HUCKLEBERRY HEARTS – Jennifer Beckstrand
The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill , Book 6
Zebra Books
ISBN: 978-1-4201-3653-1
December 2015
Contemporary Inspirational Romance

Huckleberry Hill, near Bonduel, Wisconsin

Now in their eighties, Anna and Felty Helmuth have been happily married for decades, and they want the same for all their descendants. The sprightly pair (mostly Anna with Felty's loving assistance) have already made successful matches for several of their many grandchildren, but now they face a difficult challenge. One of their granddaughters, Cassy Coblenz, left the Amish community to attend college and has never been baptized. She's going for an advanced degree and plans to take time off to study for the GRE, a pre-graduate school exam. She needs a peaceful place where she is accepted; she certainly can't find that at home, not with her mother and older brother constantly admonishing her to return to the Amish ways or be condemned to hell. What better place to go than to her beloved grandparents' home?

Cassie's Englischer life has made her ineligible to marry an Amish boy, so Anna needs to find a good non-Amish man who has faith in God. She thinks she may have found him in the doctor who is treating her for the melanoma on the bottom of her foot. Now how to get them together?

Don't worry, Felty's Annie Banannie (his name for Anna) is a creative conniver. There are problems, however.Though Dr. ZachReynolds is a caring and honorable man, his early life has made him doubt the Lord. And after her own experiences with the fraternity boys she met at the University of Chicago—where Zach also attended—Cassie isn't about to trust anyEnglisch boy.

It won't be an easy road for any of them. But one mustn't underestimate the love and generosity of family and neighbors as Zach is lured to visit by Annie…one lure is the good food. Oh, not that Annie's cooking is so good, but there is enough of Cassie's or the generous contributions from others. (Felty is the only one who happily eats Anna's experiments. The family doesn't know if it's out of love, or if he really likes it.)

It's difficult to keep to the bare bones of a good story such as this, with its complex human emotions and plotlines. Here are just a few adjectives that describe it and its prequels: charming, heartwarming, uplifting, romantic, and definitely humorous. The cast of characters is marvelous, and you'll love almost all of them.

Jane Bowers