Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

Title: Temptation
Author: Karen Ann Hopkins
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Published by: HarlequinTEEN
Source: Netgalley

Your heart misleads you.
That's what my friends and family say.

But I love Noah.
And he loves me.

We met and fell in love in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview, while we rode our horses together through the grassy fields and in those moments in each other's arms.

It should be

ROSE & NOAH

forever, easy.

But it won't be.

Because he's Amish.
And I'm not.

THOUGHTS:

I don't really know a lot about the Amish. Come to think of it, I don't think that I know anything significant about them, other than the way they dress. Also, I don't think I've ever read a YA book that has an Amish even as a minor character, so suffice to say I haven't really been exposed to the Amish through YA literature. I'm not going to lie though - the Amish fascinate me. Anyway, my ignorance of the Amish's way of life is one of the reasons as to why Temptation appealed to me as a novel - other than the fact that this said book falls under the genre of YA Contemporary (readers of my blog ought to know by now just how much I adore this genre), I also get to know more about the Amish people. Win win, right? Moreover, I have to admit - the forbidden love aspect of the novel positively intrigued me as well.

One of the things I loved about Temptation is that it was told through two perspectives. Obviously, we get to see how Rose and Noah's relationship progress through their own eyes, but other than that, we also see the Amish through Rose's point of view; the world of the 'English' (apparently, this is what the Amish call the non-Amish) through Noah's eyes, and vice versa. Narrating the story through dual POVs enriched the novel as a whole because simply put, we are privy to both sides of the story. I also loved that the readers are able to see just how differently the two view a specific thing - for example, something that Rose considers normal or nothing out of the ordinary is something that blatantly shocks or displeases Noah.

Furthermore, I loved just how painstakingly detailed Temptation is. It was rather obvious how meticulous Karen Ann Hopkins' research in creating this novel was. Everything - down to the clothes, the setting, the celebrations, and the means of transportation of the Amish, was accurate (I checked!) and nothing was let unexplored. Every single detail of the Amish's lives not familiar to the English world was described thoroughly, and next thing I know, I suddenly knew all sorts of things about the Amish.  As a matter of fact, it was so easy to get lost in the world that Hopkins shows her readers - that's how realistically she portrayed the Amish community.

To this date, I'm still torn on Noah and Rose's relationship - I have no idea if I support it, yes, but that doesn't mean that I don't believe that what they feel for each other is real, or that I didn't enjoy reading about it. It's just that reading about how they try to get their relationship to progress is god-damned frustrating, simply because they come from two different worlds. Let me be clear, however, that I don't mean 'frustrating' in a bad way. It's only a must that any relationship development between Noah and Rose be full of challenges because they are from two different walks of life; and while seeing them progress with regards to their relationships only to take step backs made me want to groan out loud, it was realistic, and I have to laud Hopkins for that. Everything about Noah and Rose's love story was realistic - everything was believable. In retrospective, let's face it - upon picking up this novel, I knew for a fact that this wouldn't be a happy-go-lucky love story, and that's what I got.

I both loved and hated reading about Noah as a character. While I loved how accurately portrayed he was (Noah's positively Amish through and through - there's no denying that), some of his actions irked me and ruffled my feminist feathers, and I guess I did kind of expect that. He is from a completely different culture, after all, and of course he would act in the way that he sees as normal. It was interesting to see how he and Rose attempted to meet halfway with regards to their cultures, and how they were truly dedicated in making their love last. 

All in all, I enjoyed reading Temptation. The novel was well-written, and I loved reading about every aspect of Noah and Rose's lives. Both characters also made lasting impressions, and I want to know more about them. While I wasn't really fond of some of Rose's choices in the book, I did understand why she made them, and I can't wait to see how everything unravels in Belonging.

Rating: 4 Stars