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Dakota #1
The Homestead
Hannah is a fifteen-year-old Amish girl who lives on her family’s farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. When her family, hit hard by the Great Depression, loses their farm, Hannah’s father decides it’s time for a fresh start. Destitute but inspired by grand plans and dreams of a better future west of Lancaster, he loads his family and what little they have left into their covered wagon.
They settle in North Dakota, hundreds of miles from any Amish community. Hannah’s mother does her best to be a good wife, supporting her husband as they try to build a new life in a wholly unfamiliar place.
Things aren’t going quite as Hannah’s father had imagined—his visions of success are shattered by the reality that his knowledge of farming in Lancaster isn’t of much use in Midwestern soil. With the fields barren and her family on the verge of starvation, Hannah decides to take matters into her own hands. She goes into town looking for a job and finds one at a cattle ranch, where she meets charismatic ranch hand Clay Jenkins.
Clay is drawn to the independent, strong-willed newcomer. As they work together at the ranch, Hannah grapples with her own feelings for Clay, an English boy. Her life is more uncertain than ever. With Hannah’s help, will her family get back on their feet and prosper in North Dakota? And what will happen with Clay Jenkins?
They settle in North Dakota, hundreds of miles from any Amish community. Hannah’s mother does her best to be a good wife, supporting her husband as they try to build a new life in a wholly unfamiliar place.
Things aren’t going quite as Hannah’s father had imagined—his visions of success are shattered by the reality that his knowledge of farming in Lancaster isn’t of much use in Midwestern soil. With the fields barren and her family on the verge of starvation, Hannah decides to take matters into her own hands. She goes into town looking for a job and finds one at a cattle ranch, where she meets charismatic ranch hand Clay Jenkins.
Clay is drawn to the independent, strong-willed newcomer. As they work together at the ranch, Hannah grapples with her own feelings for Clay, an English boy. Her life is more uncertain than ever. With Hannah’s help, will her family get back on their feet and prosper in North Dakota? And what will happen with Clay Jenkins?
368 pages, Paperback
Published May 2, 2017
117 people are currently reading
609 people want to read
About the author
Linda Byler
84 books226 followersLinda Byler grew up Amish and is an active member of the Amish church today. Growing up, Linda Byler loved to read and write. In fact, she still does. She is well known within the Amish community as a columnist for a weekly Amish newspaper. Linda and her husband, their children and grandchildren live in central Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
October 4, 2025
If you want to read about a crabapple like you’ve never met before, here’s the book for you. Somehow Hannah knows exactly how to run a ranch in North Dakota (which is almost completely uninhabited according to Linda) despite the fact that she’s a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL. She’s a complete jerk to everyone around her, especially to people who try to help her out. At one point, she’s picking tomatoes to earn money and the farmer tells her not to throw the tomatoes into the baskets because they will break open. So, instead of listening and going on with her work, she “squares her shoulders and leaves the tomato farm, never to return.”
I literally could not figure out if readers are supposed to like Hannah and give her a pass because she’s young, admire her “tenacity,” or hate her guts because she’s a horrible person. Hopefully she gets her comeuppance in one of the following books, but in reality she’ll probably just acquire a few more simps like “Jerry” and Clay Jenkins because sHe’S NoT lIkE oThEr GiRlS.
I literally could not figure out if readers are supposed to like Hannah and give her a pass because she’s young, admire her “tenacity,” or hate her guts because she’s a horrible person. Hopefully she gets her comeuppance in one of the following books, but in reality she’ll probably just acquire a few more simps like “Jerry” and Clay Jenkins because sHe’S NoT lIkE oThEr GiRlS.
July 4, 2018
An Amish family is trying to make a go of life on the North Dakota plains in the depression era with a belligerent daughter at the head. The book will take you through snow, heat, hunger and loss and still the belligerent daughter is at the head. I will have to admit by the end I loved the Detweiler family but was bone weary of Hannah. The cover states this a Amish romance; and to my delight it is not a romance. There are moments of love though between some of the characters. I think had the author eliminated Hannah this would have easily been a five star so I did wonder in the end how much motivation by a publisher is put into a read.
July 20, 2021
The Depression was not kind to Mose Detweiler and his family. He lost his farm, and was excommunicated from his Amish community for making and selling moonshine. Though he confessed and was forgiven, he felt he needed a new start and moved his family to North Dakota. Not prepared to survive in an environment so different from the one he left, they literally nearly starve to death. Without the kindness of their neighbors, and the rugged determination of their headstrong eldest daughter, Hannah, they would not have survived. But tragedy strikes, and their lives are again turned upside down. Hannah is the driving force keeping the family together, but even she bends to her mother’s desire to return to Pennsylvania. Much happens in the first book if the trilogy. And though the novel ends, Hannah’s story does not. She must decide, sooner or later, whether to follow her Amish upbringing or to become a true Western gal and marry the son of the nearby rancher. This Amish story combines the roots of the Amish faith with the harsh realities of the west in the early twentieth century. The story is an interesting one - readers will feel the anguish and struggles as Hannah and her family try to not only survive but to succeed and grow strong and happy in this new land.
February 20, 2017
A real pioneering Amish family, traveling to North Dakota, alone, without their community, that is what is so different about this book. The time is the great depression, and the Detweiler family has hit rock bottom, and are trying for a new start with free government land.
There is no support system here for this family, and yet God has a way of helping them, wherever they are. Hannah I found to be one gutsy girl, and this family sure wouldn’t have survived without her. Although, she acted like she had a chip on her shoulder, even when people were trying to help her.
The author has included a lot about the differences between Pennsylvania and North Dakota as far as farming, and things become so very tough for this family. Was glad when the mom Sarah seemed to grow a backbone, and things are about to change for them, not always for the best, but we don’t get to choose.
I did have a hard time getting into this book, but a few chapters in I was hooked, and then the pages flew, and I had to know what happened. Try and stick it out, you won’t be disappointed.
I received this book through Edelweiss and the Publisher Good Books, and was not required to give a positive review.
There is no support system here for this family, and yet God has a way of helping them, wherever they are. Hannah I found to be one gutsy girl, and this family sure wouldn’t have survived without her. Although, she acted like she had a chip on her shoulder, even when people were trying to help her.
The author has included a lot about the differences between Pennsylvania and North Dakota as far as farming, and things become so very tough for this family. Was glad when the mom Sarah seemed to grow a backbone, and things are about to change for them, not always for the best, but we don’t get to choose.
I did have a hard time getting into this book, but a few chapters in I was hooked, and then the pages flew, and I had to know what happened. Try and stick it out, you won’t be disappointed.
I received this book through Edelweiss and the Publisher Good Books, and was not required to give a positive review.
June 8, 2018
I was optimistic of loving a book with an Amish point of view of the great depression. In the end it took too long to finish cus I didn't really want to read it. I wanted to slap Hannah by the end. It was the same story inside of a story just going around and around. Will not be reading the rest of series.
November 6, 2023
I shelved this in my historical fiction shelf as I didn’t find this to be a romance at all, not even a clean romance, as it is called in the description on the back of the book.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I don’t know if Hannah is supposed to be the main character in this book. I felt like we learned more about her mother, Sarah, than we did about the ‘romantic’ lead. I found Hannah to be fairly unlikable and bad tempered. I’m not sure how Clay falls in love with her as it doesn’t seem like they spend much time together and when they do, Hannah is usually as pleasant as a badger. I kind of thought the beginning of the book was good and I could understand the clash of wills between Hannah and her father, but once he died, the story wasn’t as compelling. When she goes back to Pennsylvania with her family, she’s just as bad tempered as she was and seemed rather entitled. I didn’t buy her and Jerry falling in love after seeing each other twice. That seemed far fetched. Then, once she’s back in North Dakota, she assumes the two windmill assemblers naturally want to marry her. She seems really conceited. I didn’t get any romance vibe from this book and I really dislike Hannah. Unfortunately, someone gave me this book and the sequel so I will struggle through the continuation of this story hoping it does finally turn into a romance, but if Hannah doesn’t change her ways, I think she deserves to be alone on the plains.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I don’t know if Hannah is supposed to be the main character in this book. I felt like we learned more about her mother, Sarah, than we did about the ‘romantic’ lead. I found Hannah to be fairly unlikable and bad tempered. I’m not sure how Clay falls in love with her as it doesn’t seem like they spend much time together and when they do, Hannah is usually as pleasant as a badger. I kind of thought the beginning of the book was good and I could understand the clash of wills between Hannah and her father, but once he died, the story wasn’t as compelling. When she goes back to Pennsylvania with her family, she’s just as bad tempered as she was and seemed rather entitled. I didn’t buy her and Jerry falling in love after seeing each other twice. That seemed far fetched. Then, once she’s back in North Dakota, she assumes the two windmill assemblers naturally want to marry her. She seems really conceited. I didn’t get any romance vibe from this book and I really dislike Hannah. Unfortunately, someone gave me this book and the sequel so I will struggle through the continuation of this story hoping it does finally turn into a romance, but if Hannah doesn’t change her ways, I think she deserves to be alone on the plains.
March 24, 2019
Although the setting and history of this period book is fascinating, the story line itself is overly drawn out and the characters, particularly Hannah are frustrating, I keep thinking she will at some point stop being so contradicting and more self aware, she is all over the map emotionally and I found her inner dialogue inconsistent. This storyline is no better through the second book, despite many lessons that should of made the characters more self aware. The book is full of depressing events, likely realistic to the time of the drought and depression but the way the overanalyze (repeating past thoughts) during each event adds to draw out the story ...I dare not venture to the 3rd book, as I'm sure it is more of the same frustrating dialog about Hannah whom I would have hoped had matured more after her years experiences. Her siblings don't seem to age appropriate to the storyline either, with baby Abby being a baby well into the time when I would have thought her a young child or at least a toddler. I didn't gain value from these books, rather feeling deflated and frustrated in the characters.
July 5, 2023
I began this book, my first by Byler, with a sense of foreboding, afraid it would be treacle. After all, the blurb from Publishers Weekly on the back cover assured me that “This tale will captivate readers looking for clean Christian women’s fiction with a dollop of romance.” What condescension. Would the reviewer sum up Jane Eyre as spinster’s fiction? NB: I use “spinster” deliberately here. When Charlotte Bronte died in 1855, she was a spinster.
I nearly gave up after 30 pages while Byler sets up the plot and characters, but then things get moving. It’s 1930, the start of the Great Depression. An Amish family, Mose and Sarah Detweiler and their five children, leave their community in Pennsylvania in a covered wagon to homestead in North Dakota. Mose is a dreamer, determined to farm as his people did in Pennsylvania, unprepared for the treeless prairie, relentless wind, drought, death of his corn crop, death of a horse. He withdraws into his room, praying for a miracle from God.
It is Hod and Abby Jenkins and their three sons, outsiders, “English” (non-Amish), who save them from the fierce snowstorm that would have killed them. It is the Jenkinses to whom Sarah sends Hannah, her rebellious 16-year-old daughter, to beg for food as the family starves. It is Hannah, too proud to beg for food a second time, who saves the family from starvation by walking barefoot 16 miles to town and getting a job in the Rocher’s general store.
On her walk to town Philip Apent, scion of a prosperous family, offers her a ride in his car, insisting that she get in. Riding in cars her dat has strictly forbidden, and Hannah indignantly refuses. A lesser writer would have had Philip threaten to have his way with her, Hannah being saved at the last minute by her knight in shining armor, Clay Jenkins, riding over the hill and pummeling Philip.
At the store, Mr Rocher says he cannot afford to pay her a wage, so she works for board and room and food, which she takes to her family on Saturdays. Mr Rocher drives her in his car the first time, but Mose forbids her to return by auto. He is afraid for her soul, so Hannah rides back and forth on Pete, their broken-down old horse.
Clay Jenkins is smitten by Hannah, beautiful but plain spoken, proud and aloof. Hannah is drawn to him too, but torn between the fear of breaking her mam’s heart and doing as she will. Her religion is suffocating, confining, but she is attached to her mam and siblings. There is also Jerry Riehl, a horse breeder back in Pennsylvania who is smitten with her, ready to come to her if she would give the least encouragement.
Hannah is determined to prove up on their homestead and win title to it free and clear, with a herd of pedigreed Angus cattle and weather-tight buildings. She is a planner, practical and hardworking.
Hannah’s antagonist is as much the harsh North Dakota climate as it is Clay or Jerry. “Clean Christian women’s fiction with a dollop of romance”? This novel is so much more, a bildungsroman of a young woman coming to terms with her family, her heritage, society, and her environment. In short, questions that all of us must answer to become adult.
Are there flaws? Of course. Byler is too fond of cliches: Hannah’s eyes are “like polished coal,” p. 112, or “dark pools,” p. 298; “the driveway like a ribbon of silver in the moonlight,’ p. 272, etc.
But there are gems too, like this (p. 98):
“Hod joined them, stomping onto the front porch with the force of a tractor, yelling to Abby that these cats had to go! There were about half a dozen too many around here!
“Abby lifted her head from the hot oven door and told him if he touches them cats, she’d chase him off the ranch with her varmint-killing .22 rifle.”
At work I found myself wondering what Hannah would do next, how she would overcome the obstacles in their lives. I am neither a woman nor Amish, yet Byler has let me see a vivid portrait of another world, another way of life. That’s what good fiction is for. The book has lifelike characters and a solid plot. What more could anyone ask, not just of “clean Christian women’s fiction” but of any novel?
I nearly gave up after 30 pages while Byler sets up the plot and characters, but then things get moving. It’s 1930, the start of the Great Depression. An Amish family, Mose and Sarah Detweiler and their five children, leave their community in Pennsylvania in a covered wagon to homestead in North Dakota. Mose is a dreamer, determined to farm as his people did in Pennsylvania, unprepared for the treeless prairie, relentless wind, drought, death of his corn crop, death of a horse. He withdraws into his room, praying for a miracle from God.
It is Hod and Abby Jenkins and their three sons, outsiders, “English” (non-Amish), who save them from the fierce snowstorm that would have killed them. It is the Jenkinses to whom Sarah sends Hannah, her rebellious 16-year-old daughter, to beg for food as the family starves. It is Hannah, too proud to beg for food a second time, who saves the family from starvation by walking barefoot 16 miles to town and getting a job in the Rocher’s general store.
On her walk to town Philip Apent, scion of a prosperous family, offers her a ride in his car, insisting that she get in. Riding in cars her dat has strictly forbidden, and Hannah indignantly refuses. A lesser writer would have had Philip threaten to have his way with her, Hannah being saved at the last minute by her knight in shining armor, Clay Jenkins, riding over the hill and pummeling Philip.
At the store, Mr Rocher says he cannot afford to pay her a wage, so she works for board and room and food, which she takes to her family on Saturdays. Mr Rocher drives her in his car the first time, but Mose forbids her to return by auto. He is afraid for her soul, so Hannah rides back and forth on Pete, their broken-down old horse.
Clay Jenkins is smitten by Hannah, beautiful but plain spoken, proud and aloof. Hannah is drawn to him too, but torn between the fear of breaking her mam’s heart and doing as she will. Her religion is suffocating, confining, but she is attached to her mam and siblings. There is also Jerry Riehl, a horse breeder back in Pennsylvania who is smitten with her, ready to come to her if she would give the least encouragement.
Hannah is determined to prove up on their homestead and win title to it free and clear, with a herd of pedigreed Angus cattle and weather-tight buildings. She is a planner, practical and hardworking.
Hannah’s antagonist is as much the harsh North Dakota climate as it is Clay or Jerry. “Clean Christian women’s fiction with a dollop of romance”? This novel is so much more, a bildungsroman of a young woman coming to terms with her family, her heritage, society, and her environment. In short, questions that all of us must answer to become adult.
Are there flaws? Of course. Byler is too fond of cliches: Hannah’s eyes are “like polished coal,” p. 112, or “dark pools,” p. 298; “the driveway like a ribbon of silver in the moonlight,’ p. 272, etc.
But there are gems too, like this (p. 98):
“Hod joined them, stomping onto the front porch with the force of a tractor, yelling to Abby that these cats had to go! There were about half a dozen too many around here!
“Abby lifted her head from the hot oven door and told him if he touches them cats, she’d chase him off the ranch with her varmint-killing .22 rifle.”
At work I found myself wondering what Hannah would do next, how she would overcome the obstacles in their lives. I am neither a woman nor Amish, yet Byler has let me see a vivid portrait of another world, another way of life. That’s what good fiction is for. The book has lifelike characters and a solid plot. What more could anyone ask, not just of “clean Christian women’s fiction” but of any novel?
October 28, 2017
Amish family leaving all they know to move west and start a Homestead. They have no clue what is in store for them once they leave all they know behind in Pennsylvania. Hannah is only 15 but she isn't following in the ways of her family since she feels she is the only way they will survive. Her father has all his trust in God and won't listen to helpful neighbors out on the plain on how to do things. She does what needs to be done for her family to survive even when it means going against all that she was brought up to believe and work in the English world and partake in what it has to offer. When there is a death in the family they head back to family in Pennsylvania but it isn't enough to return Hannah to her Amish ways.
I grabbed this book as it looked much different from the traditional Amish that I have read and I have read some of the other books by Linda Byler. This one took me three nights of before bedtime reading but could have read it faster had I not had things to do which don't allow me to stay up all night reading.
Will be keeping an eye out for Book 2.
I grabbed this book as it looked much different from the traditional Amish that I have read and I have read some of the other books by Linda Byler. This one took me three nights of before bedtime reading but could have read it faster had I not had things to do which don't allow me to stay up all night reading.
Will be keeping an eye out for Book 2.
July 15, 2017
The Homestead was a book that took place during the Great Depression. An Amish family leaves Lancaster and heads to North Dakota to claim a homestead. What the family does not account for is that North Dakota is very different from Lancaster. All of their efforts to plant corn fail due to the climate. The family has to face many difficulties. Their teenage daughter, Hannah, struggles watching her father respond to their struggles inappropriately. She takes things into her own hands and tries to provide for her family. The family learns that some of the English are good people that have showed them great kindness to help them survive. When the family returns to Lancaster after their Homestead fails, they realize the people in Lancaster are not what they appear to be. They return to North Dakota with the help of family to try and make a go of the Homestead. The book ends on a cliff hanger so I am excited for the next book in this series. Well written book.
June 3, 2022
This was a really interesting book! I like the storyline and the characters.
Hannah and her family move away from their Amish families to homestead in Norrh Dakota. Mose is determined to replant his family but is unprepared for the difficulties that arise. His daughter, Hannah fights against him at every turn and his wife, Sarah wants to go home to Lancaster. They struggle with poverty to the point of having to beg food from their neighbors. Mose loses his life to a cow and Sarah decides to return home. Hannah resists the Amish ways and finally convinces her mother to return to North Dakota. Hannah is determined to raise prime cattle and own a ranch. She also fights her affection towards a nearby neighbor Clay.
I can't wait to see what happens next!
Hannah and her family move away from their Amish families to homestead in Norrh Dakota. Mose is determined to replant his family but is unprepared for the difficulties that arise. His daughter, Hannah fights against him at every turn and his wife, Sarah wants to go home to Lancaster. They struggle with poverty to the point of having to beg food from their neighbors. Mose loses his life to a cow and Sarah decides to return home. Hannah resists the Amish ways and finally convinces her mother to return to North Dakota. Hannah is determined to raise prime cattle and own a ranch. She also fights her affection towards a nearby neighbor Clay.
I can't wait to see what happens next!
July 9, 2019
Hannah's family moves to North Dakota where free land is available, provided that you homestead and live on the land for the required period of time. Weather and land are very different than what they had back home and they are not making it without help from a neighbor for handouts and Hannah goes to town to work in a store. Wages aren't possible to work for during these hard times. Hannah works for food from the store to bring home to feed her parents and siblings. Her parents aren't in favor of Hannah being in town around "worldly people" because they are Amish, but the family is starving so they allow her to do it.
I enjoyed this story. It is book 1 of 3, which I plan to read.
I enjoyed this story. It is book 1 of 3, which I plan to read.
December 26, 2020
Though I enjoyed the description of the North Dakota prairie, I was often frustrated with the father, who seems a bit unbalanced even at the beginning of the story. Hannah is a strong, young woman who is resistant to the limitations of the Amish requirements on behavior. It also seems more than a bit idealistic that their neighbors who are also living through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years are so generous with this family that is clearly unsuited for the pioneer life.
I know it is the first book in a series and while I am curious about the direction Hannah's heart will take her life, I doubt that I will invest the time in a second book to find out...
I know it is the first book in a series and while I am curious about the direction Hannah's heart will take her life, I doubt that I will invest the time in a second book to find out...
September 4, 2022
My biggest complaint was that I was expecting a romance and it really wasn’t a romance… perhaps the rest of the series delves more into the romance sector but this one was mainly focused on a young Amish girl coming-of-age while helping her family survive on a new homestead in the Dakotas.
The book was a good read otherwise and it reminded me a lot of The Little House on the Prairie series, although with the Amish traditions, culture, religion mixed in. I enjoyed reading about the Amish perspective and the narrator’s questioning beliefs, similar to members of any religion that may wonder how & why they do things a certain way.
The book was a good read otherwise and it reminded me a lot of The Little House on the Prairie series, although with the Amish traditions, culture, religion mixed in. I enjoyed reading about the Amish perspective and the narrator’s questioning beliefs, similar to members of any religion that may wonder how & why they do things a certain way.
August 7, 2017
I enjoyed it. An accurate story of an Amish family moving from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to North Dakota during the depression and the very hard times they have homesteading there. I liked the characters but I couldn't warm up to the eldest daughter, Hannah. This is the first book in the Dakota Series and I will read the next one as you are left with so many questions as to how does the family fare during the upcoming winter and what will Hannah do regarding her interest in Clay an englisher. Will she leave her faith? And what about Jerry, an Amish man who fell in love with Hannah?
June 27, 2017
Little house on the prairie in an Amish lifestyle...This book opened all my senses! Linda Byler transported me back in time to the great depression era and into the prairies. I learned a lot about the Amish ways while I enjoyed reading this book. Life in the country was definitely hard work during this time. She left me with a cliffhanger towards the end of the book and now I'm going to return to the Dakota series for the next book so I can discover what happens next!
June 16, 2018
Wonderful, descriptive writing
The author is very good at describing what things look and feel like. My only issue was that there seemed a bit too much negativity in the descriptions of almost every single Amish person. Both of Hannah's parents, all the marriage relationships....I was a bit starved for a few healthy, happy relationships. But I'm running to download the next book in the series to find out if Hannah finds happiness on the prairie.
The author is very good at describing what things look and feel like. My only issue was that there seemed a bit too much negativity in the descriptions of almost every single Amish person. Both of Hannah's parents, all the marriage relationships....I was a bit starved for a few healthy, happy relationships. But I'm running to download the next book in the series to find out if Hannah finds happiness on the prairie.
November 2, 2021
Choosen by my bookclub - Have not read this author before and she seems to use too many descriptive pharases - story of an Amish family moving from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to North Dakota during the depression - Kept waiting for something postive & happiness for the family but it just didn't come!!!!!
December 10, 2023
I'm a big fan of Amish fiction of all sorts, and really looked forward to this Depression-era series. I found it tough slogging and contemplated ditching it partway through. I did finish, but won't bother with the rest of the series.
I have enjoyed other Linda Byler books, though, and will try some of her other series.
I have enjoyed other Linda Byler books, though, and will try some of her other series.
December 10, 2024
It was a really good book!! The romance was so sweet and clean. The father was definitely an interesting character. I personally think the feminism was a little strong for an Amish book, but I am not Amish so I wouldn't know. I am rating this after I have read the series 2 times before, so I can definitely say it only gets better from here. I would highly suggest!!
April 17, 2025
Different from other Amish reads, as one Amish family moves from PA to North Dakota to homestead government issued property. Hannah the teenager is strong/opinionated and her parents are both too weak emotionally to survive in such a harsh land. Did not enjoy her rebellion as it bordered on narcissistic behavior. Don’t plan to read book sequels two and three.
June 8, 2017
Just finished reading this book and it was very interesting. At times, there were too many descriptive phrases, but overall it kept me entertained. I can't wait to read the next book in the series to see what Hannah accomplishes.
February 2, 2019
Byler’s characterizations are always really strong and fleshed out, but her style of narrating is a little disorienting. She switches from one character to another very abruptly and not at all seamlessly. But an interesting read, set during the Great Depression.
August 3, 2021
Good book
I liked the plot but had a hard time relating to Hannah's disrespect toward everyone, especially her parents. I didn't like the ending, left hanging wondering if Hannah ever reconnected with Jerry
I liked the plot but had a hard time relating to Hannah's disrespect toward everyone, especially her parents. I didn't like the ending, left hanging wondering if Hannah ever reconnected with Jerry
March 27, 2023
It was more of a mix of Amish romantic fiction and historical fiction. It was a nice change from typical
Amish writers. She is very descriptive in her writing and gives very details that you don’t get always get with others.
Amish writers. She is very descriptive in her writing and gives very details that you don’t get always get with others.
September 20, 2025
I liked the setting of the book but the characters were very contradictory. There were a couple spots where it appears the book was not thoroughly proof read as well. I would not recommend this book unless you are trying to fill a lot of spare time.
July 1, 2017
Linda Byler's writing is outstanding: In-depth and unique characters, unexpected twists and turns, and marvelous descriptions of an era and location unknown to me. Hated to finish it!
July 15, 2017
Loved this book because of the enlightening information about the Amish and their beliefs that were entwined into the story.
July 30, 2017
Strong characters and valid descriptions of building a home with absolutely nothing made this a good read.
August 9, 2017
I thought that this book was a fun read, & I'm looking forward to the 2nd one in the series coming out in Nov.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews