Huckleberry Hearts

In this installment of the Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill, octogenarian Amish couple Anna and Felty Helmuth are up to their matchmaking tricks again. Their granddaughter, Cassie Coblenz, chose not to be baptized into the Amish way of life in a small Wisconsin town, but Anna and Felty still want her to have a godly husband. Anna quickly tabs her doctor, young resident Zach Reynolds. Cassie, however, remembers Zach as a frat boy at the university they both attended. Zach’s campaign to woo the standoffish Cassie shows how far he has come since his college years, and how far he still has to go. Beckstrand uses comic relief effectively: Anna and Felty are both droll. Cassie’s mother and brother, unhappy over her apostasy, are drawn heavy-handedly, making Cassie’s frequently mild responses to them a strain on credibility. The central romantic tension between Zach and Cassie is successful albeit standard-issue clean romance. A plot complication involving Zach and a young patient is not very original. Amish romance fans that aren’t that picky will eat up this novel. Agent: Mary Sue Seymour, Seymour Agency. (Dec.)