Book 30: The Search

The Search by Suzanne Fisher Woods is the most disappointing book in the Lancaster Secrets Series. The book just failed to hit a sweet spot and really pull me into the narrative.  It went from bad to okay.

I borrowed this book from my mom. This was one Christmas gift I felt bad giving. The last Beverly Lewis book wasn’t the best but wasn’t bad. I wish the book was stronger. My mom loves books as much as I do but she will spend her disposable income on her daughters (like any great parent does) where I will spend it on books (but at least I will give her a fair portion of my books to read as well). So when she gets a new book, I want it to be a good one so I felt bad that this wasn’t one of those great books. But I’m glad if one of us paid for the book that it was me.

The Search is a bit of a three story arch. There is Bess’ tale where she’s growing up while visiting her grandmother, Beth. Beth is trying to find a bone marrow match for her brother Simon and knows Lainey’s secret without using it. Then there is Lainey who is non-Amish but is tempted into the fold through her relationship with Beth and Bess.

The book was just not fantastic. I found myself especially early on forcing myself into the story. The story didn’t connect to my spirit or my attention span for the first 150 pages. I found my eyes wondering around the different points to the airport rather then focused on the text. This was a huge change from the last book (Deeper Than the Dead). Personally I rather a book catch my attention rather then force myself to read.

Thankfully Lainey really got my attention and really started to develop as the book went on. I loved watching her unfold as a character.  She was strong, into religion and I love her personality. She is what I want to be in a way-she finds a path in life that suits her even though it was completely different from what she thought going into the book.