Simply Sara

Title: SIMPLY SARA
Author: Hillary Manton Lodge
Publisher: Harvest House
September 2010
ISBN: 978-0736926997
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary romance

Sara Burkholder has made a new life for herself after running away from her Amish home in the trunk of a friend’s car. She has passed her GED test, enrolled in a school of design and gotten a job working at a bookstore. Except her new supervisor, William Blythe seems to be a bit unfriendly toward her, treating her with contempt and hesitating to teach her anything related to running the store.

Sara is happy except for one thing. Living with Jayne seems to be causing Levi and Jayne to put their wedding plans on hold. So, even though she doesn’t know how she can afford it, Sara starts looking for an apartment to call her own.

When Sara is involved in a car accident, everything changes. Not all for good but not all bad either. But when her world falls apart, Sara has to make a decision. Can she return home to her Amish roots, or should she continue trying to make a new life in Portland.

SIMPLY SARA is the sequel to Plain Jayne , but it easily stands alone. I enjoyed getting to know Sara a bit more as she lived and worked in the English world, and some of her discoveries made me laugh out loud.

Written in first person, I really got to know Sara well and could relate to her. She is a fun heroine, strong and courageous, even though she doesn’t see herself that way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope to read more by this author. Discussion questions and a recipe are included at the end of the book. $10.99. 288 pages.