Jacob is a 18 years old Amish boy leaving Intercourse, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, for the first time in his life for his rumspringa; his secret dream has always been to visit New York City, and so he is realizing it, even if the reality is not so shining, and by the way it’s even more expensive than expected. While touring in front of the UN, he literally bumps into Fahd, second son of a Saudi Arab sheikh, visiting NYC in a diplomatic mission.
In a way, even if from completely different roots, Jacob and Fahd are not so different after all: both of them have to hide their secret desires for men, even if Fahd has already consciously realized it, and experimented his sexuality, while instead Jacob, has not even yet internalized his sexual urges. Jacob is completely innocent; he has never had any sexual experience and he has neither once questioned that he will go back to Intercourse, enter the church, marry a woman and bear children, many of them. Both Jacob than Fahd are from families where there are multiple brothers and sisters, so it’s not like they have to continue the family line, it’s simply that they have to “adapt” to the common way.
The main difference between Jacob and Fahd is that Fahd is a “rebel”, he doesn’t want to follow his father’s rules, and in a way, he is not as bonded to his family as Jacob is. Fahd can renounce to his family, I see really unlikely that Jacob can do the same.
In comparison to similar romances set among the Amish people, I think that Kiernan Kelly did a fair job, simply since she didn’t exaggerated the whole, and it was not an easy task, not only for Jacob and the Amish, but also for Fahd and his background. True, some “easy” escapes Fahd had were maybe a little too quick and lucky, but indeed he is the son of a sheikh, so it’s not like he is an ordinary man.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3061
Amazon: Cornfed
Amazon Kindle: Cornfed
Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: Torquere Press (February 23, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1610401670
ISBN-13: 978-1610401678
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott