UNFORGIVEN by Shelley Shepard Gray is such a heart-tugging story! Seth Zimmerman and Tabitha Yoder are two ex-Amish people who had to leave their faith because of tragedies that happened in their lives. Seth defended a young Amish woman from being raped and the man he pushed down, hit his head and died. Seth goes to prison for his accidental death and comes home a hardened and different man. Many in the Amish community treat him as UNFORGIVEN. Tabitha married a man who abused her for years until finally she was able to escape and divorced him. For that, she is also UNFORGIVEN in the Amish community. But they still have their faith and believe in God and lean on him to make it through the day!
UNFORGIVEN is a very emotional story and I would suggest keeping a box of tissues close by as you are reading. What Seth and Tabitha are experiencing and going through will break the reader's hearts and have you rooting for them to be able to leave the past behind and be happy again. Will the Amish community ever forgive them? UNFORGIVEN reminds the reader that we are not alone and that God will always forgive us. Now if only Seth and Tabitha could let go of their unjustified guilt.
Will Tabitha’s crazy ex-husband find her or can she remain free? Will he put Seth and his family in danger? Will Tabitha & Seth continue to care for one another or will they resign themselves to the fact that they can never be? And if they do continue to care for one another, which one will have to make the change to make themselves work? I loved how Shelley made me feel all of the anxiety and tension that the characters were dealing with. Besides all of that, there is also romance, forgiveness, and healing. A perfect way to spend the day on the couch with your favorite beverage, lost in the pages of UNFORGIVEN, a heart-tugging but beautiful story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Fresh Fiction. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Ex-con Seth Zimmerman has spent the last three years making amends by helping the vulnerable in his former Amish community. Lately, this mission includes calling on Tabitha Yoder, whose divorce from her abusive husband has isolated her from the community. Even though she never comes out of her house to talk to him, Seth knows she watches him from the window while he chops wood, clears her driveway, and drops off food.
An uneasy friendship is just starting to take hold between them when small gifts begin to appear at Tabitha's home--gifts that can only be from her ex-husband. Seth might be Tabitha's only hope at maintaining her hard-won freedom from the man whose violent outbursts had almost cost her life. But coming to her rescue might mean he ends up behind bars once again.
Get swept up in this emotional story of two outcasts who may be each other's only hope for happiness and redemption from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray.