Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

I received a complementary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers.  I enjoyed reading parts of this book.  The characters were interesting.  The setting sounded incredibly peaceful and beautiful.  I wanted to characters to sort out their problems and find the happiness they so desperately wanted.  Amelia and Michael had such an unexpected meeting.  They shared many of the same problems, and they were able to help each other find the solutions they needed.  I found myself wanting to know more about Elizabeth and her story.  I wanted more details about how and why she left.  What her life was like away, and why she decided to come back.  I found parts of the story very unbelievable.  Amelia and Michael accidentally meet one night.  And the next day Amelia is going to Michael's home town to stay for the weekend.  Michael says that he is concerned about his relationship with his family, but he doesn't act like it.  He knows how it will look showing up with a girl, but he does it anyway.  Amelia becomes best friends with several people over the short weekend that she is there.  These people are the best friends that she has all of the sudden.  Did she not have any friends before?  The part that I found the most frustrating was that it felt like Amelia was constantly bemoaning her life.  She didn't' want to go on tour, she didn't want the life that her father, and her agent had planned for her.  But she wasn't willing to do anything about it, but complain about it.  Her father is portrayed as very loving.  It seems that Amelia never told her father what she wanted, she just let him assume that she wanted the same things that he did.  If she has just let her feelings be know she would not have had the problems she did.  I found the characters interesting, but I there were enough frustrating parts of the story that I would give it. 2.5/5 stars.