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The Amish Matchmaker's Choice
Even a matchmaker can't predict true love...
She has to find him a bride unless she falls for him first...
Widow Adel Draschel refuses to marry again, but that won't stop her from playing matchmaker for her old schoolmate Jake Knussli. After a decade with the English, Jake's six-month time limit to marry so he can inherit his uncle's farm is quickly running out. Finding him the perfect wife won't be easy...especially when Adel might just be his perfect match.
She has to find him a bride unless she falls for him first...
Widow Adel Draschel refuses to marry again, but that won't stop her from playing matchmaker for her old schoolmate Jake Knussli. After a decade with the English, Jake's six-month time limit to marry so he can inherit his uncle's farm is quickly running out. Finding him the perfect wife won't be easy...especially when Adel might just be his perfect match.
- GenresAmish
203 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 24, 2022
59 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Johns
165 books365 followersPublishers Weekly bestselling author Patricia Johns writes sweet romance. She lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and son.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 9, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It’s different from most Amish fiction that I’ve read in quite some time and I loved that. The characters were well developed, making me feel as though they were people you might meet and like spending time with.
Great writing, great storyline and a pleasure to read.
Great writing, great storyline and a pleasure to read.
August 4, 2022
Wonderful Story
Finding the right someone to share his life with becomes quite the challenge for Jake Knussli, because he only has a few weeks in which to accomplish the task. However, he doesn't have to tackle the task on his own. Widow Adel Draschel has been tasked with the job of finding Jake a match. With Adel's help, Jake is introduced to various candidates. However, he runs into a problem when he realizes that none of the potential matches can hold a match to his matchmaker.
Although I had mixed feelings about the main characters, Adel and Jake, I loved their story. It took me awhile to warm up to Adel and to like her. As for Jake, I liked him right from the start. (Hence the mixed feelings) While I understood Adel's hesitation to be true to her feelings, she tired me out by her constant reminders of why she had to hold back. That being said, waiting to see what would happen with the tug of war with her feelings kept me captivated to the end in wonder of how it would all play out.
As for Jake, I loved how he was up front, honest and true to his feelings. I really enjoyed the banter between him and Adel, especially how he could get a rise out of her, which usually made me smile. (Keep that in mind when you get to the mashed potatoes.)
The combination of romance, humor, seeking God's will, and great characters are just a few of the things that made this story such a joy to read, and I highly recommend that you do just that.
Book Quote:
"I'm praying, Adel," he said quietly. "I pray constantly. but Gott doesn't always give us exactly what we pray for. He gives us what is good for us--and we don't always see the bigger picture."
Finding the right someone to share his life with becomes quite the challenge for Jake Knussli, because he only has a few weeks in which to accomplish the task. However, he doesn't have to tackle the task on his own. Widow Adel Draschel has been tasked with the job of finding Jake a match. With Adel's help, Jake is introduced to various candidates. However, he runs into a problem when he realizes that none of the potential matches can hold a match to his matchmaker.
Although I had mixed feelings about the main characters, Adel and Jake, I loved their story. It took me awhile to warm up to Adel and to like her. As for Jake, I liked him right from the start. (Hence the mixed feelings) While I understood Adel's hesitation to be true to her feelings, she tired me out by her constant reminders of why she had to hold back. That being said, waiting to see what would happen with the tug of war with her feelings kept me captivated to the end in wonder of how it would all play out.
As for Jake, I loved how he was up front, honest and true to his feelings. I really enjoyed the banter between him and Adel, especially how he could get a rise out of her, which usually made me smile. (Keep that in mind when you get to the mashed potatoes.)
The combination of romance, humor, seeking God's will, and great characters are just a few of the things that made this story such a joy to read, and I highly recommend that you do just that.
Book Quote:
"I'm praying, Adel," he said quietly. "I pray constantly. but Gott doesn't always give us exactly what we pray for. He gives us what is good for us--and we don't always see the bigger picture."
March 9, 2024
Good night, the writing has gone from "let's make a beautiful story for people to enjoy" to "let's make my deadline, huh?" This was absolute garbage in a market *INUNDATED* with Amish stories. They're really churnin'em out... and it's not necessarily a good thing. It's a moneything, I'll give it that. But this one's a definite skipper.
First we have Jake/Jacob. He's 38 and has lived as an Englisch guy for TWENTY years - he got the heck out of Dodge as soon as he could legally hold a job elsewhere. Now someone like that? Wouldn't just waltz back to the Amish upon learning that he inherited land. He'd be established. Maybe not married, but his mindset, lifestyle, behaviors, and world view are too changed.
TWENTY years. That's not just an extended rumspringa, hello. He wouldn't be accepted back into the fold easily after that. Most likely, he'd be treated as a newcomer, because of the literal DECADES of carnal living caked on him - and there's a THREE-YEAR period of testing for them to be welcomed to the Amish fold. MINIMUM.
But that's not what we have here. Nosireee, this dude heard from his lawyer SIX MONTHS AGO, and immediately quit his job, packed his... wait, no, he schlepped nothing home, but had the women of the community immediately set to work outfitting him in Amish duds to give him the image and set the stage for gettin' his share.
Then for SIX MONTHS he 1) worked on a house that's so horrifically cluttered he won't let Adele in it after all his SIX MONTHS of hard work (((((((have I mentioned. six. months.)))))), 2) he attends Amish services, community events, AND Amish 'classes' with the bishop to be baptized, and 3) he 'eyes up' the ladies of the community, knowing full well he has SIX MONTHS to find a wife, or lose the inheritance.
But that's all backstory. We start off TWO WEEKS before the wifey deadline. He has to become Amish and married to get the land that belonged to his family for generations. And while he's now baptized, he hasn't picked a woman to even TRY to woo. No, the bishop instead has taken it upon HIMSELF to find Jake a wife, while Jake *hasn't* cleaned his house and *hasn't* connected with the community and *hasn't* formed any relationships with the eligible women.
And the bishop goes to the widow of his best friend to be 'matchmaker'. She's 1) never done it before, 2) exactly the same age as Jake so who in the whole of AmishLand *DOESN'T smell a match-up, right there?, and 3) she doesn't "trust" him or "know" him, so she decides she need time to get to know him before she can help him.
TWO. WEEKS.
There's not time for *ANY* of this, hello!!!
More, there's NO WAY any woman in that community would believe he was suddenly taken with a change of heart when the whole thing is about the land.
And I'm sorry, but the Amish community is *TIGHT*. And church is held at every home in the district, with all of the women pitching in to help clean/declutter for services, every week. So the fact that these Amish men have never 1) held a service in their home, and 2) never had the women of the community come to help, and 3) had THAT MUCH clutter is absolutely ridiculous. Jake describes it as 'completely filled with trash'. And that's after six months of him supposedly working on it? Really???
The writing is abysmal. The plot so contrived it's astounding.
So Adele leaves her sister ALONE to give a tour to an entire houseful of Englischers to ride out and look at Jake's land? SERIOUSLY?!?!? What Amish community in their right mind would allow one single young woman alone with no chaperone/protection like that? It's not even a public place - it's a PRIVATE RESIDENCE. No!!! No, no, no.
And while we're on the subject of that private residence... it's supposedly a bed n breakfast. However Adele and her sister live in the enormous Amish house (where families for generations have resided, so there are a TON of bedrooms there)... and they 'rent out' the dawdi house - which is the little tiny extension with ONE BEDROOM to 'tourists'... and that's considered a 'bed & breakfast'.
That's NOT HOW IT WOULD WORK. Not ever. It's utterly, completely BACKWARDS!
Adele had been married, so Johns writes, that she has "...eyes brimming with more life experience than anyone else he knew." WHAT?!?! Jake lived Englisch for TWENTY years. He knew people who'd divorced, had kids out of wedlock, paid child support, went to jail for cooking meth, who traveled the world, who hiked National parks, who went thru drug and alcohol rehabilitation, who were abandoned and fostered and lost in the system...
... but ADELE has more life experience than anyone he knew.
Are. You. Kidding. Me???!?????!?!?!?!
And the writing... gah, the writing...!!! For example:
Pg 30: "I never knew how to come home, but my uncle's frustrating will give me a reason to try." Good god, is that even English?! Where in the Sam Hill are the editors?!
I can't. I'm out. This SUCKED, and I already know what's going to happen. But when a book is so bad I'm tearing the middle of a page to give it THREE dog ears?! That's when I have to be done.
Skip this. Go and find Patricia Davids.
I promise, it's SO. MUCH. BETTER.
First we have Jake/Jacob. He's 38 and has lived as an Englisch guy for TWENTY years - he got the heck out of Dodge as soon as he could legally hold a job elsewhere. Now someone like that? Wouldn't just waltz back to the Amish upon learning that he inherited land. He'd be established. Maybe not married, but his mindset, lifestyle, behaviors, and world view are too changed.
TWENTY years. That's not just an extended rumspringa, hello. He wouldn't be accepted back into the fold easily after that. Most likely, he'd be treated as a newcomer, because of the literal DECADES of carnal living caked on him - and there's a THREE-YEAR period of testing for them to be welcomed to the Amish fold. MINIMUM.
But that's not what we have here. Nosireee, this dude heard from his lawyer SIX MONTHS AGO, and immediately quit his job, packed his... wait, no, he schlepped nothing home, but had the women of the community immediately set to work outfitting him in Amish duds to give him the image and set the stage for gettin' his share.
Then for SIX MONTHS he 1) worked on a house that's so horrifically cluttered he won't let Adele in it after all his SIX MONTHS of hard work (((((((have I mentioned. six. months.)))))), 2) he attends Amish services, community events, AND Amish 'classes' with the bishop to be baptized, and 3) he 'eyes up' the ladies of the community, knowing full well he has SIX MONTHS to find a wife, or lose the inheritance.
But that's all backstory. We start off TWO WEEKS before the wifey deadline. He has to become Amish and married to get the land that belonged to his family for generations. And while he's now baptized, he hasn't picked a woman to even TRY to woo. No, the bishop instead has taken it upon HIMSELF to find Jake a wife, while Jake *hasn't* cleaned his house and *hasn't* connected with the community and *hasn't* formed any relationships with the eligible women.
And the bishop goes to the widow of his best friend to be 'matchmaker'. She's 1) never done it before, 2) exactly the same age as Jake so who in the whole of AmishLand *DOESN'T smell a match-up, right there?, and 3) she doesn't "trust" him or "know" him, so she decides she need time to get to know him before she can help him.
TWO. WEEKS.
There's not time for *ANY* of this, hello!!!
More, there's NO WAY any woman in that community would believe he was suddenly taken with a change of heart when the whole thing is about the land.
And I'm sorry, but the Amish community is *TIGHT*. And church is held at every home in the district, with all of the women pitching in to help clean/declutter for services, every week. So the fact that these Amish men have never 1) held a service in their home, and 2) never had the women of the community come to help, and 3) had THAT MUCH clutter is absolutely ridiculous. Jake describes it as 'completely filled with trash'. And that's after six months of him supposedly working on it? Really???
The writing is abysmal. The plot so contrived it's astounding.
So Adele leaves her sister ALONE to give a tour to an entire houseful of Englischers to ride out and look at Jake's land? SERIOUSLY?!?!? What Amish community in their right mind would allow one single young woman alone with no chaperone/protection like that? It's not even a public place - it's a PRIVATE RESIDENCE. No!!! No, no, no.
And while we're on the subject of that private residence... it's supposedly a bed n breakfast. However Adele and her sister live in the enormous Amish house (where families for generations have resided, so there are a TON of bedrooms there)... and they 'rent out' the dawdi house - which is the little tiny extension with ONE BEDROOM to 'tourists'... and that's considered a 'bed & breakfast'.
That's NOT HOW IT WOULD WORK. Not ever. It's utterly, completely BACKWARDS!
Adele had been married, so Johns writes, that she has "...eyes brimming with more life experience than anyone else he knew." WHAT?!?! Jake lived Englisch for TWENTY years. He knew people who'd divorced, had kids out of wedlock, paid child support, went to jail for cooking meth, who traveled the world, who hiked National parks, who went thru drug and alcohol rehabilitation, who were abandoned and fostered and lost in the system...
... but ADELE has more life experience than anyone he knew.
Are. You. Kidding. Me???!?????!?!?!?!
And the writing... gah, the writing...!!! For example:
Pg 30: "I never knew how to come home, but my uncle's frustrating will give me a reason to try." Good god, is that even English?! Where in the Sam Hill are the editors?!
I can't. I'm out. This SUCKED, and I already know what's going to happen. But when a book is so bad I'm tearing the middle of a page to give it THREE dog ears?! That's when I have to be done.
Skip this. Go and find Patricia Davids.
I promise, it's SO. MUCH. BETTER.
June 9, 2022
The Amish Matchmaker’s Choice by Patricia Johns
The more I read books by this author the more I’m finding I really enjoy her writing style, and this book didn’t disappoint. It’s just a real fun, caring book that makes me want to read more by this author. In this story you will see that Love is not always so cut and dry and in fact it’s sometimes just plain painful however, if you keep your focus on God, and family you will come out on the path where you were meant to be.
Pick up a copy of this book I. Sure you will enjoy it as I did.
The more I read books by this author the more I’m finding I really enjoy her writing style, and this book didn’t disappoint. It’s just a real fun, caring book that makes me want to read more by this author. In this story you will see that Love is not always so cut and dry and in fact it’s sometimes just plain painful however, if you keep your focus on God, and family you will come out on the path where you were meant to be.
Pick up a copy of this book I. Sure you will enjoy it as I did.
May 27, 2022
Tethered to a memory
She's the new matchmaker for the community, and she's tethered to her late husband's memory. Jake jumped the fence years ago and he was never encouraged to return; quite the opposite. But he's back and committed and there's a farm at stake. She's trying to stay neutral, but they're like two magnets.
She's the new matchmaker for the community, and she's tethered to her late husband's memory. Jake jumped the fence years ago and he was never encouraged to return; quite the opposite. But he's back and committed and there's a farm at stake. She's trying to stay neutral, but they're like two magnets.
September 4, 2022
Book #6 in this series and they are all so good. I love Patricia Johns writing, I always feel like I am there with them and are just observing what is going on! (only I don't get to eat the food! sigh... a must read for loves of the Amish!
April 9, 2022
A fantastic book that everyone should read
May 13, 2022
fun fun short easy to read book
Read
May 27, 2022Very good.
July 17, 2022
A wonderful story. Matchmaking can’t be that hard, can it? When time isn’t in your side you have to move fast. You will enjoy every minute of this story.
September 4, 2022
Enjoyed this latest book in this series. I will say it’s not necessary to read in order but is nice to know who previous characters are when mentioned.
October 19, 2022
Another Amish cant put down book. If you like clean easy reading and Amish stories, you need to read this book.
November 11, 2024
This book is a good read.
January 17, 2026
very g0od book very good series
Read
May 1, 2022Categories
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Amish & Mennonite, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
Redemption's Amish Legacies (Book #6)
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Amish & Mennonite, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
Redemption's Amish Legacies (Book #6)
Read
May 1, 2022Categories
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Amish & Mennonite, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
Redemption's Amish Legacies (Book #6)
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Amish & Mennonite, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
Redemption's Amish Legacies (Book #6)
June 20, 2022
This is the last book in the Redemption's Amish Legacy series by Patricia Johns.
After living a decade away from his Amish community, Jake Knussli returns to his childhood farm he is about to inherit. But his uncle's will states he has to be married for that to happen. He has been looking for a bride, but time is running out, and he asks Adel Draschel to be a matchmaker and find him his future wife.
Adel treasures her position in her community as the late deacon's widow. She believes God has given her a unique, respectable, and purposeful job of advising women around her. She refused to marry again because she fears she might then lose her value in the other people's eyes.
I enjoyed reading Adel and Jake's story very much. It was such a struggle for Jake to choose between a marriage of convenience and losing his farm for the sake of true love. Also, Adel was questioning her motives for the kind of life she had created for herself.
All of it -- the characters' thoughts, their debates, explanations, revelations, realizations etc. -- was so realistic and credible, I forgot these were fictional people.
So far this year, this book has been my favorite LI story. I recommend it to anyone interested in Amish fiction or second chances trope.
After living a decade away from his Amish community, Jake Knussli returns to his childhood farm he is about to inherit. But his uncle's will states he has to be married for that to happen. He has been looking for a bride, but time is running out, and he asks Adel Draschel to be a matchmaker and find him his future wife.
Adel treasures her position in her community as the late deacon's widow. She believes God has given her a unique, respectable, and purposeful job of advising women around her. She refused to marry again because she fears she might then lose her value in the other people's eyes.
I enjoyed reading Adel and Jake's story very much. It was such a struggle for Jake to choose between a marriage of convenience and losing his farm for the sake of true love. Also, Adel was questioning her motives for the kind of life she had created for herself.
All of it -- the characters' thoughts, their debates, explanations, revelations, realizations etc. -- was so realistic and credible, I forgot these were fictional people.
So far this year, this book has been my favorite LI story. I recommend it to anyone interested in Amish fiction or second chances trope.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews