Book Review: Rumspringa Break by Kristina Ludwig

ASIN: B00FR1ER1U
Published: October 10th, 2013
Publisher: self-published
Read from March 23rd to 28th, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Rebekah is stellar at caring for the animals on her family's farm, and even better at eluding Jakob, the neighborhood boy who has a massive crush on her. But she's never ventured out of her ultra-strict Amish community in Pennsylvania.
All that changes when she and her twin sister Mercy turn sixteen. Now, it's time to embark on Rumspringa, the rite of passage for Amish teens. Together, the girls discover the outside world, dressing in "English" clothes, cruising to the city, and partying with college students. Rebekah meets a stunning pre-veterinary student named Braeden, who encourages her to follow her dreams of becoming a veterinarian.
As her appreciation of the English lifestyle blossoms, Rebekah is faced with a massive dilemma. How can she pursue a college education and still remain accepted by her Amish community? Can she and Braeden overcome their cultural differences and build a relationship -- and will her family and friends still talk to her if they do? 

Review:

I downloaded this book because it was free for the Kindle and it caught my interest. Sadly, it didn't really live hope to the hope I had for it. I think the biggest problem was the length. This book is short. Extremely short. There are nineteen chapters, but each chapter felt incredibly short as well. The biggest problem with the length was how awkwardly the book cut off. It didn't end. It just stopped. I know there's more to this series, but honestly, I'm guessing that could have just been added to this book to create one book that was a better length. There wasn't the slightest bit of resolution in this book.

Not only that, but I felt like I didn't have time to actually connect with the characters or the story. I wasn't pulled into the book at all, and I disliked all of the characters. They didn't feel real to me. It was as if they were all extremely two-dimensional and boring to me. Maybe that would have changed if I had read more about them, but the book was too short for me to ever find out. I also know I could go pick up the second book, but I didn't get into the first one enough to bother with the second. That may have been different if the first book had been longer and more developed. Then I might have gotten into the story enough to bother with the other books.

I wouldn't necessarily call this a bad book. It just didn't feel long enough to actually grab my interest. I also would have appreciated characters that felt more three-dimensional. I'm sure some people will enjoy this book and be able to appreciate it for what it is, but I didn't find it to be developed enough to be satisfying.