Rebecca's Promise by Jerry S. Eicher ~ Tracy's Take

Publisher’s Synopsis:

She loves one man…but long ago made a promise to someone else.

Rebecca Keim has just declared her love to John Miller and agreed to become his wife. But she’s haunted by her schoolgirl memories of a long-ago love – a promise made and a ring given. Is that memory just a fantasy come back to destroy the beautiful present…or was it real?

When Rebecca’s mother sends her back to the old home community to be with her aunt during childbirth, Rebecca determines to find answers that will resolve her conflicted feelings.

What I thought:

Jerry Eicher’s first book in the Adams County Trilogy begins with an expected take on Amish life. I was instantly intrigued with the plot and his development of the characters of ‘Rebecca’s Promise’.

‘Rebecca’s Promise’ is quite a study in opposites. On the one hand, Rebecca experiences deep personal conflict over a childhood promise, despite being ready to move into adult privileges and responsibilities. Her struggle to discern how committed to a childhood promise an adult woman should be bespeaks a woman of great depth and integrity. The interplay between Rebecca and her extended family is heart-warming. Although the final resolution to Rebecca’s dilemma seems a little too easy I was thoroughly engrossed in whether or not Rebecca would find a way to move on with her adult life and truly leave childhood behind.

On the other hand, there is Luke and his mother Rachel, driven to see justice after Rachel’s father leaves his house and land holdings to his sister. I found Rachel’s obsession with money and her drive to regain what she believes is hers to be an unusual plot for an Amish fiction book and perhaps a little out of character for a people whose lives are associated with rejecting the pursuit of wealth.

The characters of ‘Rebecca’s Promise’ reminded me that taking a step back and allowing God to direct our footsteps is a much wiser course of action than trying to orchestrate events and circumstances to our own purpose.

With thanks to Harvest House for the review copy

Guest reviewer:~ My friend Tracy from Beyond My Picket Fence

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