Change of Heart

Not even the novelty of a young Amish woman leaving her community can redeem Jebber’s stilted romance set in 1899 Ohio. After Becca Yost’s fiancé leaves her at the altar, she escapes her tiny Amish community and travels to the town of Massillon to visit with her shunned, widowed sister, Ruth. A chance encounter with the town’s doctor, Matt Carrington, sets Becca’s heart racing, and it takes very little urging on Ruth’s part for sweet midwife Becca to become Matt’s assistant. Love blossoms quickly between doctor and nurse, only to be thwarted time and again by social constraints. Massillon, a thriving city, is written like a dusty small town, with nary an automobile to be seen; even Matt’s snooty socialite mother travels via mail coach. Clumsy dialogue, graceless and unsubtle characterization, and hastily contrived plot elements hamstring what could have been a fascinating story of culture clash and self-definition. Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Literary Agency. (July)