THE PROPOSAL AT SIESTA KEY - Shelley Shepard Gray
Amish Brides of Pinecraft , Book 2
Avon Inspire
ISBN: 978-0-06-233772-6
May 2015
Inspirational Romance

Present Day Pinecraft, a community in Sarasota, Florida

Twelve years ago, tragedy struck the Troyer family taking their elder daughter from them. They left their home in Ohio and moved to Florida, but it didn't help; they couldn't leave their sorrow and fears behind. They guarded Penny, their younger daughter, by not letting her out of their sight. But now she is twenty-four and chafing at the restrictions. She feels it's time to move on with life, that her sister would want her to. Penny joins one of her few friends in Pinecraft Park where there is a gathering to hear the evangelist Knoxx family speak and sing. The next day she shocks her parents by telling them she was going to look for a job.

Handsome charismatic Michael Knoxx is undoubtedly the star of the program. He has an inspiring tale to tell how his faith saved him when he spent twenty four agonizing hours at the bottom of a ravine with a broken leg before he was found. Doctors couldn't save his foot and part of his leg, but he gets along fairly well with a prosthesis…usually. Right now the prosthesis has irritated the skin and he's in a lot of pain. Maybe that's why he's short with the young lady who asks if he needs help.

Penny has no skills or work experience, but after several failures, she finds a job at Barbara Overholt's Orange Blossom Inn. It so happens that Barbara needs extra hands to help with a long-term guest. Michael will be staying in Pinecraft for several weeks; he needs an operation on his infected leg and probably a new prosthesis. Part of Penny's duties will be to see to his needs.

Penny's parents are very unhappy with her. They feel by being out and about, she's putting herself in danger. But Penny believes God wants her to get on with life. The Amish of Pinecraft are of the new order and are less strict about certain things, such as having a telephone at home and the ladies wearing colorful frocks. It's a friendly, welcoming place, and it's time Penny began to mix in. A subplot that runs through the whole series concerns Beverly and the Orange Blossom Inn.

THE PROPOSAL AT SIESTA KEY is a heartwarming character-driven novel with people one can't help but like. It follows THE PROMISE OF PALM GROVE (review found in the February folder here What's New).

Jane Bowers