I've noticed a growing genre of books that take place in the Amish world, and as this one was in a free lending library, I picked it up.
Not so good: gratuitous usage of "dutch" words. Plebeian writing. Sexual stereotypes. Cute grandparents.
Better than I thought: main plot about boy who lost a leg who is hurt by others not expecting anything of him. Main character talks back to men, stands up for her beliefs, is a creative teacher. Not so much religion.

Will I read another "Amish" book. I sincerely doubt it. Was it a total waste of a couple of hours? Not as much as I thought.

Book 8 in The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series... I live in a town 50% Amish. Many conservative authors don't write from an experience of total immersion. However, I literally wait to read these titles. Not due to accuracy but rather for the carry-over minor characters, the matchmaking great-grandparents who are laugh out loud witty and simply pull each story together. They may have only 2,000 words of dialog a story but it's worth it!

Love, responsibility, and God

This was a beautiful story of choice, kindness, grace, forgiveness, responsibility, guilt, and love all wrapped in the Amish community’s faith and lifestyle. It is a heartwarming, sweet and angsty story shown beautifully through the eyes of intense, strong and passionate characters. And phew it evoked so so many big feels. Elsie has moved to the Amish community of Bonduel, WI to live with her grandparents and work as a teacher. Mammi and Dawdi are excited to play matchmaker for Elsie despite her strong protests and her lack of desire for marriage currently. Elsie is a good teacher but she is also stubborn and speaks her mind. Sam is an Amish farmer who helps care for his ailing widowed mother and his four younger siblings. He has no interest in romance because of the amount of responsibilities on his plate. One of his brothers, Wally, was hurt in an accident three years ago and is missing part of his leg and hand. Elsie and Sam’s first interaction is when Sam goes to the school to yell at her for being mean to his crippled brother. Their interactions slowly become less contentious after that as they lovingly try to help Wally while also unexpectedly beginning to develop feelings for each other. The added complications of Sam’s neighbor/friend Rose and Elsie’s matchmaking Mammi add some delicious but frustrating mistaken identity and external angst to their relationship and result in a multi-character mess. To get to their HEA, Elsie and Sam (and Wally) will need to lean into their faith, unpack some baggage, and trust in kindness, love and honesty. As always with this author and her heartwarming Amish books, the story was well written and included engaging dialogue, thought provoking scenarios, three dimensional characters who grow, and a captivating storyline. I love this series.

A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand is the eighth installment in The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series. Anna and Felty Helmuth lives in Bonduel, Wisconsin on Huckleberry Hill. Anna has had great success in finding the perfect mates for her grandchildren. She has found the perfect match for her granddaughter, Elsie Stutzman. Now she just needs to find a way to get them together. Elsie has signed on as the local schoolteacher. Elsie is known for being outspoken (which has gotten her into trouble in the recent past) along with being determined and stubborn (feisty). She loves teaching, but Elsie has been having trouble with fourteen-year-old Wally Sensenig. Wally only has one full leg and is missing fingers on one hand (threshing accident), but Elsie will not let Wally use that as an excuse for not working up to his full potential. Wally has been using his disability to manipulate people and to get what he wants. But he has finally met his match in Elsie Stutzman. Elsie is also trying to convince her grandmother to wait on matching her up with an eligible bachelor. Elsie’s last relationship did not end well, and she is not ready to try again.

Sam Sensenig, Wally’s older brother, takes care of the family farm, his ill mother and his siblings. He feels guilty for Wally’s accident and gives into to Wally’s “requests” (had electricity installed in Wally’s bedroom, purchased him an Xbox along with games, and does not require him to do chores). Wally tells Sam that the teacher is picking on him. A riled Sam goes to the school to confront Elsie about picking on his disabled brother. Elsie tries to explain to Sam what she wishes to accomplish with Wally, but she meets with resistance. It will take time for Sam to realize that Elsie only wants what is best for Wally. Sam is also dealing with Anna Felty and her numerous attempts to get him to meet her granddaughter, Elizabeth. She keeps sending him letters with potholders enclosed. If the young lady needs her grandmother to match her up, Sam is not sure he wants to meet her, nor does he have the time. Can Elsie get Sam to see the error of his ways? Will Elsie be able to change Wally and his outlook? Can Anna succeed in bringing these two stubborn individuals together?

I found A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill to be well-written, engaging and it had a good pace (which makes for a book that is enjoyable to read). Anna and Felty Helmuth are such delightful characters. They are in their 80s, and Anna has no qualms meddling in her grandchildren’s lives. Anna is a quirky woman who wears sweaters that are not approved by the Ordung, is a knitting machine, and cooks the worst food (Felty finds it delicious, but his taste buds are not to be trusted). Elsie is a strong, determined, persistent yet compassionate and kind woman. These qualities make her an excellent teacher. She wants what is best for her students. I ended up liking Sam in the end, but he was irksome (I did not think he would ever see reason). I could not believe how oblivious he was to Rose Mast (neighbor who was in love with him). His cluelessness to the situation went on a little too long for my liking. It was cute and humorous how Anna kept trying to match up Sam and Elsie without success. The scenes did have me chuckling. A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill can be read as a standalone. I do, though, recommend the other novels in The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series (each one is unique and a pleasure to read). Anna is determined to find matches for all her grandchildren whether they want it or not. In A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill, you will find yourself cheering for Elsie as she sets out to change Wally and Sam. I am eager to read Home on Huckleberry Hill which is the next novel in The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series.

I loved this one! School teacher Elsie arrives at Huckleberry Hill to stay with her grandparents, the adorable matchmaking couple. She really cares about her students, but her methods have been questioned in the past. Enter Sam who is taking care of his family, including his brother who was injured in a horrible accident. Elsie must overcome Sam's insistence that his brother can not do anything. Elsie knows that isn't true and she must overcome major obstacles in order to do what is best for everyone. In the meantime Sam and Elsie find their way to each other.

This was a sweet story, and it drove me to tears many times! I loved it!

I know I’ve said this before but I LOVE ANNA & FELTY from Jennifer Beckstrand’s Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series. They are two of my very favorite characters ever, across all genres. Beckstrand never fails to make me smile with these two octogenarian Amish grandparents, and sometimes I even laugh out loud (the goats in the house scene from a couple novellas ago still makes me chuckle when I think about it).

In A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill, we get more of Anna’s interesting meal concoctions that Felty eats quite heartily but the rest of us would be hardpressed to keep down, like asparagus potato raisin casserole and chocolate layer cake with beans instead of oil. We also get more of Anna’s well-intentioned matchmaking attempts that are rarely appreciated by either party (but make for some delightful moments for we readers) and of course her various knitted goods to seal the deal.

And honestly that would have been enough for me to give this book a 5-star rating. Because they are just so lovable and adorably hilarious. But then Beckstrand threw in a heroine I want as a friend and a swoony-but-stubborn hero. And then she added a classroom full of sweet children … and a couple of not-so-sweet children who become works-in-progress thanks to the infectiously-cheerful Miss Elsie Stuzman. And then she added a couple of really delicious kisses. Y’all. I want to hug this book.

Bottom Line: A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand gets a solid A+! The humor is perfectly timed and well-spaced. The characters (as I’ve already mentioned) are truly delightful (with a couple of exceptions who needed a good purse whomping). The message of not giving up on someone, of thinking before you react, of loving even the difficult to love people in our lives… it’s all presented sincerely with an engaging plot. One of my fave Huckleberry Hill books so far!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

first seen at Reading Is My SuperPower

When new teacher Elsie Stutzman tries to help a struggling student, she crosses the path of the overworked brother. In doing so, she starts to penetrate his walls as well, but he's as stubborn as a mule. This was yet another charming read by Jennifer Beckstrand, filled with delightful characters.

This is a wonderful book for those who love Amish romances that are emotional, accurate, and relatable! I have read a few great Amish romances over the years, and my favorites are always those that make me feel not quite so distanced from the lives the Amish lead. At time, I think their way of life seems so far removed that we forget they are very much like us, so these books make me very happy to read more about them. While I found this book to be a bit difficult to review, the reason being outlined below, I found myself engaged in the story and characters. It was a difficult book to put down.

A new schoolteacher has come to Huckleberry Hill, and things are about to get interesting! Elsie Stutzman is not the sort of woman a traditional Amish man might expect - she's outspoken, opinionated, and unafraid to go against what the men of the community expect of her. Which is why she finds herself in Huckleberry Hill, after having been fired from her last teaching position for not bowing down to the school board. Determined to make a fresh start, she is certain that this time things will be different. And in a way, they are. For one thing, there is a bully in the school named Wally Sensenig, with only one good arm and leg after a farming accident. Normally Elsie could handle such a boy, but then enters Wally's brother, Sam. Handsome but stubborn as a mule, Sam instantly gets in Elsie's way...and the games begin.

Elsie was one of my favorite female leads of all time - she kicked butt in a subtle yet persistent way that made me want to cheer every time she told Sam what's what. Sam, on the other hand, was one of my least favorite male leads of all time. So the fact that I am rating this book four stars is largely due to Elsie, Wally (yes, the bully), and her precocious grandparents. I loved them. Wally had his faults, but he was 13 and hurting, so there was a significant learning curve for him. Being 24 and a grown man, Sam had no excuse, which is why his constant childish behavior really got on my nerves. He got in Elsie's face repeatedly in the book, using his size to intimidate her, he insulted her not only to her face but to other people, he naively believed what his "friend" Rose and Wally say about Elsie, despite others telling him that Elsie was widely liked, and he treated her like a yo-yo with their relationship. There was really very little to like about Sam, and unfortunately, his bad behavior continued up through the 90% mark in the book. So, in conclusion, read this book for Elsie and the wonderful Amish community Jennifer Beckstrand writes about. Do not read this book expecting a new book boyfriend. Sam still has some growing up to do.

This was the second book I had read by Jennifer Beckstrand, and as I said in the beginning, she did a wonderful job engaging me in the story and making feel very connected to the Amish way of life. It was a very well-written story that I would encourage everyone to read.

**I received a free copy via NetGalley and this is my honest review.**