Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review. Post contains affiliate links; if you make a purchase, I may earn commission. Opinions shared are mine.

Shelley Shepard Gray’s Amish of Hart County series appeals to me because I’m familiar with that area.  I’ve read 4 out of the 5 books in the series.  Each one stands alone, yet there are common threads between the stories.  Her Fear is book #5 in the series.

As with the other books in this series, the author doesn’t shy away from hard topics. In fact, it’s as if she goes after the most intense subject matter at the moment!  Her Fear centers around a family hiding their involvement in illegal activities.  Watch any reality TV show set in the South and you’re likely to find a similar story line, but I’d be surprised if there were Amish characters involved!  Other than the Amish mentions, there’s relatively little mention of anything faith-related or Biblical in the story.

The setting of the book holds a lot of interest for me.  When the characters visited Mammoth Cave, for example, it reminded me of our Horse Cave trip.  That’s the main reason I continue to read the Hart County books; it’s fun to read about familiar places!

Though I wanted to really love this story, there were some issues that I couldn’t ignore.  It was confusing to figure out exactly how Sadie’s family was connected to Stephen’s family.  At first mention, Stephen was an only child (page 8).  On page 39, Sadie told Noah that Stephen was her mother’s younger brother.  Yet on page 212, Stephen says that his brother kicked Sadie out.   Also, upon first introductions (page 52) it seemed that Stephen really disliked Daisy.  He almost acts like she deserved to be “an old maid.”  Later, though, we’re given the impression that he and Daisy had a thing going for years.  STRANGE!

I did not like Sadie, and it had nothing to do with her situation as an unwed mother.  Her parents were horribly abusive and cruel to her, which was sad, but honestly?  She became a mooch.  She lived with her relatives with zero thought about taking care of her own expenses or needs, and really took advantage of Noah.  She clearly knew what his intentions were, yet she decided not to reveal very important details about herself.  I did not respect her at all!

In deciding upon this book’s overall review, I’d rate it 3 out of 5 stars.  I liked that the author took risks about subject matter.  It’s interesting to learn about the different beliefs of various Amish groups, and I enjoyed seeing some of them hold jobs in the English world.

Would you be surprised by illegal activities in Amish fiction?