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The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

by Jodie Moore

July 25, 2012

@NotSo31Blog

When Annie's home life seems to be in constant upheaval, her mother sends her to her grandfather's house. While staying with her grandfather, she begins helping Aden at his family's restaurant. As they share more and more time together at the restaurant, they find themselves spending more and more time together outside the restaurant as well. But, when Annie's grandfather threatens to pull out his support to Aden's family restaurant if they don't stop seeing each other, both Aden and Annie are left with a very tough decision.

I just love Cindy’s books. She develops her characters so well and you can really understand them. Immediately I felt bad for Annie and was wishing nothing but the best for her. When the story between Aden and Annie began developing, I was wondering how they would ever make it work. One coming from an Amish lifestyle and one coming from a Mennonite lifestyle, never did I imagine how many differences there could be.

What I really enjoyed about this book is the thought process it put me through. I’m always curious as to what divides religions, whether it be dress, conduct, or just beliefs. So, I found it very interesting that two seemingly similar religions were extremely different. But, are they really? I mean if both believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and we ask Him into our hearts, then we are going to Heaven right? Does it matter how we met our spouse, whether we kissed during our dating, or if we have electricity or not? Isn’t it just about accepting Jesus as our personal Savior? To me, that should be the ultimate question. “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior?” All other differences can be put to the side, but without Jesus, we can’t move forward.

If you’re looking for a sweet love story, then this would be the book to get. The characters are so loveable, and I truly enjoyed watching each one of them grow in their walk with God. “We think too highly of ourselves at some times and too little of ourselves at others.” What a great lesson we can all learn from that!