This was my favorite book of the whole series. Which was odd since (from my review of book #4) I hardly ever like consecutive books. I loved the characters. Saul was my favorite. I especially liked how the author was accurate in portraying that people are very different inside than they appear to be on the outside. I thought that Saul was very selfless in his decisions, especially where it concerned his family. This is the kind of stuff that I love reading about. Plain Proposal is the fifth book in the series "The Daughters of the Promise" by Beth Wiseman. The book follows the story of Miriam Raber, who has long been in love with Saul Fisher. However, Saul dreams of leaving the Old Order Amish community to fulfill his own dreams. Miriam must question herself if leaving with him is what she wants for herself or if she only desires to change so that she doesn't lose him. Her parents have to learn the lesson of trusting God's will for their child's life over their own desires and how they must come to depend on the hope that they have raised their daughter right and that she will not depart from God, even if she leaves the order.The story also introduces us to Shelby, a young girl and the Raber's cousin that has been raised English but has found herself in the heart of the Amish community after making bad decisions with her life. I found myself rooting for Shelby from very early on and hoping she would find peace, perhaps even stick around for a future book. She is a good girl despite making some serious mistakes and finds herself drawn to a good Amish boy, Jesse. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of Shelby in a future "Daughters of the Promise" installment.We also see the human nature in these characters and how even the best of us can stumble and have our times when we need to seek help from our friends, family and God. These are characters you can get to know. If you started with book one, "Plain Perfect", you should already be familiar with the community and reading will make you feel as you've just visited with an old friend. As always, reading another installment by Beth Wiseman was a pleasure. I look forward to another book in the series.
What do You think about Plain Proposal (2011)?
I loved this entire series. I highly recommend it to everyone.
—graeme
