Starred review from March 9, 2020
Baker continues her Hope Chest of Dreams series (after Love at Pebble Creek) with this superb story of young love between Amish and Englisch. In Pebble Creek, Ill., Hannah, the youngest of 10 siblings, works at her family’s bakery and dreams of adventure. Despite her mother’s disapproval, Hannah reads popular suspense novels and secretly writes her own tales of intrigue at night in her bedroom by candlelight. When Marcus Jackson, an Englischer escaping his criminal brothers in Chicago, visits town, a romantic spark is ignited between him and Hannah, and Hannah finds herself caught between two ways of life. Marcus, who lost his parents at a young age, is determined to start a new life after giving himself to Christ. However, the community turns a suspicious eye on the outsider after a store is robbed and things go missing. Both Marcus and Hannah must consider the meaning of faith and sacrificial love as they navigate their relationship. This engrossing romance is filled with tender descriptions of the intensity of new love. The glimpses of Hannah’s outlandish stories, meanwhile, are particularly amusing. Amish fiction fans will enjoy this moving tale.