The Ties That Bind by Cindy Woodsmall

I'm  going  to say Wow!!!! What a story!!! 

Cindy Woodsmall has done it once again!! 

I really enjoyed this story and I felt really connected with the people in the book.

I love reading books that are myterious in a weird sort of way. 

I gave this book 5 stars because Cindy has written a page turner from the beginning of the book.

I felt connected to Ariana from the beginning.  I admire her love for God,family and her ambition most of all. 

Ariana is a special lady. She had a lot of ambition to go out and do what she wanted. She saves her money to open her very own business hoping that it would help her family financially.

Her whole family has helped out when they could

 I admired Quill as well. In a weird sort of way, he rinds me of Harriet Tubman (helping the Amish escape in the middle of the night). Harriet did the same thing with the slaves who wanted to escape slavery.

Quill was the conductor of the Amish underground railroad. He had left the Amish 5 years earlier when things became too much. Along with him left Frieda, who was Arianas best friend at the time. 

The story gets more interesting as we learn that Issac and Lovina realize that they could actually do something that happened 20 years ago when there was a fire in the Amish clinic.  

Another girl was born at the same time as Ariana. I really, really admired Issac and Lovina how their faith and love kept them together through the whole story. Lovina did cry a lot and I cried right along with her because I was wishing that was me. I was wishing that my birth mother would come and find me too. Lovina is a strong woman but still I'd be pretty upset too. 

During all this turmoil, Ariana's older sister wants to leave the Amish because of what happened with her daughter.  Salome feels pressure from her community. But when Salome learns that Ariana may not be who she is Salome decides to stay.  I was so happy for Salome.  I think she made the right decision to stay for now.

Then we meet Skylar.  I feel that she has brought all this on herself. Not all theater ppl do drugs or whatever the case may be. I was upset to learn of this. Skylar is better than that. I want to see her succeed not mess up. 

Skylar meets Quill and learns that she may have an Amish background from birth.

I don't understand why Skylar's dad all of a sudden just decides to show up.  I hated the way he threatenes the midwife into telling what she done that night. In the confusion and chaos I can understand why that happened. 

Ariana accidentally overhears her parents talking and she learns that the babies were switched the night of the fire.  

I can't imagine how I would feel if that were to happen to my child. I also feel sorry for the 2 girls. 

Both will feel displaced for a long time to come. 

I'm anxiously awaiting the 2nd installment of this book. I want to see what happens to the two girls and how they adjust to their new lives.

Way to go Cindy for writing a wonderful novel. 

This book was given to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review! 

This a must read for anyone who enjoys Amish fiction!