Cindy Woodsmall has the life experience to present the Amish lifestyle accurately. Her biography states :
"At the age of ten, while living in the dairy country of Maryland, she became best friends with Luann, a Plain Mennonite girl. Luann, like all the females in her family, wore the prayer Kapp and cape dresses. Her parents didn’t allow television or radios, and many other modern conveniences were frowned upon. During the numerous times Luann came to Cindy’s house to spend the night, her rules came with her and the two were careful to obey them—afraid that if they didn’t, the adults would end their friendship. Although the rules were much easier to keep when they spent the night at Luann’s because her family didn’t own any of the forbidden items, both sets of parents were uncomfortable with the relationship and a small infraction of any kind would have been enough reason for the parents to end the relationship. While navigating around the adults’ disapproval and the obstacles in each other’s lifestyle, the two girls bonded in true friendship that lasted into their teen years, until Cindy’s family moved to another region of the US. "
Much to my disappointment, Ties That Bind relies heavily on conversation to drive the plot. There is little space for reflection or room to be drawn in. It is a sharp contrast to another book I recently read and loved. Despite having much in its favor, I found Ties That Bind to be an over-sugared granola bar when it could have been a nourishing and restorative bowl of chicken noodle soup.
If you love granola bars (and don't we all sometimes love a quick, sweet snack?), click here to read an excerpt of Ties That Bind.
I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for writing a review.
