A review by ppcfransen
Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower

3.0

I liked the setting in a community with Amish; it provided some unusual colour local. But other than some mentions of gas lights and no electricity in the living quarters, there was very little indication of the setting among Amish. Perhaps I expected more of a cultural clash, but even Cass did not suffer much of a cultural clash when she came to stay for a few days.

There were even a few things I wondered if Amish would do that: an Amish girl named Emily (it seemed like a rather modern name, particularly compared to the brother and sister named Abel and Esther) and on Saturday, several characters - including Clara King - say something like "the shop can open again tomorrow." But that would be a Sunday, for many Christians a day on which you do not work if it is not necessary. Selling candies is not really a necessity.

One thing that bothered me was that Bailey conveniently overheard conversations where the speaker was either more likely not to speak with Bailey near them, or they spoke English while they said their important things, and then switched to Pennsylvania Dutch to continue. That seemed a bit artificial.

Also, if Bailey spent all her Summers as a child with her grandparents and her grandfather thought her all about making candy, how come they never thought her more than a few words of Pennsylvania Dutch? Her grandparents and all the other Amish must have been very careful never to speak Pennsylvania Dutch when she was around. Kids pick up language very quickly.