Ariana Brenneman is twenty one and "loves her family and the Old Ways."
She is saving money to buy a cafe in the historic part of Summer Grove.
She wants to be able to help financially with her family, that just keeps
growing. She is also trying to keep any Amish from leaving with Quill
Schlabach who lures them away with temptations of the Englisch life.
Ariana loves her Amish life and she would never think of running away from
it like Quill did. TIES THAT BIND is the first book in a new series, Amish of
Summer Grove and is all about family and doing what is right no matter
how much it hurts.
TIES THAT BIND pulls at your heart right from the start. Ariana was very
hurt when Quill left the Amish life with her best friend Frieda, and she is still
hurting today. It's been five years since they left, but Ariana had always
believed that Quill would be the one with whom she'd build and share her life.
Obviously that didn't happen since he is married now. When she
learns from Quill that one of her family members contacted him, she does
whatever it takes to keep her family together. She doesn't know that her
parents have asked for Quill's help with something that happened on the
night Ariana was born. Does Ariana have ties to the Englisch world that she
doesn't know about? Will she ever learn the truth and keep her family
together? Ariana is shocked to learn that on the night she was born the
birthing clinic burned down.
TIES THAT BIND is not your typical Amish novel. This is about a different
side of Amish life filled with fears, secrets, and twists and turns that you
never see coming. The characters are all well written and very believable.
The pages are filled with romance, family, and mystery. Once I started
reading, I could not put this book down and I love when an author does that
to me. I'm so excited to find out what happens next as Cindy Woodsmall
leaves you with quite a cliffhanger. Once Ariana learns the truth she knows
her life will never be the same and hopefully she finds her peace. Ms.
Woodsmall pulls you right in and leaves you begging for the next book.
Ariana’s comfortable Old Order Amish world is about to
unravel. Will holding tightly to the cords of family keep
them together—or simply tear them apart?
Twenty-year-old Ariana Brenneman loves her family and the
Old Ways. She has two aspirations: open a café in historic
Summer Grove to help support her family’s ever-expanding
brood and to keep any other Amish from being lured into the
Englisch life by Quill Schlabach.
Five years ago Quill, along with her dear friend Frieda, ran
off together, and Ariana still carries the wounds of that
betrayal. When she unexpectedly encounters him, she soon
realizes he has plans to help someone else she loves leave
the Amish.
Despite how things look, Quill’s goal has always been to
protect Ariana from anything that may hurt her, including
the reasons he left. After returning to Summer Grove on
another matter, he unearths secrets about Ariana and her
family that she is unaware of. His love and loyalty to her
beckons him to try to win her trust and help her find a way
to buy the café—because when she learns the truth that
connects her and a stranger named Skylar Nash, Quill knows
it may upend her life forever.
Ties That Bind is the first novel in the Amish of Summer
Grove series.