Title: Yoder Family Amish Restaurant

Author: Becca Fisher

Format: Audiobook

Narrated by: Dorothy Deavers

Rating: 3/5

Sadie Zook is in an impossible situation. After a long search, she’s finally found love. But the man she’s fallen for also happens to work at the same Amish restaurant – a restaurant that has banned coworkers from dating. So Sadie and her boyfriend are forced to keep their love a secret. Can they keep from being found out, or will everything Sadie has worked so hard for be jeopardized?

Quick Take

Yoder Family Amish Restaurant is a sweet Amish romance, if not depressing and rushed at times.  Becca Fisher writes with knowledge of the Amish community, and Dorothy Deavers brings a calming tone to the audiobook.

Tell Me More

Upon first listening to the audiobook of Yoder Family Amish Restaurant on Audible, I fell in love with Dorothy Deaver’s voice.  Her presence perfectly complimented Becca Fisher’s quaint story, and the audiobook created a calming experience for me.  I enjoyed Deaver’s voices that she gave to each of Fisher’s characters, and it felt as though the story was being painted in front of me as I listened.

Sadie Zook, the protagonist of Yoder Family Amish Restaurant, is a humble, sweet woman whom I immediately felt drawn to.  The story focuses on her love life, and how she is reeling from heartbreak with a man she was dating who fell in love with someone else and chose to leave her.  My heart broke for Sadie as I listened and empathized with her story.

Sadie is a waitress at an Amish restaurant, and the story is heavily focused on her coworkers and the patrons who frequent the restaurant.  As Sadie’s friends begin to fall in love, get married, and have children, she feels as though she is falling behind because she has not found a man with whom she would like to start a family.  However, Sadie finds purpose in her job at the Yoder Family Restaurant, and communion with her coworkers.

Unfortunately, as I continued to listen to the story, I found Sadie to be a depressing character.  She is often forlorn, and every time something good seems to happen for her, it ends up going wrong.  For example, when Sadie finally finds a man to go on a date with, his ex-girlfriend reaches out to him on the day of his date with Sadie and proposes trying to have a relationship again.  Sadie also goes out for a promotion at the restaurant and ends up losing the position to one of her coworkers with whom she doesn’t get along with.  When Sadie does begin dating one of her other coworkers towards the end of the novel, their romance took up only about the last fourth of the novel and it seemed rushed.  While I enjoyed the calming tone of Yoder Family Restaurant, I felt as though the depressing aspects of the novel were too drawn out whereas the inspiring sections were not given enough time.

Nevertheless, the audiobook of Yoder Family Amish Restaurant provides a calming listening experience with a clear look at the Amish community.  Even though the novel did have more of a sorrowful tone, I did enjoy learning more about the young Amish community and experiencing the simple life.  Becca Fisher writes with knowledge and empathy of the Amish community, and I look forward to listening to more of her audiobooks.