Not such a treasure.....

Book Review:  Treasuring Emma by Kathleen Fuller

Emma has put everyone else first in her life. Now at nearly 25, has she missed her chance at marriage?

Emma was Adam's first love but circumstances made them both choose different paths in life. Emma's heart breaks all over again when Adam returns to the Amish community of Middlefield, Ohio, years later.

For the past ten years, Emma has been a care-giver. First for her mother who unsuccessfully battled breast cancer, and now for her grandmother who gets more frail with each passing year. Emma has always put the needs of others above her own. With more time on her hands, she determines to focus on herself and her dream of opening a rescue shelter for stray animals in the community.

With Adam's return come feelings Emma's long buried. They're older and life hasn't turned out the way they thought it would. Adam's feelings for Emma are stronger than ever, but will he be able to convince her to put the past aside and give their love a chance?

I have read several other books by Fuller so I was excited to read Treasuring Emma.  However, I wasn't too far into the book before I realized that this novel was not going to be anything like Fuller's other books. I had to make myself endure to the end.  Major disappointment.

There are several things about Treasuring Emma that are lacking.  First, the intro into the characters and storyline lead you to believe that Emma is going to start a business with animals.  This never happens.  Emma is also described as "frumpy" and "old maid-ish" but really?  she is only in her early 20s?  Fuller could have come up with something better than the typical "frumpy old maidel" Amish character.  That girl gets played more in the Amish genre than anything else.  But what about Adam?  Emma's main love focus.  This should be fully developed and woven in the story but it seems that Fuller spends too much time introducing secondary characters without getting all the main characters in place.

Emma's sister and family are some of those secondary characters.  While her sister is a tad annoying I didn't really mind her in the story.  The dilemma is why is she the kind of character she is because it doesn't add to what is happening.  It seems to just bring chaos vs. climatic tension.

Overall, this book seems like Fuller took a bunch of different characters and plot lines from various stories and tried to weave them all together in one book.  It didn't work.  It is by far the worse book I have read by her.  Very disappointing.
2 stars

I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Booksneeze in exchange for my fair and honest review.