The Forbidden

Written by Beverly Lewis

Narrated by Aimee Lilly

Caleb Yoder's father has forbidden him to court Nellie Mae Fisher, but words alone cannot stop Caleb's devotion. Yet if he continues to pursue Nellie, he risks losing everything. Nellie, too, is torn. She longs to marry her Old Order beau but cannot ignore the gentle pull she feels toward the faith of her New Order family. Can she and her beloved satisfy the expectations of the People while remaining true to their hearts?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oasis Audio
• Release date: May 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781608142200

Beverly Lewis

Beverly Lewis, born in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, has more than 19 million books in print. Her stories have been published in twelve languages and have regularly appeared on numerous bestseller lists, including the New York Times and USA Today. Beverly and her husband, David, live in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, making music, and spending time with their family. Visit her website at BeverlyLewis.com.

Reviews for The Forbidden

[Lisa Morris · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Finding the love of Jesus, and choosing to follow Him, changes many lives in this 2nd book. Good story and I enjoyed the narrator.

[Donna Larson Christian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once again a excellent book. So well written and read.

[kevin shumway · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a story that furthers the searching of souls to true faith in Jesus.
How one can stay true to their faith in Jesus while walking through very troubled situations.

[jenniferrobb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If I had to sum up this book in one word, it would probably be stubborn.

David Yoder (Caleb's father) is stubborn in his beliefs that the Old Ways are the best ways, despite the Bishop's waiving of shunning (temporarily) for those who choose to belong to one of the other churches. His stubbornness loses him his two children who still live with him.

Caleb is stubbornly clinging to wanting his father's land and wanting Nellie as his wife. Does he not consider that there are other ways to provide for a wife? He could apprentice himself into a trade or, apparently, work for another family member (as happens at the end of the book). It also seems he could have approached Nellie's father about helping out there or perhaps even dividing up the farm between Benjamin (whom I don't remember at all) and himself as Nellie's husband. Caleb makes bad choices throughout the novel.

Nellie is convinced that Caleb is her only chance for happiness. She allows him to virtually ignore her just so he can please his father. I appreciate that Caleb is stuck between honoring his father and his love for Nellie but . . . that's not the way to treat a woman you love.

The part of the story about the twins reminds me a bit of the story where a ruler had to decide which of two women was a baby's mother (long before the days of DNA testing). His solution was to cut the baby in half and give half to each woman. There's a bit of a twist on that in this novel as one of the women gives up her claim to the twins to allow them to be raised together. I have to say though that I was disappointed that one of the characters reneged on her promise.

[kimmyd76 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beverly Lewis is becoming one of my favorite authors!

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This second novel in the series continues the story of Nellie and her family and friends in the Amish community. There is a split in the church, with some seeking to follow God through reading the entire Bible in English while others adhere to the Old Order Amish ways. Each thinks the other is wrong, and the Bishop has given the people three months to decide which way to go. After that, any baptized members leaving the old ways will be shunned. But even without formal shunning, the community is divided and hard feelings surface. The relationship between Nellie and her almost –fiancé is strained and forbidden by Caleb’s father. Other story threads continue, including the one concerning the twins who Kate gave to her cousin but is now regretting her decision. This story is one that Lewis fans will enjoy.

[pandareads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the first book in this trilogy and was excited to scoop the last two books up on sale. In this second book, Nellie Mae and Caleb struggle to find a way to be together. His father has forbidden him to see her because her family has gone away from the Old ways. There was a surprise ending, which I enjoyed and left me wondering how it will wrap up in the third novel.The subplots were interesting, too, to see the development of the tension between the two different sets of ideas and how that impacted the people on personal levels.The one thing I didn't enjoy about The Forbidden though was the way it dragged on. There wasn't much action and much of the novel was spent on individual character's reflections, which got a bit redundant after awhile. That's why this book gets four stars from me instead of five.

[sheriefx · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is book #2 in The Courtship of Nellie Fisher series. This book picks right up where the last one stopped which I really enjoyed. The continued struggle between the Old Order and the New Order families is carried throughout this book. I enjoyed watching the characters develop as they grew in their faith. Poor Nellie Mae and Caleb are stuck right in the middle of this struggle. Will they continue to court in secret? Or will Caleb follow his father's wishes? While this book did seem to go at a slow pace at times, I enjoyed it immensly. We also continue to follow the story of Rosanna King and husband Elias who adopted cousin Kate's twins. As Rosanna and Elias get more involved in the New Order church cousin Kate begins to have second thoughts. Will Rosanna and Elias be able to keep the babies? And, how will the church split continue to divide families? And don't forget about Rhoda who seems to be drawn more and more to the "fancy" world. What decisions will she make? If you read book one then you won't want to miss book two. I do recommend reading book one first however, you may be a little lost if you jump right in to this one.