Anna and Felty Helmuth are Jennifer Beckstrand's amiable Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill in this entertaining series of Amish romances. The twelfth book might as well be any number, as the cast list is kept small and people just take it for granted that the senior couple like pairing off their grandchildren with good friends in the community.
HAPPILY EVER AFTER ON HUCKLEBERRY HILL is set during midsummer, a wonderful, busy, and fruitful time for the Plain folk. Huckleberry, Wisconsin, is a lively and relatively modern community, in which young people on rumspringa time are allowed phones and cars by tolerant parents. Once they take vows to church and marriage, those privileges end. So twin sisters Naomi, or Omi, and Ruth Coblenz make the most of their relative freedom, while not doing anything that would cause outright disapproval. Ruth is walking out with farmer Bo Helmuth, and I love reading about his fieldwork with a team of Percherons, and how he cares for them each evening. You can tell a lot about a workman by the way he treats his horses. Bo has been friends with both sisters since school, and it can’t have escaped his notice that the quieter Omi doesn’t have a beau, while cheekier Ruth turns everyone’s head.
Anna and Felty are Bo’s grandparents, so he comes to make sure they are okay from time to time, swaps news, and gets unasked for advice. Omi is left to stifle her feelings and thoughts about how fond she is of Bo, because what kind of sister would she be to get between Ruth and Bo? There’s the obligatory scene where one identical twin impersonates the other, though with a reminder that we should not tell lies.
I always enjoy the humour in books by Jennifer Beckstrand. Mainly this comes from the girls being twins and from Anna’s odd cookery. A new addition to the seniors’ repertoire is taking up a series of hobbies and getting others involved. At one point I wasn’t thinking well of the young men in the district who were leaving a nice girl like Naomi without companionship, but then I thought that in a summer of farming, there isn’t much time to meet everyone. A scene is set during a barn-raising day. Folks are busy and a firework display is the highlight of the month.
Warm and cosy, HAPPILY EVER AFTER ON HUCKLEBERRY HILL is a pleasant romance with outcomes both expected and unexpected. Nobody is overly ambitious, but seeing the Plain folk slowly adapting to facets of modern conveniences is worth a look.
Huckleberry, Wisconsin’s very own Amish matchmaking grandparents, eighty-somethings Anna and Felty Helmuth, continue to meddle into love lives—and bring faithful hearts together, in the USA Today bestselling author’s inspirational romance series. Will appeal to fans of Charlotte Hubbard, Amy Lillard, and Emma Miller.
Sensible and cautious, Naomi Coblenz lives to help everyone else be happy—particularly when it comes to her twin sister, Ruth. So Omi certainly can’t admit she’s always loved handsome Bo Helmuth, since he and Ruth have begun courting. To look out for her sometimes-thoughtless sister, Omi even poses as Ruth on a ride home alone with Bo. But it doesn’t take Bo long to see the truth—and really notice Omi for the first surprising, hopelessly-wonderful time . . .
Bo thought he was in love with the vivacious Ruth. But he can’t stop thinking about Omi’s kindness and understanding, especially since she refuses to hurt her sister. And he can’t figure out a way to tell Ruth they aren’t really suited for each other. His only hope is that his ever-resourceful Dawdi and Mammi can help faith guide the way—and at last claim a happy ending for all.
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