Fraying at the Edge

Fraying at the Edge: A Novel 

The Amish of Summer Grove #2 

Paperback, hardcover, ebook 

August 16, 2016

by Cindy Woodsmall

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook 
• ISBN-13: 978-1601427014

Family, community, faith, and love.

These “quilt blocks” sewn together made Ariana’s beautiful life.

When they are pulled to pieces,

will anything familiar remain?

The Old Order Amish life Ariana Brenneman loved vanished virtually overnight with the discovery that she was switched at birth twenty years ago. Now she’s immersed in the Englischer world, getting to know her mother and under the authority of her biological father, an atheist intellectual with resolute plans to expand Ariana’s worldview. Only Quill Schlabach, a childhood friend living Englisch, can steady the tilting ground between Ariana’s two worlds, but can she trust him after so many betrayals?

At the same time, Skylar Nash is forced to choose rehab or spend several months with her true relatives, the large Brenneman family and their seemingly backward life—no electricity, no technology, no fun. What the young woman can’t leave behind is her addiction to illegal prescription drugs and a deep emptiness from the belief that she doesn’t belong in either family.

New ties are binding Ariana and Skylar to the lives they were meant to have. Can they find the wisdom and strength they’ll need to follow God’s threads into unexpected futures?

Fraying at the Edge is the second novel in The Amish of Summer Grove series.

My thoughts: Wow. FRAYING AT THE EDGE was an emotional read that I so was not expecting. I mean I should have been, I read Ties that Bind earlier this month.  It was so emotional, with Ariana missing her family, being forced into a world she wanted no part of and having everything stripped away except a friendship with Quill that she didn't want. Likewise, Skylar, going from being a not exactly only child, but one with everything handed to her -- and a drug addiction, to being one of like a dozen children in a small house with a family that is dirt poor.  How would either girl survive the culture shock? 

Quill. Oh. My. Word. I am so in love with him. And Abram. They are both so wonderful, thoughtful, beyond awesome men. I am looking forward to reading Gathering the Threads (releasing next month, squeee!) so I can read more about them.  And yes, I have my wants about how I want this series to end, but whether they go the way I want or not, I know I'll be engaged. 

This is a series you will want to read in one sitting, starting at the beginning with Ties that Bind, Fraying at the edge, and Gathering the Threads, so you might want to start now at the beginning.  I absolutely loved the first two books in this series. There is a reason why Ms. Woodsmall is one of my favorite Amish authors.  

I was given a free copy of this book. All opinions are my own.