The Decision

Brunstetter, an Amish-fiction specialist who has sold more than 8 million books, begins her new Prairie State Friends series with a novel that moves as slowly as a Amish buggy. Jonah Miller has been courting Elaine Schrock for nearly a year, but the unexpected death of her grandfather puts marriage plans on hold. Further delays occur when Elaine’s grandmother is diagnosed with both diabetes and dementia. When Elaine ends up refusing Jonah’s marriage proposal in order to devote herself fully to caring for her grandmother, he begins seeing Sara Stutzman, a widow with her own dramatic health issues. The plot plods; the language trudges; the ending jerks to a stop with obvious hints at Book 2. While Brunstetter’s serviceable story speaks to caregiving, duty, and friendship, readers may cringe at sentences such as “Immediately, Elaine’s two special friends gathered her into their arms, and they wept bitterly.” Fans of Amish fiction and Brunstetter will want to read her latest, but this one isn’t her best. (Mar.)