Thursday, June 25, 2020

Book Review with featured author, Jo Ann Brown: An Amish Mother's Secret Past

An Amish Mother’s Secret Past by Jo Ann Brown


Publisher & Release: Love Inspired, July 1, 2020

Time and setting:  Present day, Vermont

Genre: Amish Fiction

Length: 224 Pages

Heat Level: 1 Sweetheart

Rating: 4 Gold Crowns

Book Description: 

Every woman deserves a fresh start…

Can an Amish widow’s past

cost her a future filled with love?
Widow Rachel Yoder has a secret: she’s a military veteran trying to give her children a new life among the Amish. Though she’s drawn to bachelor Isaac Kauffman, she knows she can’t tell him the truth—or give him her heart. With her forbidden past, Rachel can never be the perfect Plain wife he’s looking for…

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Vikki’s Musings

Thanks goes to the publisher and Net-Galley for the complimentary copy of An Amish Mother’s Secret Pastby Jo Ann Brown for the purpose of reading and reviewing prior to publication. My opinions are my own and no one influenced me in any way.
An Amish Mother’s Secret Past is a well written Amish romance with endearing characters and a sweet romance. The pacing kept me enmeshed from the beginning to the end. It has enough descriptive writing to give me the strong sense of the Amish community.

Rachel Yoder’s character is a widow with two adorable daughters. Her late husband was in the military, and she is also a veteran. When he dies, she returns to her Amish upbringing, slipping into the familiar of the new Amish community in Vermont although she’s never been baptized. I liked her a great deal and wanted her to open her heart to the hero.

Isaac Kauffman is the typical Amish hero and a delightful one. He yearns for a family but doesn’t believe he deserves one. He too has secrets, so he is more accepting of Rachel’s. Although his need for perfection gives the heroine a different impression.

I enjoyed the lovely romance between Rachel and Isaac. They don’t have the usual courting relationship that most Amish have. They are a bit older than many Amish couples. Rachel’s exposure to the Englischer lifestyle influences her decisions and choices. Her fear to tell Isaac about her past causes a lot of internal conflict, making this an enjoyable reading experience.

If you enjoy Amish romances with characters that will pull at your heartstrings and one that has a unique plot, then you will love An Amish Mother’s Secret Past as much as I did. I’m so glad I found this excellent novel. Happy reading!

Author Bio:


Jo Ann Brown has been creating characters and stories for as long as she can remember. Her first stories were populated with her friends and sisters. She wrote her first novel in high school, and it happily resides in the forgotten depths of her file cabinet. Fast forward through college, serving in the US Army as a quartermaster officer, getting married, and increasing her blessings with three children...and Jo Ann sold her first book in 1987. Since it was published in 1988, she has sold over 100 titles and has become a best-selling and award-winning author. Romantic Times called her “a truly talented author.” She writes romance, mystery, and YA under a variety of pen names. Now she is writing Amish romances for Love Inspired and Annie’s Fiction as Jo Ann Brown.
Her books have been translated into nearly a dozen languages and are sold on every continent except Antarctica. A sought-after speaker, she has been teaching creative writing for over 20 years, and she established several popular fiction courses at Brown University. She resides in Florida with her husband and about a zillion little lizards in her yard.

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