Book Description from Goodreads:
After her husband dies, Rose longs to be near her family—especially her twin sister, Lillian—so she packs up her young son and leaves their life in Ohio to move back to Paradise, Pennsylvania.
Luke Miller is ready to settle down in Paradise. He soon forms a partnership with Rose to help farm her land. He finds that he’s enjoying the company of the quiet, modest widow and she may be just the woman he’s been waiting for. But is Rose hiding a secret beneath her reserved exterior—one that could keep her from having a future with Luke?
And Rose isn’t the only one concealing something. Luke has a secret of his own, and it could threaten their partnership—and their chance at love.
My Review:
Don’t let the cover and the title give you the wrong impression of this book. There’s nothing sinister in this story. (At my first glance of this cover, I thought this might be a mystery/suspense story.) This is a tender story of a young widow and her little son who are attempting to begin life again after great heartbreak. There are secrets that are being kept, but they revolve around love and concern for others. I was drawn into the story from the very beginning of the book and quite enjoyed reading about the growing relationship between Luke and Rose. This is the second book of a series, but I felt it stood alone very well alone without reading the first book. That being said, I want to go back and read that first book and will be looking forward to the next one in this series.
There is something a little bit “mystical” in this story regarding a cardinal that keeps appearing to the two main characters. That addition to the storyline is not personally my sort of thing, and I could easily have done without it, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story, either. The ending seemed to come a little too quickly, and I wish that there had been an epilogue to this story. I’m hoping the next book gives us more of a glimpse into the lives of these lovely characters.
This is a sweet, wholesome Amish romance with surprise twists in the storyline.
Barbara Cameron did an great job with this book.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.