#REVIEW - Adoring Addie (The Courtships of Lancaster County #2) by Leslie Gould

DESCRIPTION
When Addie Cramer's mutter and daed decide Phillip Eicher is the man for her to marry, they claim she must honor them by obeying their wishes. But then she falls in love with Jonathan Mosier--part of the family with whom the Cramers have a long-held grudge. 

With the help of others in her community who long to see the quarrel healed, Jonathan and Addie struggle to continue their relationship against both sets of parents' wishes. But when one of Addie's vengeful brothers harms a member of the Mosier family, Jonathan intervenes and is banished from Lancaster County. 

A distraught Addie determines to find the true reason for the grudge between the two families, hoping to tear down the animosity of the past. Can their love for each other bridge the divide between their families? Or are they destined to remain apart forever?


MY TAKE:
3.5 STARS!
This has been a fond series to read so far with Courting Cate, but this one has been my least favorite so far. The entire series of The Courtships of Lancaster County is going to be based upon William Shakespeare's plays, and this one was Romeo and Juliet. This tale has it's own unique spin.
At first Addie is being strongly pushed to marry Phillip Eicher, the Bishop's son, but her heart is not set on him at all. She feels nothing for him, yet her parents are making her feel so bad by saying she is going against their wishes. She feels nothing for him. Later, when she finds out Jonathan Mosier has moved back to Lancaster County, now her heart goes aflutter. Addie and Jonathan would sneak off to the creek together, but every time they did, they got caught! There really wasn't enough romance between the two to make this 'feel' like a super good Romeo and Juliet.
There is a huge problem. Unfortunately, the two families don't have this couple, Addie and Jonathan in mind for each other because there is a rift between the two families, and has been for quite a while as it is demonstrated as a fight breaks out between someone in each family, and Jonathan happens to get in the middle of it, and he gets hurt ending up in the hospital.
The rift between the two families has to do with mental illness and an addiction problem. I thought that was really a good thing to bring up with the Amish. Not only do Englisher's suffer from this, but so do the Amish, and this brought a little bit of reality to the story which I do like to see in the Amish books.Even though the one woman has an issue more so which is what is causing the rift between the families, the two fathers get along great! Perhaps there is a chance for Addie and Jonathan?
Cate makes an appearance in this book, so that was nice to see.
If you would like to read this series in order, then go ahead and first grab Courting Cate, then pick up this book! The next book will be Minding Molly based upon A Midsummer Night's Dream, Book 3 in the Courtships of Lancaster County.
This concludes my review of the story, except to say this story does NOT involve 'Tragedy' as does Shakespeare's play does, thankfully! So for those of you who are interested in this book, that is about it except for the rest of my review which has SPOILERS IN IT, so if you want to read this book, then STOP HERE.
***SPOILER ALERT HERE!!! Stop reading if you are planning on reading this book! Jonathan gets hurt, is in the hospital with the family all around him, and they think he died. Aren't there monitors hooked up to you when you are in a hospital bed and unconscious? The family thought he was dead, but the machine would be beeping if he was doing just fine. If he had died or had a problem, then the machines would be going crazy, especially if his heart stopped, nurses and doctors would be running frantically working on him to bring him back, etc. I know these people are Amish, but there would be a frenzy going on! There was not. Or, if he did pass, the hospital would not just let him lay there.
Addie has a balcony. Did we get a balcony scene? No. Why not? Why even mention it?
In Romeo and Juliet, the balcony scene is the most famous scene of all! I was sad that nothing happened with this. Why did the author even talk about Addie having a balcony if nothing was going to happen?
There were a few other things that could have been done differently to make it feel a little more like Romeo and Juliet, such a Jonathan giving Addie flowers, or surprising her with something romantic, but nothing romantic happened. We just didn't get enough romance in this book.
This didn't feel like a very romantic Romeo and Juliet that I would have expected. We needed more romance! We didn't get hardly any, and yes, I'm boo-hoo'ing!
I usually love Leslie Gould's writing very much, so when I found out the next book was going to be based on Romeo and Juliet, I was really excited for this one, only to be let down. One could argue, I guess, that the master story teller of Romeo and Juliet was, after all, Shakespeare, so . . . ? We just wanted a little more in this book than what was delivered.
I received this book for FREE from the Publisher, Bethany House and NetGalley in exchange to read and write a review about it. It is NOT required for this review to be either positive or negative, but of my own honest opinion. "Free" means I was provided with ZERO MONIES to read this book nor to write this review, but to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.