Review of The Secrets Beneath

Bekah Yoder is a curious yet well-meaning Amish girl living in Middlefield. Her story here begins when she sees a stranger poking around the deserted house next door. Then, Bekah's sister Amanda comes to live with her and her family for the school-year, yet Bekah's parents will not tell her why. Bekah tries desperately to pry Amanda out of her shell as well as to resist her nosiness about the stranger next door. Bekah's curiosity eventually gets the best of her, however, putting her in serious danger. Fans of mystery should really enjoy this story.

The very first words I read upon opening this book was the author's dedication at the beginning: “To tweens and teens everywhere.” Since I am neither, I initially wondered if the book would be able to keep my attention the whole way through. My second hesitation was when I saw the list of Amish words to refer to from the text of the book; did I really want to have to keep referring to a list at the beginning of the book to understand the story? Thankfully, however, my fears were quickly allayed. The book definitely kept my attention all throughout the story, and the Amish words were easy enough to understand and clear enough in context that I rarely ever had to look back at the list. This was a wonderful book, and I feel that it's great for all ages, not just for the target “tweens and teens” audience.

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review; my opinions, therefore, are completely unbiased.