Review: The Amish Midwife

The Amish Midwife by Mindy Starns Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Billed as Amish fiction, it's really just more of a backdrop for an adoption drama. It was still good, but not what I was expecting.

Lexie was adopted by Mennonite parents in Oregon, but she has broken from the church and works as a modern midwife in a hospital. She lost her mother at a young age and when her father dies, she finds a mysterious carved box containing clues to her birth mother's identity. This leads her to Pennsylvania, where she assists as a midwife to the Amish. Confused yet? Don't be. The real drama is about Lexie, discovering who she is and who she thinks she should be, and some needless plot twisting.

Lexie is annoying and shallow. She dates a doctor and makes several comments about his apparent wealth. She's childish and pretty unlikeable. Enough that I was tempted to take away a star, because I have to like my main character to enjoy a book. However, the complications and side plots kept me interested, and in the end I gave it a solid three stars.

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A Wicked Snow

A Wicked Snow by Gregg Olsen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book was like a see-saw to me. Back and forth, up and down. At first it was boring and confusing. Then it sucked me in and I thought it was great. Then back to boring and drawn-out, then exciting, then implausible, and then...the end.

The mystery was pretty solid and could have been fantastic with different characters. Parts of the plot were not necessary or even cohesive, but the idea and setting were interesting. My main beef with this book were the characters. No one was particularly likable and I found myself with no one to root for, no one to care for, and this is a problem when you should be emotionally tied to the main characters and hoping they live. Overall I was let down and while the ending was intriguing it didn't make up for the rest of the plot. More like 2 3/4 stars, but I'll give it a 3 because of the ending.



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The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book was an expected surprise. I started reading it when I saw it on my Oyster app, knowing nothing about it. I'm glad I did.

Rachel. Poor Rachel. The sole survivor of an unspeakable tragedy, she grows up with her grandmother and aunt and tries to find her place in the world. I can't relate to the issues of race, class, and social justice, but I found it fascinating to see a different side to things. Rachel's voice was strong throughout the book. She doesn't fit in either the "black" world or the "white" world, and is caught somewhere in the middle of it all.
Part coming of age novel, part examination of race and class issues in America, and part mystery of what really happened on the roof that day, it's worth the read.



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If I Stay

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I listened to this on audio. I HATED the narrator. This book may be tolerable if it is read rather than listened to, but I will never know.

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and I'm going to revise my star rating down to 1 1/2. There wasn't anything good here. The characters were ridiculous. Her parents were the most unbelievable, hipster, non-parents in the entire world. My disdain for her father was only topped by my utter hatred for her mother. Really, parents? Your "too cool for school" lifestyle made me want to punch you. Lucky for all of us that you are fictional characters. Father is a former rocker who didn't learn to drive until he was forced to "grow up" and be a real adult. Mother is a poser who rattles off indy bands to prove her edginess and insists on a midwife/birthing center for her punk-rock fueled childbirth. They are so cool that they let her rock star boyfriend sleep over. Seriously? And Mia is so full of insecurities and self-doubt that I could barely listen to her inner dialogue.

This book was terrible, and I won't see the movie.


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