Family Secrets -- Daybreak

Daybreak begins Shelley Shepard Gray's The Days of Redemption series in good style.  The story is filled with interesting characters who have a lot of issues to deal with.

Viola learns that things are not always as they seem -- in her own family and in others -- and she finds that her quick-to-judge attitude may need a little adjusting.  Ed is surprised to find his father doing so well in the retirement home and has adjustments to make as he comes home for a while. 

The story of Viola, Ed, and the others is an engaging one, with several twists thrown in for interest.  Fans of Amish fiction should enjoy this story, which I give 4 stars out of 5.

About the Book:

In this close-knit Amish family, nothing is as perfect as it seems . . .

When Viola Keim starts working at a nearby Mennonite retirement home, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with resident Atle, whose only living relative, son Edward, is living as a missionary in Nicaragua. Viola understands the importance of mission work, but she can’t imagine leaving her father in the hands of strangers. Even though her family is New Order Amish, it’s not the Amish way, and though she doesn’t know Ed, she judges him for abandoning his father.

But when Ed surprises his father with a visit, Viola and Ed both discover an attraction they never expected. Despite her feelings, choosing Ed would mean moving to a far-off country and leaving her family behind. She can’t do that. Her twin sister, Elsie, is going blind and will need someone to care for her all her life. Her family is reeling with the recent discovery that her grandmother hid her past as an Englischer. Her father seems forgetful and distracted—and to be harboring some secrets of his own.
 
Does Viola dare leave them all behind and forge her own life? Or will family ties mean her one chance at love slips away?

 Meet the Author:

Shelley Shepard Gray is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the "Sisters of the Heart", "Seasons of Sugarcreek", "Secrets of Crittenden County", and Families of Honor series. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town's bike trail.

Learn more about Shelley at http://www.shelleyshepardgray.com.