THE AMISH BACHELOR'S BABY is third in the Amish Spinster Club series and the baby refers to a responsibility Caleb has to face. His younger cousin Becky Sue Hartz takes shelter from a snowstorm in the building being refurbished for the bakery. She's come from Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, and not alone... her baby boy Joey is wrapped up but getting cold. Annie swiftly takes charge and invites the young woman home with her, to the bustling family house on the dairy farm. This gives Caleb time to contact his cousin's own family. Will they welcome the news, or not?

What I love about this adventure is the community spirit shown. Every neighbouring family in the relatively new settlement seems to send over something for the baby; bottles, outgrown clothes, an unused crib carved by a carpenter but unsold. Similarly, Annie's generosity of spirit makes her keep at arm's length from Caleb so her sister won't be disappointed. After all, the circle letters sent around by her female friends all speculate that Leanna and her crush should deal very well together. Annie makes sure Caleb will escort Leanna to a quilt auction day. Having a small child around adds some creative chaos to life and other matters don't go smoothly either, so the characters have to cope with quite a bit of domestic drama during the course of the tale.

This inspirational romance sets a gentle, hard-working tone, based on respecting others rather than on rushing into a relationship. Jo Ann Brown is a talented author who never fails to bring her characters vividly to life. THE AMISH BACHELOR'S BABY poses many dilemmas but the scenes of skating and sipping raspberry hot chocolate, for instance, balance them out, making for an all-around entertaining read. Earlier books in this series are The Amish Suitor and The Amish Christmas Cowboy, and they sound like fun to me.

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