Rachel King has always loved horses. After her two older sisters are married off, Rachel decides to go to Charm, Kentucky to live with her cousin Sarah on their chicken farm and find a job working with horses. Her plan works well, and she is hired on as a tour guide at Twelve Elms horse farm. That's where she meets Jake Brady, the farm owner's son. There's an immediate attraction between them, but there's one problem. Rachel is Amish and Jake is an Englisher. At only twenty, Rachel is still in her Rumspringer time, and isn't sure what she wants in her life. She always thought she'd marry Amish and live in that culture, but Jake is a distraction she finds hard to resist. Can they work across the chasm separating their two worlds?

An even bigger problem is weighing on Jake at the moment. The family bred one of their mares with a championship thoroughbred and Enough to Please is a gelding with lots of promise as a championship race horse. Jake convinces his family to take a second mortgage on their farm to hire an experienced trainer and staff to make Enough to Please a Kentucky Derby winner. When an investment group offers to purchase the horse, Jake turns them down. Now he's worried about all the things that could go wrong over the next year. Did he make a big mistake, knowing the family could lose everything?

A LITTLE BIT OF CHARM is a well-written, charming inspirational novel. It skillfully compares and contrasts the Amish, Mennonite and English Christian beliefs and culture. Rachel and Jake both struggle with their own beliefs and what they want for their lives. Jake also reveals his selfishness and arrogance, while Rachel realizes that you don't know what you have until it is gone. These two main characters are strong, smart and true-to-life. The supporting characters help to move the plot and subplots along, blending them seamlessly. Mary Ellis incorporates a social/cultural issue into the story with an outbreak of polio and how the Amish and Mennonite view English medicine. If you are a fan of inspirational fiction, this is a moving story you do not want to miss. And there are some fantastic- sounding recipes, mentioned throughout the story, that are at the end of the book.

Book Summary

A Little Bit of Charm, the third book in bestselling author Mary Ellis's New Beginnings series, is about fresh starts...and how faith in God and His perfect plans provide the peace and joy all long for.

After the death of her parents and then watching both of her older sisters find happiness in homes of their own with husbands who adore them, Rachel King yearns for a new beginning. Her cousin Sarah lives near a thoroughbred stable in Kentucky, and working around beautiful horses is Rachel's dream come true. She leaves Lancaster County to find a job at Twelve Elms Stables and believes God has answered her prayers.

And then she meets Jake, an attractive and charming Englisch man. At first she refuses to go out with him, but he eventually convinces her to give him a chance. When Amish men who also wish to date Rachel start encountering strange mishaps, she wonders if Jake is really who he seems to be.

What does a young woman do when her heart is pulled in two directions?

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