A Sister's Secret

This first installment in the Sisters of Holmes County series is more of the same for Brunstetter, who has more than a million of her Amish-themed novels in print. Grace Hostettler is settling down to a conventional Amish life and marriage to a kind young man in her community. But when a stranger from her past shows up, she's forced to acknowledge the "English" life and family she left behind during her rowdy adolescent rumschpringe period. Will her new husband accept her when the secret of her past comes tumbling out? Unfortunately, technical problems mar this novel about second chances. Grace is a weak and uninteresting protagonist who is more an observer of the action than its leading lady. While Brunstetter's fans will no doubt appreciate the novel's loving—even hagiographic—portrait of the Amish, the Amish characters' dialogue often feels stilted and unnatural, impeded rather than enhanced by awkward sprinklings of Pennsylvania Dutch. Stock English characters, such as an intrusive reporter and an aggressive developer who wants to buy up Amish land, add little to the story. (July)