Series: Indiana Amish Brides (Book 4)
She'll find him a wife for Christmas…
Which of these Indiana Amish Brides is next?
With her wedding business thriving, Annie Kauffmann could
never leave her beloved Amish community. So when handsome Amish cowboy Levi
Lapp tries to convince her father to move the family to Texas, she must put a
stop to it. If Annie finds Levi a wife, he might forget his dream of moving…but
can she keep from falling for him herself?
Good story about two people who have very definite and
very different dreams for their futures. Annie has her booming wedding business
in the town where she grew up, close to friends and family. She loves helping
others achieve their happily-ever-afters even if she has given up on one of her
own. Levi is a visitor to their community. He wants to start an Amish community
in Texas, fulfilling a dream he's had since he was a child. Being a romance,
you know how the story will end, but the journey on this one was full of ups
and downs.
I liked both Annie and Levi, though there were times that
both of them irritated me. Annie is kind, giving, loves her family, and is more
than a little bit stubborn. Her roots go deep in her family's land, its
branches extending to her nearby brothers and sisters and their families, as
well as the people she's known all her life. I loved her friendship with her Englisch
business partner and the unexpected side of Annie that Priscilla reveals later
in the book. Annie is not at all pleased with the arrival of Levi Lapp, in his
ridiculous boots and silly cowboy hat, with his plans to recruit members of her
community to start a new settlement in Texas. She's furious when he turns his
sights on her father and brother. Levi is a hard worker, cheerful and charming,
and focused on the future. He dreamed of returning to Texas since he was
fourteen and his family moved from there to Indiana then to Pennsylvania. When his
relative Old Simon in Indiana agrees to be a minister for the new community,
Levi knows the time is right. He arrives in Goshen full of confidence and big
plans, only to run into a brick wall named Annie.
There were sparks between Annie and Levi from the
beginning. Annie made no secret of her disapproval of his plan to tempt people
away from Goshen to Texas; she was nearly rude about it. I was impressed by
Levi's patience with her attitude. Though it visibly amused him most of the
time, there were a few times that it didn't, such as the meeting with the local
bishop. Levi doesn't let it get him down for long, which leads Annie to more
desperate measures. She talks him into going out with a friend of hers, hoping
that he'll fall in love and give up on going to Texas. It backfires a bit when
everyone around them sees the sparks and assumes that Levi and Annie are
interested in each other. They decide to go on a few fake dates to show
everyone how wrong they are for each other, but even that doesn't go as
planned. Except for their visions for the future, Annie and Levi find that they
like each other quite a lot. I enjoyed their lively banter and seeing them
eventually stop fighting. It's easy to see the feelings grow between them, but
the main obstacle is still there. It takes a near tragedy to make them look at
what is possible if they both want to make it happen. The scene in the hospital
room was incredibly emotional as they realize any problem can be overcome if
they do it together. The three-years-later epilogue was great.
My only real complaint in the story was that there were
several mentions of troubles between Levi and his family, but no details. I got
the feeling that those problems were a big part of what drove Levi's dreams,
and some details would have helped in understanding his determination.
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