Courting Cate (The Courtship of Lancaster County) #1 by Leslie Gould

Ebook, epub format, 243 pages

Published November 1, 2012 by Bethany House Publisher

Rating 3,5

"Where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds that fury." (Shakespeare)

This is not a story of classics, but it is a story of a classical theme in romance, love. How love grows, dies then blossoms in different seasons. How love grows of two fires that feed their fury, themselves and God. Oh, sweet.
Cate Miller was grown up in Pennsylvania, together with her Dat and her sister, adorable Betsy. No one could resist Betsy’s charm, especially male teens. She’s so lovely that nobody cared of Cate. She turned out to be known as Cate the shrew, Cate the bitter tongue, etc. She’s just 23 years ole, but in Amish society, she’s a spinster. She’s so bitter that she withdrew herself in Amish community. She avoided going to singing held in one of Amish families and any other events. One thing that made her secured was just books. Thanks to Nan, the librarian of a bookmobile. Books seemed to be her only air that she could breathe. Every time she needed place to escape, books could be her only savior. Her life wouldn’t change until she met Pete Treger.

They met each other in Nan’s bookmobile. Cate was just a bitter Cate that turned down any attention. Pete, from underprivileged Amish family, got attracted to Cate the very time he saw her. He believed that Cate read much more books that anyone he ever met, and that made him fall for her. Alas Cate only thought that gentlemen would only fall for her adorable sister, Betsy. And then again, Cate turned down the affection Pete showed to her. Above all, Cate overheard of a motif offered to Pete, if he could court her to get her gather’s wealth. Cate could just avoid his charm that started to blossom in her heart, but Betsy dreamed to get married young. But their Dat declared that Betsy would never get what she wanted until someone courted Cate.

This is my second novel of Amish after I read Temptation last year. One thing that made me eager to read the book was the issue of Amish. Different from the previous novel I read, this novel didn’t discuss in detail about Amish. Temptation was about two teens falling for each other but they were from different background. Oftentimes, the writer explained the habits of Amish people. Thanks to my previous novel so I could get a picture of Amish when I read this novel. The writer did discuss about Amish’ way to gather, pray, marriage rules, and some other things, but for me, the previous novel helped me a lot to understand what Amish is like.

Cate Miller’s underwent some processes of changing her characters. After her forced marriage with Pete, she had a lot of grudges, kept questioning herself if there’s a chance for her loving Pete and Pete loving her back. In this part, I think it’s a bit annoying that kind of characters lingered in Cate’s heart, regardless what Pete did to her. I felt disappointed, too, depressed how Pete turned into someone annoying. It’s like a common telenovela I used to watch years ago. From the beginning, the writer stated how Cate loved books. She read most books offered in bookmobile, but gave up in novels. Books, for me, can be a way to cope with difficult situation, including helped me to think. Books can make us think of any possibilities, see in different perspectives. Yet Cate seemed to keep busy thinking from negative perspectives. But then I liked the way the writer ‘helped’ Cate to get rid of the negative thoughts she got. If not, I would probably quit finishing the novel. Lol.

Oya, another ‘progress’ of Amish I found here is they started to use technology offered: emails, telephone, cars (SUV!!), etc, though some of them were just complimentary for them. But at least, I know that they didn’t close their eyes of what world offers them, being practical and modern. Hahaha…