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Meredith Freeman
Meredith was born here in Moore
County, and has lived here all of her life.
Meredith enjoys simple things like long
walks, reading, writing, crafting, flowers,
homeschooling her children, and ‘quiet
time’ in her swing admiring God’s Creation.
Take a look at some of Meredith’s ‘crafts’ on
Facebook @myhandfulsofpurpose.
Plain Jayne
by Hillary Manton Lodge
Review by Meredith Freeman
I begin by saying that I have always been an
avid reader of anything to do with history or
people; REAL accounts of REAL people and
REAL things. While I do enjoy an occasional
‘chick flick’—romance/fairy tale movie,
ahem—Cinderella, I don’t generally read
fiction. Autobiographies and biographies
are as far as it goes for me and books. BUT! I
must say as I stepped out of the box with Plain
Jayne, I didn’t regret it. I mean Plain Jayne
COULD very easily BE a real story. It wasn’t so
far out there! HA!
Plain Jayne is a fiction romance novel,
roughly 287 pages, and the first of two books
penned by Hillary Manton Lodge; Simply
Sara being the second. (Sidenote—I’ll most
likely end up reading the second book as well.
Shhhh!)
I’d like to say that the book was 100%
accurate in describing the ways and customs
of the Amish; but I cannot. Number one, I am
not Amish, and number two, I have neither
done extensive research nor studied their
ways, customs, etc. But I can say that it was an
easy read…meaning that it was well–written,
comical, engaging, suspenseful and left me
wanting more. Was it predictable? Yes and no.
It wasn’t an ‘over-the-top’ romance filled with
things that will never happen. Each character’s
personality was revealed very well, and I felt a
connection with each one.
The book begins in Portland, Oregon,
with Oregonian Newspaper reporter, Jayne
Tate. Eager to land a particular assignment in
Miami, Florida, Jayne is caught off guard and
less than pleased when her boss insists she
take some time off. Three weeks, to be exact.
Not knowing what to do with this time,
she stumbles across a magazine article on
the Amish, which peaks her curiosity and
subsequently leads her on a quest for another
news story—a story on the Amish, of course.
Hands–on and live action was the preferred
method of research for Jayne, and the only
logical one, especially with all this extra time
on her hands. So she hops on her motorcycle
and heads for the country!
Leaving both the big city life which she
so adores and her boyfriend Shane, Jayne
winds up in Albany, a small town…which
typically isn’t her thing. In Albany, she meets
Levi, a furniture business owner, who has
secrets of his own! Levi introduces Jayne
to the Burkholders, an Amish family who
graciously agree to take her in and show her
their ways. The Burkholders were a generous,
hospitable family who were simple people.
Every member of the family did their part in
the daily chores and responsibilities as they
valued hard work. Jayne shadowed the family
day in and day out, thus having a bird’s eye
view of the Amish traditions, customs and
ways...AND permission to do the story.
On the outside, Jayne was the extreme
opposite of the Burkholders. Her method of
travel was on a bike; she never wore dresses,
skirts or anything of the sort, and she loved
the city life along with modern technologies.
However, their every day ‘simpler’ life was
something that grew more and more appealing
to Jayne. A bond developed between city-girl
Jayne and the Amish Burkholder family. They
respected each other, loved one another,
became friends and realized they weren’t that
much different after all.
The Burkholders helped Jayne, albeit
unintentionally, in many many ways. Within
Jayne’s immediate family were broken,
strained, almost non–existent relationships,
but time with Burkholders allowed Jayne
to learn much about herself. Time revealed
her contribution to the unresolved issues
and provided a time of reflection, selfexamination,
as well as a renewed perspective
on life, relationships and on what is important
and what is not. Jayne also gained the needed
confidence to confront these ‘issues’ and seek
healing. And THAT, she did.
In turn, Jayne became a great friend and
help to the Burkholders during the lifethreatening,
near death experience of Gideon
Burkholder, head of the family. Severe heart
problems caused Gideon’s hospitalization
and urgent need to be transferred to the
Oregon Health and Science University
(OHSU) for surgery. OHSU was in the city, not
far from Jayne’s apartment, and in a twist of
events, Jayne opens her home to her newly–
made Amish friends.
Now, this book would not be considered a
romance if there were no romance, right? So,
as you might suspect, there was an obvious,
yet unexpected attraction and chemistry
between Mr. Levi and Jayne Tate from the
start. Talk about a curve ball for this mission–
minded newspaper reporter! A news story she
was on the hunt for…not ROMANCE!
Although there is much humor to be found
throughout every single chapter, this budding
romance is where I found the humor to be
hilarious! Not over the top. Just hilarious.
The thoughts that Jayne thinks to herself and
the scenes she creates in her head were so
woman–ish, so raw and so real that they could
be the thoughts of any random woman if she
were in the same situation! I’ll also admit
there were many parts wherein I found myself
laughing out loud—like the time in Levi’s
office when Jayne was trying to make a fast
break and ends up tripping over a trash can.
She ends up in the ER with a sprained wrist!
Want to know more? Want to know what
happens? Find a copy of Plain Jayne, curl up
in your favorite reading spot and find out! You
won’t regret it! ☐
No. 140 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.31