Rachel's Garden (Pleasant Valley Series #2) » (Unabridged, 8 CDs, 9 hrs. 30 min.)

A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania and her own Pennsylvania Dutch roots led Marta Perry to write about the Plain People who add to the rich heritage of her home state. Marta is the author of over thirty inspirational romance novels. She and her husband live in a century-old farmhouse and try to keep up with twenty-five acres of fields and woods. Active in their church and community, they are the parents of three children and the proud grandparents of six beautiful grandchildren.

It has been almost a year since the Amish community of Pleasant Valley lost Ezra Brand to a tragic accident. Since then, his wife, Rachel, has struggled to raise their three children and run their dairy farm…

Rachel’s friends and family have come forward to help — Rachel’s friend Leah, who is now married and expecting a child; Ezra’s brothers, who work on the farm; and Rachel’s parents, who are no strangers to grief after their only son, Johnny, left the Amish community. But their constant advice, however well-intentioned, puts undue pressure on Rachel. And when Gideon Zook — Ezra’s best friend, who survived the accident — asks her permission to build the greenhouse that Ezra had always promised her, she finds his presence too painful a reminder of the past.

As spring turns to summer, and Rachel puts her heart into growing the flowers and plants that have always brought her joy, can she discover the courage to make her own choices…and embrace new beginnings?

Library Journal

Following the death of her husband, Ezra, Rachel Brand raises her three young children in a close-knit Amish community. Ezra's best friend, Gideon, helps Rachel complete a garden that Ezra had planned to create. However, others begin to pressure Rachel to sell the land, and as she and Gideon begin to fall in love, they also wonder if something more sinister was at play in her husband's death. VERDICT This second novel in the series (after Leah's Choice) is more suspenseful than most Amish fiction, which tends to deal more with the individual's choice to remain within the community based on faith. While somewhat edgier, this is sure to appeal to fans of Beverly Lewis.