Book Review: Simple Secrets

Simple Secrets by Nancy Mehl is the first book in her Harmony series. I was able to read this book through Net Galley and Barbour Books and was provided with a digital copy for this review. I love Amish fiction and after recommendations from friends, I decided to read this book. While it is not about the Amish it is about Mennonites, a close relative of the religion. The Simple Secret in the book really is not so Simple! The story starts off introducing us to Gracie Temple, a graphic designer who loves her job in the big city. Gracie gets a phone call at work from her dad telling her that her uncle Benjamin, who has placed the Bann on his family, has died and left her his house, land and everything in the house. She decides to take two weeks off from work to go to the Kansas Mennonite Community of Harmony and collect some family heirlooms and sell the property. When she gets to the house, she discovers a letter her uncle left her about a secret he has been keeping. The secret told her that a man was killed and he buried the body on his land to protect Gracie’s father who he thought killed the man. Gracie and a neighbor, Sam Goodrich, who befriends her and introduces her to the town and then later helps her try to solve the mystery of who is the real killer. Gracie finds out that Harmony has a lot of secrets and someone even tries to scare her out of town. Will they find out who the killer is? Will the town secrets come out? Read to find out how the story all comes together. Sam and Gracie also seem to be falling for each other after only knowing each other a few days. How will they act on those feelings since Gracie has her dream job in the big city and Sam has no plans of leaving Harmony?

I was drawn to the story from the first chapter. My friends were right. If you like Amish fiction, you will love this book. This book had mystery, romance and even suspense. Sometimes I felt like the day in the life of Gracie and Sam went on forever since so much happened in one day. Overall, I LOVED the story and can’t wait to read the second book to the series called Simple Deceit. Simple Deceit comes out December 1, 2010. You can find Simple Secrets in stores now.

Review: Murder in Plain Sight

Murder in Plain Sight by Marta Perry is a book that I recently read through NetGalley. I was given a copy of the book to review for the publisher, Harlequin Books. The book centers on a teenaged Amish boy named Thomas Esch, who is accused of brutally murdering a young woman named Cherry. The town of Springfield has already decided he is guilty before he even has a trial. Geneva Morgan believes in his innocence and decides to hire a lawyer from a big firm in Philadelphia. Jessica Langdon, a young lawyer who has not made her employer happy is told she must go represent the boy or lose her job. Jessica decides to go and represent the boy. She finds trouble all along the way such as not knowing enough about the Amish, trying to get run off from people in the community and even being put in physical danger. Jessica decides she will not be run off and fights to find evidence to get Thomas freed. Jessica meets Geneva’s son, Trey, who tries to run her off from the beginning. They seem to hate each other in the beginning. She starts to trust Trey to help her. The two begin to fall in love as they are putting together the clues. But when the clues start to come together, Jessica wonders if he’s lied to her the entire time. Will they figure out who actually killed Cherry? Will Jessica be able to trust Trey and be happy with him? Find out the answers to all these questions as you read the book.


This book is not like the normal Amish fiction I usually read. The main characters are not Amish and you don’t get to look in the Amish lives very much, but I still loved this book. The characters were very easy to fall in love with and the” who done it part” of the story kept you guessing to the end.

I like the “Plain Sight” in the title. It’s catchy and describes the book being in a Plain or Amish setting. I recently read another book of this author and it was called Hide in Plain Sight, but it is from a different series. From what I understand, Murder in Plain Sight will have other books to make it a series, and the others will probably have the “Plain Sight” titles too.

I highly recommend this book. It will be released in December 2010. I like how the book ended with lots of things look forward to in the next in the series.