Review - Goodbye to Yesterday

Goodbye to Yesterday
The Discovery, Part 1 of 6
By Wanda E. Brunstetter
Publisher: Barbour Books
Pub. Date: Feb. 5th, 2013
ISBN: 978-1616260859
ASIN: B00AW3PXT8
Pages: 128
Buy Link: Paperback, Kindle

Review:

I've been reading Amish fiction for over ten years and I wrote the title and release date on a notepad for Wanda E. Brunstetter's newest release, so I could remember to keep an eye out for it in the stores. I guess I must be lucky, because it wasn't a day later that I received an email from Handlebar Publishing that Goodbye to Yesterday from Barbour Books was available to review. I eagerly agreed to review the book in exchange for my honest review. To my surprise, I found out that the book is a six-part miniseries, averaging about 120 pages a book (I'm guessing.).

Unlike most of Wanda's books where a young Amish man and woman falls in love and eventually gets married, the young couple, Luke and Meredith Stoltzfus, in Goodbye to Yesterday have already been married over a year. The life for these newlyweds isn't exactly easy as Luke has recently lost his job at a furniture store in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He has been making a little cash here and there selling his handmade furniture at a local farmer's market and a few gift stores, but he constantly worries about their finances as the money in their savings account won't last forever.

Their money troubles have caused an emotional strain on the young couple as Luke is pulling away from Meredith. She has offered to get a job and help pay the bills, but Luke has been raised to provide for his family and that is what he is going to do. Out-of-nowhere, Luke receives a message from Uncle Amos that he is retiring from engraving tombstones. Uncle Amos wants to sale his equipment to Luke and to teach him how to engrave, but it would mean Luke would have to spend several weeks in Middlebury, Indiana to learn the trade.

Despite the fact that they would be away from each other for several week, Luke gets on a bus for Indiana while Meredith takes care of their home. She is also keeping a secret from Luke that she plans on telling him when he returns. Luke is more than excited about his future profession, but there is an unexpected obstacle in his path.

I seldom ever read other reviews prior to writing to my own, but I happened to read a few for this book. I was surprised to learn that some readers thought the plot was not believable. I thought the plot was realistic. We are currently going financial crises in the world, making it hard for people to find a job, which includes the Amish. Meredith’s secret (which I'm not going to spoil for others) and Luke's trouble on his journey to Middlebury is not that far-stretched. Sure, there are several bad things that happen to Luke, but bad things happen to people every day. Several times in my life, I have had more than one bad thing happen to me in the row, so the plot is believable. Goodbye to Yesterday is an intriguing start to a new series and I'm looking forward to reading part 2.