Saturday, December 10, 2022

Her Hearts Desire (A Season In Pinecraft) by Shelley Shepard Gray


 Mary Margaret Miller needs an escape from her small Amish community. She boards a bus, all alone, for a vacation in Pinecraft, Florida. Meeting Betsy and Lilly on the way, she's amazed to find two kindred spirits. They become fast friends and determine to have the best two weeks of their lives. For Mary, it starts when she meets Jayson Raber. The handsome and charming carpenter is taken by Mary from the get-go, but he has responsibilities back home in Kentucky--including a girl he's supposed to marry.


When someone from Mary's past shows up in Pinecraft, it seems like her perfect vacation is ruined. But that's nothing compared to what's coming when she realizes what Jayson has been hiding.


My thoughts:

Ms. Gray takes her readers back to sunny Pinecraft Florida in her new series.  It really is lovely location and yes, there are many Amish who vacation there during the winter months, which is where we meet Mary Margaret, Betsy, and Lilly.  It seems like these three young ladies are destined to become friends as they get to know each other during their 2-week vacation at the Marigold Inn.  I could easily imagine staying there, from the proprietor, the guests to the description of the breakfasts to the delightful porch.

One of the newly arrived guests happened to be the one person Mary would rather not see, the lovely, but not so nice, Esther. She has bullied Mary back in their hometown and that is not what Mary wants to deal with on her vacation.

As misguided as Jayson Raber is, I liked him so much, and found him to a perfect match for Mary, it just took some time for him to disclose a secret he had been keeping, but when he finally told her she was not at all pleased.  I would have been upset, too. 

Overall, I enjoyed the start to this series.  A novel of friendship, forgiveness, growth, maturity, and sweet romances.

I received a copy from the publisher through Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.


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