Amish Guys Don't Call

by Debby Dodds

[Sam@WLABB]

Following her parents divorce and a scape with the law, Samantha and her mother relocate from Philadelphia to Lancaster AKA Dutch Country. While she is attempting to navigate a complicated social structure, she meets Zach, who may be “the guy” she needs to accomplish Plan P — the search for her first boyfriend. While everything else in her world appears to be unravelling, Samantha also begins to worry that Zach may return to his Amish life. Will yet another person leave her behind?

When I saw this title, I was very intrigued. As a kid, I visited Dutch Country often, have quite a love for shoofly pie, and been interested in the ways of the Amish. This was an interesting portrayal, because Dodd opted to show all sides of the Amish. She shared the good things and the bad things. I thought she did a good job weaving these info bites throughout the story.

In fact, Dodd tries to show multiple perspectives on many of the issues in the book. I appreciate that approach, because it gives me something to consider and think about by presenting multiple angles. I really enjoyed Dodd’s afterword, where explained some of the choices she made in the book, as well as her inspiration. It confirmed things I thought, and also cleared up other things.

I really liked both Samantha and Zach. I found that they complemented each other quite well, and shared a lot of common issues. I honestly felt Zach brought a little more to the table, as his different experiences often helped Samantha see things with in a different light. It was pretty great how he could share parts of his culture with her in order to help give her clarity.

The romance between those two was very sweet and endearing. I loved seeing it slowly unfold, and the more time they spent together, the more each of them healed from their pasts.

I love a good redemption arc, and Dodd allowed so many characters to redeem themselves. There were a lot of character behaving badly in this book. Sam’s father left without a trace, while her mother was playing some kind of part-time role. Her friend was divulging her secrets and allowing them to be used against her, while another so-called friend was cyberbullying Sam. Sam also had her moments of bad behavior, but then someone stepped in, and set the redemption ball in motion. So, although there is the poor parenting and mean girls stuff, these characters all grew and changed for the better over the course of this book, and I am always glad to see that.

I found this to be a sweet and charming story of first love, friendship, and family.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

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