Between You and Me audiobook

Susan Wiggs writes about family, community, love, and tackles real life issues in the process.Caleb Stoltz vowed to take care of his dying brother's two children. This meant he had to return to his Amish roots and raise them within the Amish community in Middle Grove, Pennsylvania. Years earlier, Caleb had left the Amish way of life to attend community college and chase his dreams. He works hard on his farm and enjoys life with his niece and nephew and seldom thinks about his life outside of the Amish community. When tragedy strikes, and he makes the decision to have his nephew airlifted to a hospital for medical care, he is thrust back into urban life. At the same time, he faces disapproval from his father, Asa, for placing the injured boy on a helicopter.Dr. Reese Powell is working at the hospital when Caleb's nephew Jonah is brought in. Her parents are successful doctors and hope that one day she will join their medical dynasty. She is intrigued to see someone from the Amish community in the hospital. She answers his questions tries her best to make him comfortable. When the danger appears to be over for his nephew, Caleb finds that he is also intrigued by Reese and enjoys answering her many questions. Coming from two different backgrounds, they form a friendship. Reese does not know much about the Amish way of life and as Caleb educates her, the reader is educated as well. Reese also gets to meet Caleb's niece, Hannah, who is hiding a secret.Two different worlds collide in this book and I enjoyed reading about the Amish community. This book dealt with issues such as abuse, shunning, physical rehabilitation, acceptance, following your dreams and your heart. Her characters are faced with cultural/religious issues such as respecting someone's wishes against receiving medical treatment when it goes against his/her beliefs. The reader also witnesses what can occur when someone does something that goes against their community's rules. As in her other books, Wiggs stresses the importance of family and friendship. She also addresses what it means to have a duty to your community, keeping your word, and observing traditions.I enjoy Susan Wiggs books. Her characters feel as if they are real life people and are faced with real situations. Her books are well written and prove to be fast reads for me. I enjoy books that not only entertain me but educated me. This book did both. Wiggs books are also light on the romance. There are no graphic sex scenes or language. You know if her characters have sex, but she doesn't go into much detail. I know some enjoy her lighter touch to romance.Overall, an enjoyable read!I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com

4.5/5Is anyone else fascinated by the Amish faith and their culture in general? There’s something about their simplistic way of life and strong ties to family and their community that never fails to capture my attention. Naturally, I loved the premise for this, an Amish is family forced to enter the English world when tragedy strikes and their encounter with a young doctor has the power to change all of them forever, doesn’t that sound great?! Spoiler alert, it was amazing!Wiggs has that uncanny ability to create characters that are so deeply developed that by the end of the book you’re heartbroken to say goodbye to them. Both Reese and Caleb were highly complex and interesting, I was so invested in both of them and curious about how their relationship would evolve and grow. She’s also an incredibly skilled writer, I got some serious Jodi Picoult vibes here, it had that same emotional intensity and caused me to question my own beliefs and values alongside the characters.This book dealt with some heavy issues and Wiggs explores some hot button topics with a sensitivity and grace that’s admirable. There were also some shocking twists along the way and some light romance, nothing too in your face though, more sweet and subtle than anything else. Fans of Wiggs will devour this and for readers looking for a new author to discover I can highly recommended this book!Between You and Me in three words: Thought-provoking, Skilled and Deep.

I have long loved Wiggs' powerful family dramas and her latest is especially powerful. A life or death emergency brings powerful physician Reese Powell into the life of Caleb Stoltz, who is raising his niece and nephew in a traditional Amish community. A medical controversy tests faith, family and all that Reese and Caleb hold dear i a thought provoking and moving read.

Fascinating story about the Amish community and the impact of interacting with outside society. Audio version was well done.

This is my 3rd book by Susan Wiggs and I’ve loved her other 2 books as well. It’s a really nice story, getting me away from the psychological thrillers I’ve been drawn to lately. When reading this book, I kept thinking of all of the Amish books written by Linda Castillo. I do love her too! This a great feel good book by Susan Wiggs.

4.5/5Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs has been my most anticipated book release for this summer season. I just couldn’t wait for it because I love Susan Wiggs’ books so completely and I also tend to really love stories about the Amish community and interesting Amish characters. I feel like the collective Amish community is sort of its own character here, and completely fascinating, but this story really features Caleb and Reese, the unlikely intersection of their very different lives, and how it changes them both in the process.Caleb Stoltz is raising Jonah and Hannah, his nephew and niece, after their parents were murdered. He promised his brother that he would raise the children Amish even though that meant giving up on his plans for his own life. When 11-year-old Jonah has a horrific farm accident requiring surgical intervention at a large trauma center far from home, what Jonah thinks is best for the boy is in direct opposition to the more traditional ways of the Amish community.Reese Powell meets Jonah when he arrives at the hospital for emergency treatment, which is also how she comes to know Caleb. Reese is finishing out her final year of medical school and making plans for where she will begin her residency and start her career. For her entire life, Reese’s parents have mapped her future for her, and her future is very bright. But Reese does not love the plan her parents made. As she spends more time with Jonah and Caleb, she realizes that she can have both a slower-paced, more meaningful life like she desires while also having a wonderful career in the medical field. However, if she changes the plan that is already in progress, it will go against everything that her parents want for her.By this time, I feel like I trust Susan Wiggs completely. I trust her to give me a fully developed group of characters that I have deep feelings for, one way or another, and I trust her to walk me through some pretty major parts of their lives as if I’m right there with them. I loved that I was able to look at this particular Amish community through Caleb’s eyes in particular, as he has his own thoughts and feelings about living there. Trust me when I say that just because he is a part of the community doesn’t mean that he is all in it, heart and soul. He has baggage there plus he is under a lot of pressure with his farm, taking care of the two kids, and raising them Amish while also not stifling who they are as individuals. I’ve read stories with Amish characters that carry baggage but also fully embrace their traditions, but Caleb takes a different approach. I loved this.I also love the way Caleb and Reese both struggle with outside forces trying to exert control over their lives. In this way, the two are able to understand one another even though their backgrounds are so completely different. Ms. Wiggs does a great job of showing that people from all types of communities and backgrounds can experience similar feelings sometimes, and we can certainly empathize with and feel for one another, learning about our differences as we go.Watching Caleb, Jonah, and Hannah learn about the neat things in the modern “English” world was really fun for me. Hannah (Jonah’s sister) was mesmerized by the ease of taking a simple shower and Jonah lost himself in books that were never available to him previously, like Harry Potter and To Kill A Mockingbird. I loved these little details.I had mixed emotions when I got to the end of the book. I loved the time I spent with the characters, but I was sad when there was no more story. I’m not one to wish that every book could be made into a series, but if Ms. Wiggs decides to continue with this story in any way, I would be first in line for the next installment.I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much, William Morrow Books!Find this review and more like it on my blog, Into the Hall of Books!

A charming story that speaks of love, loss, hope, and the family.Grade: B+Susan Wiggs celebrates the love, loss, hope, and family in her newest release of a man and women who meet under terrible circumstances and through that forge a bond that strengthens while eventually forcing them apart. Emotionally honest and poignant with a delightful thread of humor running through it, Between you and Me introduces us to Caleb Stolz and Dr. Reese Strauss. Told in alternating POVs, Wiggs builds a sweet and witty romance around a experience with them the ups and downs of falling in love as religion, lifestyles, and family try to pull them apart.Caleb turned his back on his Amish upbringing until his brother’s death brought him home to raise his niece and nephew. The victim of an abusive home and still keeping one foot in the English world, when Caleb’s nephew is hurt badly in a farming accident, Caleb has no qualms with taking him to the hospital for care. Reese is a resident whose uber famous parents have all but decided her career path though lately, she has been wishing for something more. Meeting Caleb opens her eyes to a whole new world and she fully embraces the opportunity to learn more about the Amish and him. The closer Reese and Caleb grow, the harder it is to keep their boundaries in place. And when one of them goes too far, the price for redemption may be to much to pay.

This book is brimming with emotions...love, faith, dreams, disappointments, hope. From the very first page of the prologue I was enraptured by this story. Reece and Caleb are two people whose paths were never likely to cross, until a tragic accident brings Caleb from his Amish community to Reece’s modern, fast-paced world. I loved watching their relationship develop, first as friends, and then slowly into something deeper and wonderful....but how do they overcome their differences and the intrusions of living life and remaining true to themselves? Their journey was a story of discovery, their feelings deep and often conflicted, as they test whether their differences are too much to overcome. What struck me the most was how, despite their outward and obvious differences, they were both struggling with the expectations of others, wanting to do their best not only for themselves, but also for each other and for their families. This book is a wonderfully warm-hearted and tender book.

Uma vez mais a Susan Wiggs presenteia-nos com uma história maravilhosa, centrando-se na família, nos seus laços, relacionamentos e expectativas.Neste livro temos a oportunidade de conhecer a comunidade amish, uma comunidade com uma forma de pensar diferente daquela a que estamos habituados e com regras bastante restritas para quem aí está inserido.Uma narrativa envolvente e que gostei muito de ir acompanhando.

A thoroughly engrossing story that entwines an Amish man and a prospective physician. Their worlds become entangled when an accident on an Amish farm requires a youth being air lifted to a trauma center in the Pocono mountains.

Normally I don't read romance type books. But my sister read this and said for me to give it a try. I was looking for something a tad bit different and just wasn't up to clearing my mind with a cozy -So 4 stars for this book.

Ten year old Jonah Stoltz may have started to dream of the life he would want, but a tragic accident has cut short the chance for those dreams. Reese Powell has buried any dreams she may have had. Caleb Stoltz had dreams that in a split second came to an end. Yet in a moment of shock and tragedy these three people may have a chance to find new dreams, dreams filled with a joy they could never have seen until they are brought together. Reese Powell has been on a straight and steady trajectory toward not only a speciality in paediatric surgery, but to become a part of her very successful parents’ medical practice. Every step of her life has been toward the best schools, the highest grades, the right people and the most favourable position. At no point did her parents ask what she wanted and at no time did she feel she could tell them what they wanted for her was not what she wanted for herself. Following the death of his brother and sister-in-law, Caleb Stoltz took on the care of their two young children, Hannah and Jonah. Before his brother, John, died, he asked Caleb to raise Hannah and Jonah as Plain—as part of the Amish community they came from. Caleb agreed, but at the cost of giving up his own dreams. He has tried to live in the Amish way, despite how he disagrees with some of the ways, he has done his best, especially in how he has raised John’s children. Susan Wiggs’ latest book, BETWEEN YOU & ME is nothing short of amazing. It is, perhaps, her best story yet. Told with compassion and understanding she takes her readers into not one complex world, but several. There are layers to the story and she carefully and engagingly, builds on each layer. As you meet each character you want to know more about them, you want to be a part of their lives and to travel their paths with them.

This was an amazing book. 5+*** Stars Susan Wiggs gives you an emotional story about two people from differnt upbrings and ways of life. One a man bringing up his brother's two children in the Amish community that his dead brother wanted them to be raised in and a woman, who is on the way to becoming a doctor and needs to find a way to have what she wants and not what her parents want for her. Both Caleb and Reese have to make decisions that will change their lives and the lives of the people they love. Knowing that what every decisions they make, they will not be easy for the people they love and respect. I read it in less than 24 hrs. Once I started it I just could not put it down. It is an amazing story that will move you from the moment you start the first page until the last.