The Promise of Palm Grove: Amish Brides of Pinecraft, Book One (Amish Brides of Pinecraft, 1)

DescriptionA young Amish woman finds herself torn between the man she’s pledged to wed and the man her heart desires in this heartwarming story of chance, duty, and choice in the face of love—the first volume in the beloved New York Times bestselling author’s new Amish Brides of Pinecraft series.Amish bride-to-be Leona is thrilled to be in Florida, on a mini-vacation in the pretty town of Pinecraft. Her girlfriends think she’s happy because she’s away from the stress of wedding planning. They have no idea that Leona’s real joy is in being away from her fiancé.Edmund is a good man, and will make a decent husband . . . just not for Leona. The more time she spends with him and his overbearing ways, the less she wants to be his wife. Her cousins are sure Edmund is the right man for her-and their certainty makes Leona begin to doubt herself. But when a chance encounter with a wayward cat brings her face-to-face with a handsome, fun-loving Amish man named Zachary Kauffman, Leona’s faced with two vastly different futures.Leona must decide: Does she follow the path set out before her? Or take a chance with only the promise of what could be to guide her?My ReviewThis book is a GREAT book about the Amish. This story is about Leona Weaver and Zack Kauffman. This story starts out about Leona, who is engaged to be married to Edmund. She decides to leave Walnut Creek, Ohio and go to Pinecraft, Florida with her girlfriends Sara, who is Leona’s cousin and Mattie, who is Edmund’s sister. Leona is struggling about whether she really loves Edmund and when she arrives in Pinecraft, she is having to deal with whether she wants to get married to Edmund. Then, she sees Zack in a tree rescuing a cat. She thinks he is really cute and nice to rescue a cat from a tree. She thinks he is so caring where Edmund is not. As the story goes, she keeps on bumping into Zack and realizes her feelings are there in Pinecraft not Walnut Creek.As the story goes, Mattie meets one of Zack’s friend, Danny. There are a lot of feelings going everywhere. Then, Leona calls Edmund and tells him she is going to the beach with Zack, and Edmund is livid and they break up on the phone.I am not going to say anything more or I will ruin the story for you. This is a GREAT book, I couldn’t put it down.Thank you, Shelley for giving us such a GREAT book to read as I love the Amish so much.I loved this story so much and if you love the Amish as much as I do, you will love it.

The story started a little slow for me as it was building the foundation, which I am sure builds into the next two sequels. After a short time, the plot and climax took off as the women in this small B & B in Florida began having personal issues though not with each other per se. One of the main characters is Beverly who was to have inherited the B & B from her aunt when an English man comes stating he has inherited the business that Beverly has built.Three young, Amish, single girlfriends come from Ohio for a two-week stay. One of them is engaged to be married to her friend’s brother. There are Sara, Mattie and Lorena who stay at the B & B to have time together before Lorena is married. However, Lorena is having second thoughts about being engaged because of the lack of any type of feelings she has for her future husband. The author adds to the mix a man Lorena begins to develop really deep affection and feelings for.It doesn’t take long to fall in love with the storyline and while not age specific they are perfectly suited for the YA group. The budding romances, daring to leave the home nest, faith and truth are just some of the themes that come alive in the pages. I look forward to reading the next book, The Proposal at Siesta Key followed by the third book, A Wedding at the Orange Blossom Inn. I sure hope you will follow where all three lead characters Lorena, Sara and Mattie end their journeys.

I really enjoyed this book. It is the first book in a new series by this author and judging by this book it will be a great series!When I first started reading and saw how fast Leona, a young engaged Amish woman, was drawn to Zack I thought uh oh things are moving too fast for an Amish book but they really weren't. Leona had doubts about her engagement and this vacation away gave her time to think about what she really wanted. Did meeting Zack complicate things? Maybe. It really was enjoyable to see how their quick attraction played itself out in this first book. I can't wait for the second book to see what happens next! There are so many possibilities in this series for good story lines that it makes the waiting very hard! I look forward to the next book.

This is a fantastic start to this new series by this fabulous author. I was not disappointed with Leona and Zac's story. It was also refreshing that they were not Old Order Amish with their strict rules. Their story was well developed as was the characters. There was only one character that I didn't like and that was her fiancé. The book description tells enough about this story. My interest was captured in chapter one and continued even more so as I kept turning the pages until the very end. This story made me laugh and at times brought tears to my eyes. I highly recommend this wonderful story.

I truly enjoyed "The Promise of Palm Grove" by Shelley Shepard Gray. Friends helping friends through life events. Friends reconnecting with an old friend under misunderstanding from three years past. Allowing a higher power to take control. Three characters learn to have a voice for themselves and not let others make decisions for them.I can't wait to download my purchase of the next book in the series The Proposal at Siesta Key. I'm looking forward to meeting new characters and to read about the updates of the ones from The Promise of Palm Grove. Looking to the rest of the book in this series to make up a completed series by year's end.No money was exchanged for this review and this is all my opinion of my own words.

The ending was not as expected, but the book was hard to put down, I'm hoping this continues on inbook two.

I really enjoyed this book with all the twist and turn. The parts I enjoyed the most were the beginnings of love. Can't wait for the next book in this series.

I really enjoyed this book, easy reading and enjoyable story

Thank you!

Nice characters but rather predictable and a little boring . Sweet story all in all. Won't be buying the sequal.