"The Amish Heiress" by Patrick E. Craig

Book Description: 
Rachel Hershberger’s life in Paradise, Pennsylvania is far from happy. Her papa struggles with a terrible event from the past, and his emotional instability has created an irreparable breach between them. Rachel’s one desire is to leave the Amish way of life and Paradise forever. Then her prayers are answered. Rachel discovers that the strange, key-shaped birthmark above her heart identifies her as the heir to a vast fortune left by her Englischer grandfather, Robert St. Clair. If Rachel will marry a suitable descendent of the St. Clair family, she will inherit an enormous sum of money. But Rachel does not know that behind the scenes is her long-dead grandfather's sister-in-law, Augusta St. Clair, a vicious woman who will do anything to keep the fortune in her own hands. As the deceptions and intrigues of the St. Clair family bind her in their web, Rachel realizes that she has made a terrible mistake. But has her change of heart come too late?
                                             Author Info: 

Best-selling author, Patrick E. Craig, is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful songwriting and performance career in the music industry to follow Christ in 1984. He spent the next twenty-six years as a worship leader, seminar speaker and pastor in churches, and at retreats, seminars and conferences all across the Western United States. After ministering for a number of years in music and worship to a circuit of small churches in Northern California, he is now concentrating on writing and publishing both fiction and non-fiction books. In November, 2011, Patrick signed a three book deal with Harvest House Publishers to publish his "Apple Creek Dreams" series. The series is historical Amish fiction and includes "A Quilt for Jenna," "The Road Home," and "Jenny's Choice". In 2013 he also released "A Gettysburg Vignette," one of fourteen stories in Murray Pura's Civil War Series, "Cry of Freedom." His Latest work, "The Amish Heiress" (Book One in The Paradise Chronicles series) will be released August 10, 2015. Patrick is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. 

Patrick has an extensive background as a writer. Throughout his school years he edited high school and college newspapers. In 1964 he won a national editorial contest sponsored by the Wall Street Journal for an editorial he wrote on the death of President Kennedy, and, in the same year, acted as Senior Editor for a special issue of the University of Washington Evergreen during a summer internship for High School Editors. After a year at Whitman College, where he was a journalism major, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area where he became a fixture on the local music scene.

As a professional songwriter, he wrote with and for such artists as Bill Champlin (Chicago), David Jenkins (Pablo Cruise), Buddy Miles, The Tazmanian Devils, and many others in the secular music industry. His songs were recorded by such artists and music groups as West Coast Natural Gas, Indian Pudding and Pipe, Joey Covington's Fat Fandango, The Sons of Champlin, The Tazmanian Devils, Buddy Miles, David Jenkins, Laura Allen, The Fairfax Street Choir and in Europe by the Swedish Band Seid. He had two music albums released on Warner Brothers records, and contributed to best selling albums by artists such as Chris Isaak and others. Recently a compilation of his early work was released in Switzerland as a specialty music album.

My Review:
"The Amish Heiress" by Patrick E. Craig is the first book in a new series(The Paradise Chronicles)  but it picks up where the three novels in the (Apple Creek Dreams Series ) leave off. You don't have to read the (Apple Creek Dreams Series ) to enjoy"The Amish Heiress" but your reading experience will be enhanced if you do!

I am not going to give you a view of the book as you can read the book description, if you want that! I will just tell you what I experienced while reading "The Amish Heiress". I do have to warn you that if you want the typical Amish novel, then Patrick E. Craig books are not for you . But I say be adventuress and jump in, and I bet you won't be sorry you took the leap!

Here is a Facebook post that I posted right after I finished reading "The Amish Heiress".  Oh my! I just finished reading "The Amish Heiress" by Patrick E. Craig and I read all but 4 chapters today, I read them  last night and yes, I had to finished it that quick, I had to see what happened, and now that I have finished it, I am disappointed, not because the book was bad but the complete opposite, it was fabulous and I want to read more of the character's lives and thoughts and actions.  Patrick E Craig writes so well that the reader is pulled into the story and is actually experiencing what the characters are experiencing.

These books are clean romances without cursing and sex scenes and yes there is violence and gun and deceit and alcohol use, and in these books, the Amish characters are not your normal Amish characters, but I believe that is why these books are so fantastic, because after all the Amish are human like us and they experience the same emotions as we do. 

There are so many twists and turns in these books, I was like Oh no and then I was like Yes and then I was crying!  

I also like the fact that there were Bible Scriptures in these books, ( not the Bible Book Chapter and verse) but the verse itself was printed out.

After reading these books, I have to say Patrick E. Craig is on my list of Favorite Amish genre authors. 

I have given "The Amish Heiress" and all the books in (The Apple Creek Dreams series) five stars.

I was given a copy by the author in exchange for an honest review and these thoughts are my own.