ARC Book Review: Goodbye To Yesterday

Author: Wanda E. Brunstetter
Title: Goodbye To Yesterday
Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Publish Date: Feb 1, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley

Book Blurb: 

Join Meredith and Luke Stoltzfus, an Amish couple who are faced with the greatest challenge of their young lives. Financial struggles. Arguments. A suspected pregnancy. A last-minute trip to Middlebury, Indiana. A deadly encounter at a Philadelphia bus station. Will their love and faith be enough to bring them back together again, against all odds?

Review: This short novella is Wanda E. Brunstetter stepping out of her comfort zone and stepping into Beverly Lewis'. You could feel Wanda setting us up for high drama, which is not usually her style.

What made this book a pleasant read were the characters. Luke and Meredith are a down to earth and as it may seem, down on their luck Amish couple.

It seems their fortunes are turning when Luke gets offered a chance to learn a new trade from his uncle in Indiana.

This is where the story starts to bug me a bit. I just don't feel the martial strife Wanda is trying to create here. It is too forced and not very real. In her other books, the conflict seems real, but here, not so much.

Everything moves on in such a rapid fire pace that as a reader, I almost felt left in the dust as she tried to set the stage for the other books to come.

I don't want to give away some of foreshadowing, but there is a drug addict/seller that just didn't work. I could tell this wasn't something she was comfortable writing about and she probably shouldn't have gone that avenue.

The only problem is, once you start reading it, you will want to find out what happens next for Luke and Meredith, especially after the ending, which gives new meaning to the word cliffhanger. It is a good thing these books come out one a month because with the way this book ended readers will be sitting on pins and needles waiting to find out what happens next.

Rating:  3 flowers