Morning Star

Five friends are visiting and walking around town on a visiting Sunday in the town of Morning Star.  All five are young Maidels who are old enough to be married, but aren't.  As they are walking, they see a For Sale sign on a barn, and Jo, one of the maidels, begins a brain storm, thinking that the church could buy the barn and land use it make money for building the new school they need.  She envisions a marketplace type building where the Amish in the community can sell their wares.  Jo goes to the bishop, Jeremiah, and explains her vision for the barn.  This prompts a members meeting to see if there was support for buying the barn and using it as proposed. 

From the beginning, the reader could assume that Jo is going to be the main character of the story, but the reader assumes wrongly in this case.  The primary characters in this story are Regina and Gabe.  Jo is the catalyst that makes the story come together into a cohesive whole. 

Regina and Gabe both hold secrets that, in a way, stand as an obstacle between them.  They work out the obstacles and create others along the way.  It's a bit formulaic in that it follows the formula for romance novels:  Boy meets girl, Boy gets girl, Boy loses girl, Boy gets girl back, Boy and girl marry.   There are a few characters in this book that are quite unlikable, but they also make the plot work. 

I've enjoyed every Amish Fiction book I've read by Charlotte Hubbard and this one is no different.  I stayed up way too late to finish reading this book.  It's that whole "one more chapter" thing.  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a secret revealed that will no longer have a hold.

Kensington Books and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read.  All opinions expressed are my own.