This review contains spoilers from the previous novels in the Plain Fame Series.
Plain Choice, by Sarah Price, is the latest in the Plain Fame Series which included Plain Fame, Plain Change, Plain Again, and Plain Return. Plain Choice picks up where Plain Return left off: Alejandro Diaz, the famous hip hop/rap artist also known as Viper, has returned to his life outside of Lititz, Pennsylvania, where his Amish raised wife, Amanda, is staying with his daughter, Isadora, the result of a one night stand before he met Amanda. Things don't look good for our protagonists. Against Alejandro's wishes, Amanda had returned to Lititz in order to give Isadora stability instead of the difficult and transient lifestyle that they would all have to face if they travelled along with Alejandro on his concert tours. Alejandro comes to realize that the life he offers for Amanda and Isadora may not be what his wife and daughter need. Though he loves Amanda dearly and wishes for her to be by his side as he tours the world, he also tries to contemplate how he might be able to let Amanda go so that she can return to the Amish world which she appears to be more comfortable in.
When Alejandro leaves Amanda behind in Pennsylvania, she realizes that their marriage is now in a precarious place, and waits in vain to hear from him, but Alejandro is already putting distance between them. The paparazzi have also been taking misleading photos of her and Harvey, the farmhand that Alejandro hired to help the Beiler family, and speculation about a relationship between them is appearing in the tabloids. Can Amanda's and Alejandro's marriage be saved?
I liked this novel the most out of the five that have appeared so far in the series, probably because I thought that Amanda finally did what made sense to me in light of the decisions that she made, especially in Plain Return. Although it is probably true that it was a good idea to return to the Beiler farm so that Isadora would have stability in her life, I did not agree with the way and the timing in which Amanda had left Alejandro. It may sound a bit too traditional and non-egalitarian, but I thought that Amanda had given Isadora a higher priority than Alejandro when she decided to leave him midway through the South American tour, especially against his wishes for her to remain with him. Even though Alejandro's suggestion of securing a nanny for Isadora was an unpleasant idea for Amanda, it would have kept the family together for the remaining three weeks of the tour, which isn't really that long, in my opinion. It would have bought them more time to really think about what they would do as a family, for the care of Isadora, and for the unpleasantness that Amanda faced from Alejandro's rabid female fans. At the end of Plain Return, when Amanda realizes that Alejandro might walk out of their marriage, she is willing to return to the tour with a nanny. However, by this time, he has already decided to set her free from his complicated lifestyle, ironically, because he now thinks that if he truly loves her, he should let her go so that she can decide how she wants to live. Unfortunately, he seems to believe that this means steering her back into the Amish life. Really, these two need to talk to each other and to listen to each other before jumping quickly into unwise decisions...but that would leave us without Plain Choice to read, eh? So, I won't tell you what Amanda decides to do; you'll have to read it for yourself.
I loved all the covers for the recent releases of the books in the series, but I thought that the cover for Plain Choice was really fitting. Alejandro is depicted with his right hand twisting his wedding band on the left hand, representing his choice of whether to continue with the marriage or to divorce Amanda. Amanda is depicted in her plain dress, but with her kapp in her hands, representing her decision of whether or not to leave the Amish world. The image of the Eiffel Tower represents the European tour that Alejandro is on, and the farm represents the Beiler farm where Amanda and and Isadora are staying at.
It was interesting to read of Alejandro's thoughts about his love for Amanda and how he viewed their marriage. Over the course of the series, I felt that he was actually quite lenient with her when it came to their separations. Amanda appeared to be to one who instigated most of these, placing her insecurity over Alejandro's clawing female fans, her family, and Isadora above remaining with Alejandro, who always seemed to long for her to stay with him. What I didn't like about Alejandro was that he acted disrespectfully toward Amanda in some of his business/career dealings, especially where they made her lose face before others. For example, I really wasn't impressed when he used footage of her without her consent on a tour in Plain Change, which made her look jealous of other women, or when he used photos along with false stories in order to circumvent the media interest in the appearance of Isadora in Plain Return. Knowing and loving Amanda has changed Alejandro, although by the end of Plain Choice, I'm still not certain about how far the changes reach in his life beyond his relationship with her and their family. The novel doesn't really address how far the lordship of Christ extends into his life, although he seems to acknowledge His presence more.
As in the previous books, starting with Plain Change, we have glimpses into Amanda's and Alejandro's intimate moments, or rather the moments leading up to those exchanges. While there are no overt descriptions of them actually having sex, I still felt as if I were intruding in their privacy.
I would not consider Plain Choice to be a stand alone book. The novel does resolve many of the plot threads that started in the previous books in the series. In my opinion, out of the five books, this one seemed to have the most overt references to faith beyond contrasting the worlds and practices of the Englische and the Amish. The series also gives an interesting view into the entertainment world that Alejandro inhabits. I liked reading the series, and have enjoyed following the love story of Amanda and Alejandro.
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of Plain Choice by Sarah Price from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
