Brand New Amish Romance from Serena B. Miller: Fearless Hope (My Review)

Fearless Hope
by Serena B. Miller
Copyright 2014
Howard Books
ISBN: 9781451660371

The Story:
When Hope Yoder loses her husband, she is left trying to support her two small children—and one on the way—however she can. She ends up taking a job as a part-time housekeeper for the Englisch man who has bought the farm that once belonged to her family.

Logan Parker is a bestselling crime fiction writer from New York City who accompanies his fiancée on a trip to Holmes County, Ohio, but the trip takes a strange turn when he sees an Amish farmhouse for sale. Intrigued by a strong sense of familiarity, he enters the house and is overcome with a feeling of deep peace. He’s never been to Ohio before, but something in this house feels right, and he purchases the farm to use as a retreat. Something about the peacefulness of the house frees him from the crippling writer’s block that threatens to ruin his career, and something about the quiet Amish woman who comes to clean his home makes him less and less excited about returning to New York and the woman he is supposed to marry.

Slowly, Logan and Hope are drawn together, and when they discover that they share a strange past, they must decide how that affects their future. Will Hope overcome her fear of embracing love again?


My Thoughts:
I'm a big fan of TV's Castle as well as Hallmark's The Shunning movies and I couldn't help thinking as Serena B. Miller's latest novel, Fearless Hope, played out in my head, that the book was kind of a mash-up of the two. He isn't working with cops, but writer Logan Parker definitely has that Castle-like charm going that's hard not to love. He has a lot of pain and heartache of his own that he's hiding underneath that charming veneer. Hope Yoder, the Plain woman who comes to depend on Logan's employment to be dependent from her community's charity after her husband's sudden death, is as one might expect --kindhearted, loving, and a little unsure of the new stranger who has taken ownership of her family's former farm. As Logan and Hope grow closer, they learn secrets about their pasts that deepen their connection.


As per the usual, Serena's Amish story captured my full attention. Once I picked this one up and opened the front cover, I couldn't stop reading. I don't know what it is, perhaps it's her ability to craft a world so familiar yet so different from our own or her ability to bring to life characters who are so dynamic and interesting that they could be real that make this and most of her other stories so readable. Once you're sucked in, it's definitely tough to stop reading these books. Even though each of her Amish books are loosely related, they can be read on their own.

Fearless Hope, while very good, is not my favorite of the series (that award goes to Hidden Mercies) just because the last few chapters seemed rushed. I wished that their story got a little more time to develop, especially where Logan was concerned. I felt that he went from one very involved, complicated situation to another with Hope. However, Fearless Hope absolutely drew me in and by the end, left me with that warm fuzzy feeling that is always necessary when reading stories in this genre. If you enjoy Amish fiction I definitely suggest this book as well as the other two books in the series, Uncommon Grace and Hidden Mercies.

Read my review of Uncommon Grace.

Read my review of Hidden Mercies.

Fearless Hope available April 8, 2014.

 ~ My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ~ 

To learn more about Serena and her books, visit her website: http://www.serenabmiller.com

*I receive complimentary books for review from the publisher. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I express are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.*

 Happy Reading!