First sentence: WANTED: An Amish Mail-Order Groom. Age 20–35. Must be willing to live in remote Appalachia and build life in said community. Must love books, horses, and possess good teeth. Appearance must be tolerable at least, though bride would favor a gut mind over looks. Must understand a woman’s sensibilities and not be judgmental. Must realize that Gott is the Third in a marriage. Reply to . . .
Premise/plot: Tabitha Stolfus, our heroine, has placed an ad for a mail-order-groom. She hopes to be married before her father--a very successful businessman (wood carving is his business) returns home. He wants her married, no question. But she's not convinced that he would approve of her advertising for a husband. The man who responds to her ad and comes to Blackberry Falls is none other than Matthew King. King has his own reasons for responding to the ad--namely he wants to learn woodcarving from Tabitha's father. Will these two fall in love after their marriage?
My thoughts: I loved the premise of this one. Not so much the Amish aspect of it but the mail order aspect of it and use of the marriage of convenience trope. Reading the description made me think I'd enjoy this one. (Even though as I mentioned Amish fiction isn't my favorite or best sub-genre or sub-sub-genre.)
Can you feel a "but" coming???? BUT. What I wasn't expecting was a SMUTTY Amish romance. It is a bit of a puzzlement, in my opinion, granted I am not representative of every reader. Perhaps there's an audience of romance readers that would welcome the Amish/religious aspects of it (the God-talk) that are still looking for a liberal dose of smut. I would venture a guess that I'm in the minority of romance readers. That is by preferring CLEAN or clean-ish romance novels I am in the minority. The majority of romance being published is smutty and I would guess that's how the majority of romance readers want it. It sells. I didn't realize there was a market for smutty Amish fiction though!!! Maybe this isn't the only one? Maybe there really is a whole sub-sub-sub genre of smutty Amish/Mennonite romance novels out there??? But it still felt odd to me.
There's another but coming. But I will say that it was nice to have a SECOND love story added in. And the mystery element was also nice.
© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Sounds like an oxymoron. An Amish smutty novel.
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