To Love and to Cherish

February 15, 2012

It has been a difficult four years for Emma Shirack since Carl, the man she thought she would marry, left his Amish faith. Having just begun to heal, Emma is further shaken when her parents are killed in a tragic accident. Although her older brother offers to care for their younger twin siblings, Emma doesn't see eye-to-eye with her sister-in-law over their rearing. Enter Thomas, a widower with two small children. Emma begins to develop romantic feelings for Thomas that become even more complicated when Carl returns home. VERDICT Irvin succcessfully moves from romantic Christian suspense (A Deadly Wilderness; No Child of Mine) to Amish romance with this series debut. Her sympathetically drawn, three-dimensional characters struggle with real-life dilemmas and are certain to appeal to fans of Wanda E. Brunstetter and Marta Perry.

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