Unforgiven was an emotional and compelling story that I did not want to set down! The author dealt with some heavy topics, including domestic abuse. It was hard to read about what happened to Tabitha with all that she went through and all that she lost, yet the author handled the subject well.
The two main characters in this story, Tabitha and Seth, are what you could call Amish adjacent, I suppose. They are both formerly Amish. They both still live near their Amish community yet are not Amish anymore and both live under a cloud of judgment from their former friends and family.
I thought that the author did a wonderful job of showing the internal struggles that both of these characters had faced over the years since the events that changed their lives. The reality was that even though there were things they regretted from their pasts, they both realized that despite their community’s judgment, they knew that they were forgiven by God and that certain actions they took were necessary, no matter what the community thought.
I loved seeing the way Seth and Tabitha connected and the way she grew to trust him. Seth was such a good man and I loved getting to read his story. This is the first book in a brand new series and you don’t have to read any books before it to understand the story. However, if you do want to read a couple of books that have Seth as a side character, you could pick up the Rumors in Ross County series and get a few more scenes with this formerly Amish ex-con.
(5 stars)
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ex-con Seth Zimmerman has spent the last three years making amends by helping the vulnerable in his former Amish community. Lately, this mission includes calling on Tabitha Yoder, whose divorce from her abusive husband has isolated her from the community. Even though she never comes out of her house to talk to him, Seth knows she watches him from the window while he chops wood, clears her driveway, and drops off food.
An uneasy friendship is just starting to take hold between them when small gifts begin to appear at Tabitha’s home–gifts that can only be from her ex-husband. Seth might be Tabitha’s only hope at maintaining her hard-won freedom from the man whose violent outbursts had almost cost her life. But coming to her rescue might mean he ends up behind bars once again.
Get swept up in this emotional story of two outcasts who may be each other’s only hope for happiness and redemption from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.