Sex scandal? Check. Strapping, handsome, single with a suspicious secret? Check, check. Theft? Conspiracy? A gossipy, meddling mother? Camels? All of this, wrapped up into the latest installment in what is soon to become your new favorite Amish romance series? You better believe it.

Priscilla Ebersol’s picnic basket is lovingly packed with goodies for an outing with Matthew, who she’s been courting with for the past several years. Before he arrives for their lakeside adventure, she receives an unexpected visit from the bishop, which leaves her completely gobsmacked and reeling from undeserved consequences of Matthew’s actions by association. 

Matthew arrives shortly thereafter, delayed only by a close encounter with a camel. While he doesn’t provide her much in the way of reprieve or support to resolve the scandal he created, he does pique her curiosity about Lancaster’s new camel farm, as she is passionate about the health benefits camel’s milk offers. Looking for a much-needed distraction from her personal emotional turmoil, Priscilla heads out in search of camel’s milk. Enter Gabriel Kaufmann, the charming, handsome, and surprisingly young camel farm owner/operator, to whom Priscilla’s attraction is immediate, and things take a turn for the even more complicated and dramatic in Rachel J. Good’s HIS PRETEND AMISH BRIDE.

Readers that appreciate having a strong emotional attachment to a story’s characters will root for the sweet, likable, and strong-willed Priscilla, and delight in uncovering Gabe’s softer side while also urgently wishing to understand the deep, dark secret that seems to simultaneously burden and drive him. Good masterfully constructs genuine, relatable, and flawed characters and gives the reader plenty of insight into their innermost thoughts, feelings, and struggles as they face challenges both personal and professional. 

HIS PRETEND AMISH BRIDE has many complex layers and explores multiple themes related to interpersonal relationships, faith, and health. Good seamlessly weaves a story together that explores betrayal, disrespect, rejection, redemption, and how love can grow in both dating and parent-child relationships as well as within the broader Amish community infrastructure. The impact of being (or not being) in constant prayer to make decisions according to God’s will underscores each major turn of events. The integration of a camel farm into the Amish community is unique both for the characters in the story and for many readers, and Good explores how camel’s milk can help improve the health of those suffering from a variety of maladies, including autism and inflammation.

Some may find Priscilla’s witnessing of an Englischer to be a bit forced into the overall narrative. Her behavior appears a bit hypocritical by the story’s end, which may lead to lively book club debates as to whether Gabe is a good influence on Priscilla or not.

As Good’s second novel in the Unexpected Amish Blessings series, HIS PRETEND AMISH BRIDE can be read as a standalone novel, but is even more deeply enjoyed by readers that follow how Priscilla’s story builds upon the first book in the series, HIS UNEXPECTED AMISH TWINS.  The series’ third novel, HIS ACCIDENTAL AMISH FAMILY, is also in the works and delves more deeply into the story of a character that we meet near the end of Priscilla’s journey. Readers looking for uplifting stories with problematic twists should absolutely put this series on the must-read list!