What could happen to the world of an innocent, simple Amish girl when it collides with that of a sophisticated, hip hop superstar on the streets of New York? Sarah Price writes about the possibility in her novel, Plain Fame, which begins when Alejandro (Viper) Diaz's limosine crashes into Amanda Beiler. He is taken with her unadorned beauty and also with a desire to see that she is well looked after; Alejandro still remembers how hard it was to survive as a Cuban immigrant in Miami without deep connections to others. Something about how alone Amanda is, far from her family and friends, speaks to Alejandro, and he finds himself looking out for her welfare as she recovers at the hospital.
He decides to escort her home to Lititz, Pennsylvania, to see that she arrives home safely and to see that she receives enough care in Lancaster County until she has fully recovered. He is also hoping that he will be able to hide from the outside world for a few days and rejuvenate his spirit and the part of himself that is Alejandro, and not Viper, for he finds the demands of his Viper persona has become increasingly taxing.
Alejandro is like no other man that Amanda has met before. She becomes deeply attracted to his charm and physical presence, but realizes that the world that he comes from is so far from her own Amish background that a romantic relationship between the two of them would be impossible. She also sees him as Alejandro, and not as Viper, something that means a lot to Alejandro. Alejandro is attracted to Amanda's honesty and purity, and is also deeply impressed that Amanda doesn't want anything from him. She doesn't know who he is, or what he has done to achieve his fame, and he feels that he has finally met someone who accepts him as he is, rather than for what he can do for them. He knows, however, that their time together is limited, and that he will soon leave Amanda behind in Lancaster, even though he is drawn towards her.
Their little idyll comes to a close when someone recognizes who Alejandro is. He returns to his life in the outside world to protect Amanda and her family from the paparazzi that will inevitably descend upon the place where Viper has apparently been hiding out. Unfortunately, because of the disparity between Amanda's and Alejandro's backgrounds, the paparazzi is fascinated with Amanda, making life unbearable for her, her family, and her community. Amanda is told by the ruling bishop of her church that she must leave the area if the press does not leave. What will happen to Amanda if the paparazzi do not leave? Her prospects are limited, and she cannot escape the press wherever she goes. Will Alejandro help protect Amanda from being sullied or harmed by influences belonging to his world or will he leave her to make her own way through her troubles?
I found Plain Fame to be fascinating, because I wanted to know if Amanda and Alejandro would act on the attraction between them. They realize that they are too different from each other, yet find that the other is able to give something that no other has been able to give to the other before. For Amanda, Alejandro makes her feel beautiful and precious; he constantly calls her, "Princesa," an endearment that means, "Princess" in Spanish. For Alejandro, Amanda's acceptance of him as a person, rather than as a person whom she could use, helps him to recognize that she is a person whom he can trust. This is in contrast to all the other people who surround him in his life, which include his manager and his entourage, which did not travel with him to Lancaster. The book describes several situations in which others have failed him because they were seeking for their own gain, rather than respecting Alejandro's wishes or serving in his best interests.
Amanda comes across as a young woman who holds her faith in the Lord very seriously. She sometimes finds it difficult to accept certain aspects of the Amish way of living, but manages to hold her tongue even when she may balk internally about the way things are done. Alejandro says that he is Catholic and a believer, but somehow, his lifestyle doesn't seem to quite match what Amanda expects from a person of faith; she is quite put out when she discovers that Alejandro has slept with a number of women and when he admits that he has done so, simply because he can.
Plain Fame is the first volume in a series of books about the relationship between Amanda and Alejandro. As of the present, these titles include Plain Change, Plain Again, and Plain Return. There is also a fifth volume, Plain Choice, but I haven't seen it listed on Amazon yet. Will Amanda and Alejandro get together and become a couple? If they do, how will their relationship work in the face of their differences? Is Alejandro truly a believer, or is he someone who knows of Jesus, but does not know Jesus? Will Amanda compromise her faith in order to be with Alejandro? It will be interesting to see how those questions will be answered in the rest of the series.
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of Plain Fame from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
