A Texan's Promise by Shelley Gray

A Texan’s Promise is the first book in a new series, Heart of a Hero, by Shelley Gray.  This is the first non-Amish fiction book I’ve read by this author who also writes under the name Shelley Shepard Gray.  The author classified this as a Western.  I never really thought I enjoyed Western’s and never would have read it if I had not read the Amish books written by the author.  I loved the historical fiction parts of the book and since I love historical fictions, this book fit right in with what I enjoy reading.

The story starts off when Clayton Proffitt, foreman of the Circle Z ranch in Texas, finds Vanessa Grant crying in the barn.  When Vanessa’s father was on his deathbed, Clayton promised him that he would look out for Vanessa.  He discovers belt marks on her back and she finally tells Clayton that her drunken step father tried to take advantage of her and when she would not let him, he beat her.  Clayton promises Vanessa that he will take her away from her step father.  They prepare for the journey while her step father is passed out.  They start on the long trail to go to Clayton’s sister’s ranch out west.  The trail is dangerous as many Indians are along the trail and the fact that Vanessa’s father and her brother, Miles, are right behind on the trail.  Clayton and Vanessa finally reach one of Clayton’s old friend’s home.  They stay the night there.  The reader is lead to believe that these two, Clayton and Vanessa, share a very special relationship.  They end up getting married so Vanessa’s reputation will not be ruined after going off on the trail with Clayton.  But the marriage is in name only.  The couple travel on to Clayton’s sister’s ranch and then Clayton leaves to find work as a sheriff in a western town and leaves Vanessa with his sister.  Will Clayton and Vanessa ever be able to tell each other how they really feel?  Will Vanessa’s step father ever find them?  Will there be a happy ever after for Vanessa?  You have to read the book to find those answers.

I really enjoyed this book.  It got my attention from chapter one.  I really like books when they can get my attention that soon in the book.  The book seemed to keep going from there with lots of action.  I loved the tender romance of Clayton and Vanessa.  I thought it was kind of weird that they would get together with such an age difference.  In the book we also learn about Vanessa’s brother, Miles.  He feels stuck because he wants to help his sister, but feels like he must help his step father too. Miles finally learns to accept God in his life and decides he will do what’s right.  I loved how Miles, Vanessa, and even Clayton learned to rely on the Lord for help during the trials they went through in their lives.  I also hated that the step father had rights in the eyes of the law even though he abuses her, but I think that was just that time period.  Overall, I loved the book and can’t wait to read the second book in this series.

I was given an e-copy of this book through Net Galley and Abingdon Press Publishing.  I was not required to give a positive review, but an honest one. This book comes out October 2011.  I would recommend it to readers who enjoy romance, historical fiction, or readers who enjoyed the authors Amish fiction novels.

The Protector by Shelley Shepard Gray

After reading The Caregiver by Shelley Shepard Gray, I knew I wanted to read the next book in this Families of Honor Series. The Protector continued the story started in The Caregiver, but we also see some new characters. The main character is Ella. The story opens with Ella auctioning off the family farm and all the other items on the farm after the death of her mother. Loyal Weaver decides he wants to buy Ella’s family land so he can move out on his own and farm. He also buys a lot of other items. Ella knows he can manage the farm better than her, but she still feels some bitterness. Ella has loved Loyal since they were in school together but nobody seemed to ever notice Ella. Many even called her, “Plain Ella.” Only one person really visited her often while she cared for her mother and she decides to take Dorothy up on her offer to live in town in Dorothy’s duplex. Dorothy also gets her a job at the local library so Dorothy and Ella can always be together. Loyal starts to include Ella in the improvements of the farm he bought, and Dorothy gets jealous. Loyal also starts to notice Ella. Will they ever get together or will jealous Dorothy stand in the way. Read this delightful story to find out.


I would not call myself a fast reader, but the pages flew by for me with this story. I read it in about one day because I could not put it down. I could not wait to see what was going to happen next. The story has lots of adventure and excitement (some not so good.) Another charter we see from book1 is Mattie who is recovering from breast cancer. Her character is going through a lot. She does not seem to want to fall in love and have a family because she’s afraid she will not be around for most of it. Will that stop her from losing the man she really loves? I can’t wait to see what Shelley Shepard Gray has in story for this romance waiting to happen. We also see Uncle John again in this story still struggling with his love of two women. He knows if he picks one of them he will likely have to go back to being Amish and he wonders if this is God’s way of telling him to do so or not. I think the reader was given a hint as to what will happen, but I am really looking forward to reading book 3 in this series, The Survivor. I liked the theme of protectors in this book.  you could see the characters protecting each other a lot.

The Protector comes out July 1, 2011. If you love Amish fiction, you will not want to miss it! I recommend reading The Caregiver before reading this book. I was given a digital copy of this book from HarperCollins publishing and Net Galley. I was not required to give a positive review, but an honest one.

The Caregiver (Families of Honor #1)

Shelley Shepard Grey is one of my favorite Amish fiction authors. So, when I was given the chance to read the first book, The Caregiver, in her new Families of Honor series, I was so excited! I have read a lot of Amish Fiction novels but I really think this is the first one that I have read that had an abusive husband theme. The main character Lucy married a man well liked in the community. She thought she was in love with him. Soon after getting married her new husband abuses and belittles her. After two years of marriage, her husband falls in the barn and dies. Lucy’s cousin Mattie helps her through that most difficult time in her life. Lucy finds out her cousin needs a caregiver since she is dealing with cancer treatments and Lucy decides to go help her out. On the long train ride Lucy meets Calvin, an Amish man, his sister and his Uncle who is coming back to the Amish community after many years of living in the English world. Lucy finds it interesting that they are going to the same place and he is Mattie’s next door neighbor. Lucy is drawn to Calvin but because of her background she finds it hard to trust him. Will they get together? Read to find out the answer to that question. We also learn some about Calvin’s Uncle who is returning from the English world. He seems to be in love with two different women from two different worlds. We don’t learn much else about him in this book though.


I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed seeing how Lucy would deal with the death of her abusive husband. She seemed to me to be a very strong woman even if a little bit scared. I believe God put’s people in our lives at the right time and I think that meeting Calvin was more than a coinicence. They were meant to meet. Mattie’s breast cancer story line was really interesting too. She loses faith in her journey as she feels God is not there for her. I think people who go through trials, such as cancer, either turn closer to God or turn away from him. I think Mattie was just ready to give up. I hope to read more about Mattie in the next book in this series to see what happens to her. I also want to learn more about Calvin’s Uncle John and the choices he will make in his life.

I was given a digital copy of this book from Avon Inspire and Netgalley. I was only required to give an honest review. This book is currently available. If you love Amish fiction, you should pick up a copy of this book.

Review: Grace: A Christmas Sisters of the Heart Novel

Grace written by Shelley Shepard Gray is the fourth book in the Sisters of the Heart series. I was able to read this book through NetGalley and HarperCollins publishers.  I was given a advance copy of the book for this review. This book gives us a look back at the characters in the series and takes place at the Inn. I have read all of the books in the series, but I think this book could be read without ever reading the other books in the series because it is more about the new characters. I will warn you though that lots of information is given away about the other three books, so if you should decide to go ahead and read those you may know more than you want to know.

Grace gives us a look at where the characters from the series are now. I really liked seeing how they were doing. Katie and Jonathan had a 3 month old baby now named Eli. The other "sisters" in the series, Winnie and Anna, are happily married. It was really nice to get to see these characters again but the book was not really about them.

In the novel, the family is excited about Christmas and the fact that all of them will be staying for a week at the Inn to celebrate Christmas as a family. Just as they are getting ready to start the holidays, they get an unexpected piece of mail. That letter had gotten lost in the mail, so they did not get a man's reservation for his stay during the Christmas holiday and he is expected that day. We soon learn that this man is named Levi and he is also Amish. They also get another guest a young Amish woman named Melody who is almost nine months pregnant. Melody's boss gave her a gift certificate to the Inn to get away. During Levi's and Melody's visit to the Inn, they both came there to get away from unhappy events in their past. As they come to terms with those events, a friendship is formed between them that soon turns into a little more than friendship. Katie is so upset that they came and ruined the family's Christmas. She has to learn to accept them being there during the book. We also meet Melody's Englisher friend, Leah. Leah also decides to come to the Inn to be with her friend because she does not want her to be alone for Christmas. Leah takes a long time to get there, as the roads are bad from the winter weather. She meets Zach, a highway patrolman, and they instantly are attracted to each other.

God's Grace was a central theme in this book. I believe that things happen in life for a reason. You see God's hand in a lot of things going on in the book. While meeting a police officer on a road trip who you end up having a relationship with and being the only two guest at an Amish Bed and Breakfast and you find yourself falling for each other seems unlikely, I think that all things are possible with God's help. You see this theme in a lot of the books in this series too. Events seem to happen to bring people together or people just being in the right place at the right time. I really liked this central message in the story. I also like the fact that some of the events mirrored the Bible story of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Shelley Shepard Gray got my interest in the book from Chapter one. I like books like that! I could not wait to see what was going to happen next. I also love reading books about Christmas. The story was described in a way that you felt like you were at the end during Christmas in the middle of a winter storm. You could see Christmas themes throughout the story, love, togetherness, and family. I also like that a lot of the recipes in the story were added to the end of the book.

I highly recommend this book. It would be a great read for the holiday season. The book comes out on November 1, 2010.

Review: Forgiven

Forgiven written by Shelley Shepard Gray is the third book in the Sisters of the Heart series.  This book focuses on Winnie.  Winnie lives with her brother and one night their barn catches on fire. Winnie is hurt and taken to the hospital.  It is that barn burning that sets her on the road to finding someone to live the rest of her life with.  Anna and Henry also finally get married in the book.  Winnie’s brother also has to learn to forgive the person who burned his barn and almost caused the death of his sister. I really liked how this book brought all of the sisters Anna, Katie, and Winnie together at the end of the book.  I loved the characters and the stories in this book.  I did get a total different view of Winnie.  I did not like her very much in the second book, but she seemed so sweet and lovable in this one. I thought this was the end of the series, but it seems like Shelley Shepard Gray is coming out with a Christmas novel that takes place with all of these characters. I loved the whole series and can't wait to read the Christmas book.

Review: Wanted

Wanted by Shelley Shepard Gray is the second book in the Sisters of the Heart series. The first book of this series, Hidden, focused on Anna coming to hide out at her friend Katie's Family Amish Bed and Breakfast. I knew that I enjoyed the first book so much that I wanted to read the second book. My library had a copy, but it was on the bookmobile. I asked them to keep an eye out for it and then one day, I found it on the shelf. Wanted is the story of Anna's friend Katie. Both of them like sisters now, hence the series title, Sister's of the Heart. Katie has a lot of secrets from her Rumpringa that she has to deal with and learn to forgive herself before she moves on in life. Those secrets that she thought she had put in the past finally come back to haunt her. She deals with them in this book. She also has taken a fancy to a widower named Jonathan. She started having eyes for him soon after his wife was killed in a buggy accident. Now Jonathan sister, Winnie, who has been taken care of Jonathan’s two daughters, wants to go meet a man she has been writing to and thinks he's her future. Jonathan asked Katie's family to let her come and help out for the two months that Winnie is out of town. It will be so hard on her to go and live with him when she has feelings for her he appears not to have any for her. Will she go and will she find the future she dreams about. All of this unfolds in this book. Katie really seems to grow up more during this time and let God help her figure out her future.

I really enjoyed this book. Shelley Shepard Gray is one of my favorite Amish fiction authors. I missed the inn setting in this book, as it was what I feel in love with in the first book. There is however still glimpses of the inn in it. This book reminded me of the importance of prayer in making important decisions in life. I can't wait for the next two in this series.

Review: Hidden

Hidden by Shelley Shepard Gray is the first book in the Sisters of the Heart series. Anna, an Englisher, is tired of her abusive boyfriend. Her boyfriend is a big political figure, so Anna does not get much help from the police. Her parents think he's wonderful for her and don't help her much either. So, with no help insight from the abuse, Anna does the only thing she knows to do, she runs away. She does not tell anyone where she is going except a lie about going on vacation. She runs to an Amish Bed and Breakfast that her mom and her stayed at and took quilting classes. Her friend Anna's family lives in the inn. The family decides to let Anna hide out. Henry, Katie's brother, thinks she puts the family in danger and the two do not get along very well. Finally Anna and Henry start to notice each other in different ways but will they be able to share that love since they both come from different backgrounds and will she be willing to become Amish to be with Henry? All of these things are figured out in the book.

This was the first book that I have read by this author. I loved the setting at the inn and really got into the characters. I know that I will be reading more of her books and finishing the Sisters of the Heart series.