Under the Heavens by Thomas Nye - A Book Review

Under the Heavens by Thomas Nye is book one in the Amish Horses Series.  Within the pages of this book you will read about Lenny a young teenage boy who is struggling with his identity.  Lenny was conceived from a one night stand and his mother went on to marry a former Amish man.  She is not able to tell Lenny very much about his father due to the circumstances and Lenny struggles with knowing where he belongs.  Lenny is sent to his stepfather's Amish family for the summer.  Since Lenny never knew his own father the grandpa (Lenny's stepfather's dad) insisted that it would be good for him.  While there Grandpa and Lenny form a tight bond and the grandpa begins to teach Lenny about horses.  It soon becomes Lenny's responsibility to care for the horses on the farm.  Lenny meets Leah, an Amish neighbor and a romance develops between the two of them.  Lenny begins to see that life on an Amish farm is not as dull as he thought it would be.

I have some mixed emotions about this book.  First, I think the author is a great story teller and does a lovely job of painting a picture with words.  He gives the reader a glimpse into the everyday life on an Amish farm and his writings come from his own experience with the Amish.   The main focus is on the horses.  As a young girl I loved reading books about horses, but I'm not as into them as I used to be.  I felt like the book is more suited for a younger age group, say junior high age, but the books is also about 400 pages long and I think a younger person would tire of it before they reached the end.  I felt like the story line was too slow paced.

Another thing that I had a difficult time with is when I started reading I thought Lenny was around nine years old and then when I figured out that he was a teenager I found it difficult to accept since it seemed as he was being portrayed as a younger character.  The author also kept referring to him as the "city boy" and it was repeated so often that I found it odd and a little annoying.

On a more positive note, the book does give you a sense of longing for a more simple life.  It gives you an appreciation for nature and the beautiful world that God has created for us to enjoy.  I liked it enough to be interested in the next book in the series and would like to find out more about what happens in Lenny's life.

If you would like to learn more about Thomas Nye and his Amish Horse Series you can get to his blog by clicking HERE.

***This book was provided to my by the publisher through the BOOKCRASH book review program.