FOUND (Secrets of Crittenden County, 3)

FOUND is the final book of a 3-book series set in Crittenden County, Kentucky by Shelley Shepherd Gray. Note: I read all of the books before writing the review.Despite the storyline flaws, I enjoyed the first two books, MISSING and THE SEARCH. However, the mystery the author attempts to weave is awkwardly handled between books and becomes laborious reading by the third book, FOUND. I thought the story would never end.In addition, there's no real suspense and nothing that drives the reader's need to know. Details are randomly dropped. For example, the sheriff climbs into the crime scene and absolutely nothing is said about what he sees or finds. More detail is given about extraneous antics at the local dry goods store than anything surrounding the case. There's plenty of characters but they aren't developed enough to distinguish one from the other.In addition, it always bothers me when a writer pens an "Amish" book and then deviates from those foundational premises. In my opinion, it feels disrespectful to the Amish to stray from their core beliefs. Alas Shepard-Gray does exactly that. All three books have Amish and Englisher romances. One such relationship could be believable but THREE?! In addition, the characters all have public displays of affection, ie hugging, kissing, etc. and there's nary a bishop, minister, or Amish parent to intercede until once at the end of the third book.It's as if the author was so busy making sure the message of forgiveness was delivered that it didn't matter if the overall story had any quality.

I ordered this book to conclude a series that start in a book club. The seller did say that it would arrive between a large date range and it arrived on the last quoted day; 24 days after I ordered it! I had no idea that shipping could take so long. I definitely wouldn't do this again.I did read the series of books and they were enjoyable.

An other great amish series. These stories bring peace and calmness into my life. Amidst their troubles, the amish characters find a way to persevere and make the most of their situations in life. U always come away with a life lesson.

I have finished the last book in this series and It’s time to say goodbye to the people and story in this authors world. That to me says the author has done her job when the characters become a real.

Read all 3 parts. As soon as you finish book one you want to continue with book 2 and then book 3

I loved it not your average Amish book. I couldn’t wait to read it. I loved the twist of who the murderer was. Great story about forgiveness.

The conclusion to this series was a disappointment. The character development for Aaron Schrock in the first two books of this series was inconsistent with him being the person who ended the life of Percy Borntrager. A far more consistent ending would have been to implicate the childhood friend of Frannie Eicher, Micah Overholt, who had been shown to have some very troubling aspects to his personality.

Shelley Shepard Gray - great author. Loved the book, realized I had started the series on Book 2 but it didn't matter because the author made it riveting.

This was a satisfying finale to the Crittenden County trilogy, however there were just a few threads that felt like they were shortchanged and a couple of wince-worthy proofreading errors. I did truly enjoy it, but I also wondered if it had been finished/typeset in a rush.It's hard to talk about specifics without potentially ruining the story, so I will keep this general. The reveal of the perpetrator made me sad, but I think that is a compliment - I cared enough about these characters that I didn't relish the idea of any of them being revealed as a villain.There were a couple of storylines that seemed to rather peter out. There's something nice about not having every single loose end tied up, but, for example, there was a character who began to seem quite sinister in "The Search" whose story wasn't really continued and who just appeared at the end of the novel as part of a group. I felt like there was potential there that was squandered, if nothing else to further complicate the "whodunit" aspect and fool the reader a little longer.Alongside a few disappointments storywise, there were several typos and continuity gaffes. The most glaring one was a character repeating a thought she'd already expressed several chapters beforehand, but there were also a few cringe moments that should have been caught in proofreading. That feels like an author being let down by the publishing house, and is a shame. The continuity gaffe I mentioned was probably the worst in terms of jarring me out of the story.Overall, I really enjoyed this, I'm glad I bought it, and I will most certainly read the trilogy again at some point, but it did read as if it had been slightly rushed to be finished and into print, which I felt was rather a shame.

It was for my own use

Nice book in great condition.thanks so much