Her Only Wish by Shelly Shepard Gray Review

 Happy Monday Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you chose to take the time to stop on by The Preppy Book Princess today for another book review.

I'm Kirby, and I love reading across a variety of different genres, but Christian fiction is my all time favorite.

I've been reading Amish fiction titles for over twenty years, and in fact, Beverly Lewis was one of the first authors I ever read within adult Christian fiction.

Ever since, I've loved discovering new stories and authors within the Amish fiction genre, and I've definitely found many favorites since.

Today's review is going to be for a recently released Amish fiction title that I can't wait to tell you all about.

I hope you'll all keep on reading down below for my full review.

Her Only Wish by Shelley Shepard Gray:

Source: Publisher as Part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program

Publisher: Revell

Publication Date: June 6th, 2023

Genre: Christian Fiction/Amish Fiction

Series: A Season in Pinecraft

Synopsis:

Return to Pinecraft, Florida, for a Sweet Amish Romance

Sheltered yet adventurous, Betsy Detweiler is on a mission to get out of Kentucky and experience new things in life. She's got a list--a life list. What better place to start than with her friends in beautiful Pinecraft, Florida?

From the moment Betsy walks into the Snow Bird Golf Course to sign up for lessons, August Troyer is mesmerized. Betsy is a mass of contradictions--beautiful yet awkward, outgoing yet unsure, joyful yet hesitant. She's like no one he's ever met before, and as the only child of missionary parents, he's met a lot of people.

As Betsy and August embark on a month of enjoying life to the fullest, they'll encounter several reasons to back off and play it safe. But playing it safe has its own consequences. This tender romance reminds us that life--and love--requires a fair amount of risk.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Her Only Wish is the second title in Shelley Shepard Gray's A Season in Pinecraft, and it was a lovely, heartwarming coming of age tale. I went into this one without having read the first book, but I didn't end up feeling like I missed out on too much, and was thankful that I could easily follow the storyline.

Most of the Amish fiction I've read has been set in either Pennsylvania or Ohio, so it was enjoyable to read a title set in Florida. The setting ended up being one of my favorite parts of the story, and I loved how original the storyline was with it being about a young woman named Betsey who has asthma, and has had to fight hard for a chance to truly live her life the way she desires to do so. One way she's going about living the life she desires is by creating a "life list", where she keeps an ongoing list of all the things she wants to experience. One of those things is learning how to play golf, which leads to her developing a friendship with the lovely young Amish man who helps his aunt and uncle run a golf course. Another is finally learning to swim, and her desire to do so leads to her befriending two Englisch sisters, who end up being inspired by Betsey, and her determination to see her list through despite her health challenges.

While I wouldn't say this ended up being a new favorite, I thought it was both sweet and thought provoking, and it's inspired me to want to start my own life list. It felt both original and realistic, and I did enjoy how there's so much more to the story than what the synopsis hinted at. However, I did think there were a few too many character POV's included, especially for how short the word count was. I ended up wishing that perhaps one of the storylines could have been cut out, so the remaining couple could have been a bit better resolved.

Overall though, it was a heartwarming read that definitely gave me a case of the warm fuzzies, and I enjoyed it enough to be interested to go back and read the first book and hopefully read more in the series to come.

Final Rating: 3.5/5

I'd definitely recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of Amish fiction titles and/or clean, faith based romances.

Thanks so much to Revell Publishing for allowing me to read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher (Revell) as part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review. 

Thanks so much for reading guys! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day :)