A SIMPLE VOW - Charlotte Hubbard
Simple Gifts - Book 1
Zebra
ISBN: 978-1-4201-3869-6
June 2016
Amish Inspirational Romance

Willow Ridge, Missouri – Present Day

As Edith Reihl prepares to attend the celebration following the wedding of Ira Hooley and Millie Glick, she hears a baby crying.  Outside, Edith sees two Plain men arguing beside a buggy that's parked at the side of the road. The baby's screaming draws Edith out of the house and to the buggy where she finds not one baby, but twins crying inside their matching bushel baskets.  And standing there is none other than Will Gingerich, her sister Loretta's ex-beau, who has come to Willow Ridge hoping that Edith and her sisters will take care of his six month old twins until he gets his life together after the death of his wife.

Asa Detweiler has been looking for Gingerich, finally catching up with him here on the road to Willow Ridge.  Will is a stranger to Asa, but he left a scathing message on Asa's telephone recorder accusing Asa of fathering his late wife's twins.  Asa has no clue who these people are, but he's determined to get to the bottom of the lies. Frustrated with screaming babies, Asa leaves Will and Edith to their business and turns his horse, Midnight, for home.  He'll deal with Gingerich later.  At the next bend in the road, an unknown assailant knocks Asa to the ground, and he lies there, unconscious.

Edith wants desperately to marry and have a family of her own, but with no beau in sight, that goal isn't likely for a few years, especially now that her father and sisters have moved to Willow Ridge while their father, Cornelius, begins his tenure as the new church Deacon.  Edith is horrified to think that Will's wife might have been untrue to him, and that Will himself has chosen to leave his babies and walk away rather than care for them. And Asa Detweiler?  Is he the scoundrel Will believes him to be?

A SIMPLE VOW is the story of Edith Reihl and Asa Detweiler and their journey to love and happily ever after.  Having never before met Asa, their new relationship is fraught with trials from the beginning.  Edith is determined to see to the welfare of the Gingerich twins, but her father is determined that the babies go back to Will as quickly as possible.  Meanwhile, Asa is also trying to sort out the truth about the lies that have torn his own life apart.  He and his brother, Drew, operate a furniture shop in a nearby town, and in his search for more business, Asa begins to consider a move to Willow Ridge, where he can be closer to Edith.

A SIMPLE VOW is the first novel in a new series from Charlotte Hubbard, Simple Gifts . Inside the pages of this new novel we take up where the Seasons of the Heart Series left off, with the return of many dynamic and beloved characters.  Miriam Hooley's Sweet Seasons Bakery Cafe was lost to a horrendous fire, but a new building rose in its place: The Grill and Skillet.  Miriam retired to raise her new baby daughter, Bethlehem, but her former partner, Naomi Brenneman has taken on operations at The Grill and Skillet, along with newcomers, brother and sister team Josiah and Savilla Witmer.  Luke Hooley and his brother, Ira, run the grist mill, and Luke's new wife, Nora, has opened her new consignment shop in the big red barn named Simple Gifts, selling Amish crafts, and the promise of new stories coming our way.

New friends and old are here in Willow Ridge as the Reihl family settles into the community.  Edith and Asa find the meaning A SIMPLE VOW can signify.  This book is a wonderful new beginning to a brand new heartfelt and wonderful series, don't miss it!

Diana Risso