as a series.

[Rachel]

It definitely was an easy, relaxing read. The book had quite a slow pace, kind of like it was mirroring the slow pace of the Amish lifestyle, I thought :)

[Paula-O]

I have not read and have on list to read, have always liked ones that I have read by this author so will read even though so many of you were dissapointed in it. I dont think all books have to be "gut wrenching" ones to make a good read and possibly this is one of those.

[Rachel]

Paula, I can't speak for everyone who was disappointed by this book, but personally I just found the plot rather predictable. Considering everything I've read by Beverly Lewis previously, I thought that she had the ability to come up with a much stronger or more original plot. The idea of a girl going to Amish country and finding inner peace and contentment, etc, and then falling for an Amish man is one that had been done a lot in this genre, and I just wished that Beverly had done something to make her strong stand out more. You're right, not every book has to be gut-wrenching, but I just didn't find the characters engaging enough to really properly care about them. I think part of the issue with the characterisation, for me, was that the author head-hopped between characters a lot and I never felt like I connected with any of them properly because of this.

This book definitely had potential, but it had a lot of areas that it seemed to be lacking in. It didn't dislike it, but I didn't enjoy overly much either. It was an easy read, but I never really felt like I "got into it", if that makes sense? Even a slow-paced book can grab your attention and pull you in, but this one didn't do that much.

One aspect that of the book that I did find interesting was that it seemed to buy into most Amish readers' dreams of visiting an Amish community and experiencing their lives and hopefully coming out a better person because of that experience, just like Amelia did. I'm sure this will be a big appeal to a lot of readers.

Paula, I do hope you enjoy this book. From reviews, it looks like I lot of people loved it, even if there were some of us who were disappointed :)

Here's my full review, if anyone is interested: http://thechristianmanifesto.com/arch...

I still plan to read the rest of the series, and I'm particularly intrigued by the plot of the second book.

Those of you who did enjoy this book, what did you especially like about it?

[Jeanne]

This was a good book but was not my favorite of Beverly Lewis' books so was a little disappointing. It seemed too unrealistic. Not to mention she wasn't very considerate of the Amish while in their midst, putting her fiddle first. I just didn't like it as much as I liked all of her other books overall.

[Barbara]

I was really starting to enjoy Michael & Amelia -- got as far as page 64. The next page number is 33 and it continues to 64 again, then jumps to 97! I'll have to drop by Lifeway tomorrow, where I bought it, and see if they'll swap it out for me. I don't have the receipt any longer but the sticker is still on the back of the book.

I'll have to grab something else in the meantime. Oh bother.

[Jane]

I liked The Fiddler. It showed an interest in music which I enjoyed. Even the Amish really do like music, but they only allow the harmonica and their own music. Some folks among the Amish I'm sure would like to hear more forms of music than they get to hear and I'm glad the book brought this out. I liked Fiddler.

[Rachel]

Jeanne wrote: "This was a good book but was not my favorite of Beverly Lewis' books so was a little disappointing. It seemed too unrealistic. Not to mention she wasn't very considerate of the Amish while in thei..."

Jeane, just noticed your comment. You make a good point about Amelia not respecting the Amish views on music. I'm not sure whether she was just naive and didn't realise how serious it was too them, or if she thought her practising was more important than their personal beliefs.

[Kelly]

That's awful Barbara Ann I got it for my kindle and I'm 47% through. I'm liking it so far...

[Barbara]

I finished early this morning and I really liked it. I used to live not too far from the Morgantown area and always smile when Beverly takes us back there.

I have to comment on Amelia and her practice times. When you get to the level of performance that Amelia was, practice is a full-time job. I thought she was considerate to go off into the field to practice. Later, when she found out she was no longer the only one home, she stopped playing. And then later she went off to be away from folks to practice again. Other than when she found the Singing, she didn't play around people unless she was invited to do so, but it's very hard for a musician not to join in when they hear music.

I loved the carrot dropped in front of us about Amelia's mom's novel... about it being a past family story and a mystery. Maybe there's more to Amelia's grandparents living near the Ohio Amish then what's been let out so far. Did anyone else go in that direction?

[Barbara]

Barbara Ann wrote: "I have to comment on Amelia and her prac..."

I didn't want to come off preachy about the practice thing, but I felt we were just missing the musician's passion and drive in the conversation.

[⚜️XAR]

This was an ok book for me. I really felt rather neutral about it. It took me most of the month to finish and I got it near the end of July! It was one of those books where I didn't really have the burning desire to finish it and had to force myself to do so. I found the book a bit predictable, but I did enjoy the struggles that the hero and heroine faced to reconcile their desires and dreams with the lives that they felt everyone wanted them to live. I think it was a good read, but one that I would only read once.

[Michelle]

I generally really enjoy Beverly Lewis. This book was not really as good as others by her. It was a really hard book for me to finish.

It felt really predictable, almost formulaic. I tried to read it more than once but I was not able to get into it.

[Tina]

I feel better knowing there are others like me that had trouble reading this book too. AND I too felt neutral about it.

My feeling was that Beverly had a good story/story line but the wow factor was missing in the details.

[Barbara]

Maybe I was caught in the musical side, but I really enjoyed it.

[Lorie]

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I started Amish Fiction with a Beverly Lewis book and what I liked most was that she had the reader from the first chapter and I did not want to stop. I remember staying up all night to finish some and reading by flash light when my power went out in a storm. This book took me forever to get into. I did finally get into it and ended up really enjoying the story. I also liked how the book related some and even some mention to characters from The Shunning. I hope that I understood that right.

[Kelly]

It seems most of you did not like this one of Beverly's myself I enjoyed it. I admit it did take me longer to get going then most. I also enjoyed the reference to characters from her previous series.

[Judy]

I've finished it...won't say anything yet so others won't be swayed one way or the other!

[Camille]

This wasn't my favorite of Beverly's books, it seemed a bit predictable. But that said, no regrets, I still enjoyed it!

[Kelly]

Judy wrote: "I've finished it...won't say anything yet so others won't be swayed one way or the other!"

maybe i don't know the true reason of being in a book group but isn't it to discuss it, and considering its past the end of the month ...just a little confused. I also wish this group would discuss the book in more detail then just the overall likeness of the book. ..

[Camille]

I agree Kelly, it gets hard but we don't always get into specific questions.

Did anyone else feel the two main characters were a bit too different to really be compatible? I understand she loved fiddling and her music appealed to him, but she seemed from such a different walk of life they couldn't have easily found a compromise as the book makes it seem. I found him one of my more less liked male love interests in any of the books I've read recently, he just felt like a stereotype of a slightly-hick, slightly-back woods man.

[Kelly]

Even though they were completely different I feel that they related to one another situation both very similar in choosing what paths in life to take. Although I agree with your description of him though.

[Julie]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought Ms. Lewis did a great job of portraying that internal struggle that we all have when we try to please others and ignore what we really want. I liked the way Michael treated Amelia showed his thoughtfulness and caring in every little thing. Her other boyfriend only cared about himeself. In spite of their differences in upbringing and culture, I think they had a real meeting of the minds between them. Their struggles were very much the same and they could relate to each other on the levels that were important to both of them. They both appreciated the talents and experiences of the other. I didn't think this was too far-fetched for the novel and the way it was developed.

[Joy]

I started reading the book... I love Beverely Lewis' books. Yet I have to say this was a hard one for me to get my mind into. Just couldn't enjoy it like I do Beverely's other books. I had other books her checked out and went and read two of them, and felt better again.. Never did finish this one. Just wasn't an enjoyable read for me. Kinda predicatable in what I was reading. Sorry.

[Nana]

I read The Fiddler in August and loved it! I thought it was refreshing to read something a little different from her usual style. Looking forward to reading the next in the sequel.

[Janet]

This wasn't my favorite book by Beverly. I liked how they met and the friendships that were developed. I get frustrated with so many books having miscommunication problems. I just don't see it happening like that in real life.