Plain Promise by Beth Wiseman

Kade Saunders is taking a haitus from his busy, wealthy lifestyle, and finds himself wanting to know more about the beautiful, peaceful, and yet emotionally guarded amish woman (Sadie Fisher) who is renting the cabin out to him. Although she tries to guard herself from closeness with him, she finds herself defenseless against her feelings toward him, and more importantly, toward his adorable, and yet challenged five year old son. This leads Sadie Fisher into an unexpected journey of struggling to follow God's will instead of her own will.
The story is certainly romantic and challenging, but I also found it to be too light and not as deep as I would prefer. One of the most praiseworthy elements of the novel is the atmosphere and feeling that is eminated through the interactions between Kade and Sadie. I found myself easily stepping into their emotions. There is a beautiful, and realistic picture of the emotions that come with falling in love in this novel- the extreme desire to not let go of a person when in his or her embrace, or the feeling that you could talk to a person about anything and without stopping. There are also some wonderfully challenging elements in this novel. Kade's journey to finding God's peace, and Sadie's journey into complete trust of God's will is extremely inspiring. However, there isn't as much spiritual dept to the novel as there could have been. Although other spiritual truths are hinted at, I still found myself wondering how Kade would continue to deal with some of the tragedies and disappointments in his life.
I also felt as though some of those issues were handled unrealistically. Although there is a beautiful transition from a hurt, hardened surface, to a patient, loving, and godly man, the transition seemed too simple. Although I believe that God can rapidly do extreme heart transformations, there didn't seem to be enough internal conflict in Kade. It is beautiful that Kade falls so purely falls for Sadie, but I think that Wiseman could have made it more obvious that as a normal man, Kade would have struggled more in certain areas. I am glad that the book is innocent in its portrayal of love, but I'm not sure that a real Kade Saunders wouldn't have needed more transformation in his issues of purity and self-control.