The Amish are a devout offshoot of American Christians, mostly the descendants of German-speaking Swiss colonists. Their interpretation of the Bible favors a heavy adherence to humility and simplicity. As a result, they intentionally limit their daily life technology. They primarily work in farming communities, living in homes without electricity and using horse buggies as their primary mode of transport.
They’re also famous for adhering to a strict old-fashioned dress code and are stereotyped as fanatically hard manual labor workers. This is rather extreme and hard to relate to the lifestyle. They tend to be ridiculed when depicted in American pop culture. This description only applies to what’s known as the Old Amish. Dozens of other offshoots of the Amish faith lead radically different lives.
Amish romance has gained immense popularity in recent years, captivating readers with their unique blend of love, faith, and simplicity. These novels offer a glimpse into the enchanting and misunderstood world of the Amish community, a group popular for their traditional way of life and strong religious beliefs. As a bookworm myself, I have delved into the world of Amish romance novels and discovered a captivating genre that offers both entertainment and insight into a fascinating culture.
Amish romance stands out amidst the vast sea of romance literature due to its distinct setting and themes. They transport us to the serene countryside of Amish communities, where life unfolds at a slower pace and modern conveniences are eschewed in favor of simplicity. The novels revolve around the lives of young Amish women and their journey through love, faith, and self-discovery.
7 Popular Amish Romance Novels
Amish people have very specific theological standards. The reason why they live that way is that they believe that their faith is intrinsically tied to the way that they live. So that’s why it’s so desperate for them. Amish romance, or bonnet rippers as they are humorously nicknamed, is a massively successful sub-genre akin to outright confusion that exacerbated no end.
One of the defining characteristics of Amish romance is their emphasis on faith and spirituality. The Amish community is deeply rooted in their religious beliefs, and these novels beautifully capture the importance of faith in their daily lives. The protagonists face the challenges of love and relationships while staying true to their convictions and upholding the values of their community.
Their focus on family and community is another aspect that sets Amish romance stories apart. Amish culture places great importance on family bonds and close-knit communities. Readers can experience the warmth and support within these fictional communities, where neighbors help one another and family ties are cherished. This emphasis on community is a refreshing contrast to the individualistic nature of contemporary romance novels.
The Amish romance subgenre is entirely created by and for non-Amish evangelical Christians who want to read about a romance that’s exotic to them but still 100% Christian and American. So, it doesn’t challenge their beliefs; apparently, the Amish fill that niche. I will discuss seven popular Amish romance novels for you. They resonate with readers who appreciate stories that focus on strong ethical and moral foundations in relationships. Let’s go!
| Name | Storyline | Tropes |
|---|---|---|
| The Shunning by Beverly Lewis | Katie Lapp’s journey of self-discovery and cultural conflict after learning of her adoption and her biological mother’s dying wish for reunion. | Cultural Identity, Family Secrets, Adoption Revelation, Amish Community, Personal Struggle, Young Adult Fiction. |
| The Stone Wall by Beverly Lewis | Anna Beachy’s exploration of her grandmother’s mysterious past and her own heart’s dilemmas as she navigates relationships and family expectations in Lancaster County. | Cultural Exploration, Family Mystery, Romantic Dilemma, Amish Community, Personal Growth, Young Adult Fiction. |
| A Love Undone by Cindy Woodsmall | Jolene Keim’s journey of love and sacrifice in an Amish community, navigating personal dreams, family commitments, and a challenging relationship with Andy Fisher. | Amish Community, Sacrifice and Choice, Challenged Beliefs, Forbidden Romance, Family Commitments, Personal Growth, Spiritual Guidance. |
| Under the Harvest Moon by Beth Wiseman | Naomi Dienner’s journey of rediscovering love and overcoming challenges after widowhood, set in the context of Amish traditions and a growing relationship with Brock Mulligan. | Amish Romance, Widowhood, Second Chances at Love, Overcoming Adversity, Trust and Relationship Building, Sinister Threats. |
| Love and Buggy Rides by Amy Clipston | The evolving relationship between Janie Lantz and Jonathan Stoltfuz following a life-changing accident, set against the backdrop of Amish culture. | Amish Romance, Overcoming Adversity, Blossoming Friendship, Emotional Healing, Romantic Obstacles, Christian Fiction. |
| A Quiet Love by Kathleen Fuller | Dinah Hochstetler and Amos Mullet’s journey to love and acceptance, overcoming personal and societal challenges in their Amish community. | Amish Romance, Overcoming Shyness, Quest for Love, Family Expectations, Community Dynamics, Spiritual Blessing, Young Adult Fiction. |
| Mischief in the Autumn Air by Vannetta Chapman | Eli Wittmer and Martha Beiler’s collaboration to solve a mysterious situation in their Amish community led to unexpected romantic developments. | Amish Community, Mystery, Intrigue, Unlikely Partnerships, Developing Romance, Teamwork in Crisis, Seasonal Setting. |
1. The Shunning (The Heritage of Lancaster County)
This book is about a twenty-one-year-old girl named Katie, a member of the Amish community. She is married to a 40-year-old widower who has five children. She’s already a bit of a spinster, and if she turns down the bishop, no one will be left for her to marry. But she’s conflicted because her previous love, Daniel, has died. So, the entire theme and tension throughout the book is that Katie doesn’t feel at home in the Amish community.
Katie wanted to sing music that the church didn’t allow. Only the church allows music to be sung in hymns, and she wants to play the guitar. So, she doesn’t understand why she feels so different. Then it turns out that she was adopted secretly in a super sketchy way that isn’t legal, and it’s technically considered human trafficking. So, it ends with her running away from her marriage to the bishop and being shunned by her community.
Author: Beverly Lewis
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Number Of Pages: 290
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
2. The Stone Wall
The story is about a girl named Anna. She’s in her early 20s, has gone through a breakup, and has difficulty knowing where her place is. So she’s struggling with that. Also, she’s among the Beachy Amish. They broke away from the old order Amish in 1927 and allowed modern conveniences, which is interesting to read a book about an honest young lady.
Things are very simple for Anna, but she needs a change in her life and ends up working. She contacts her mother’s cousin in Lancaster County in Strasburg. There’s a job opening for her at a local tourist place. They needed people to come and give people custom tours, which was pretty cool. But the best thing about this book is the girls at the tour guide. As readers, we learn much about the area from visiting these places and the people accompanying her.
This book also describes the story of Anna’s grandmother, Eliza. When Eliza was young, she was in Strasburg, caring for an elderly aunt she didn’t want to be. Their parents send her to be there, and she falls in love with an old Amish man. Now Eliza is Amish like Anna, but she falls in love with him. They know that they can’t express their love in front of people, so they have a stone wall in between.
Also, there’s a special stone where they hide special notes from each other. The story goes in and out, comes back with Anna, and then returns with Eliza. You will see how the Amish community affects two pure loves and makes the stone wall.
Author: Beverly Lewis
Average Rating: 4.8/5
Number Of Pages: 353
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
3. A Love Undone
This book is about an Amish woman named Jolene Keim who has a tough life. She has to raise all of her siblings independently. She’s the oldest sister in the family, so you can imagine it. She ends up being an Amish model, an older woman who is unmarried. But she’s an interesting character.
Jolene has a gift of being an artist, which isn’t allowed in her Amish community. So there are some issues there. But she sometimes sneaks away to a secret place and does some painting because she loves it so much. Also, Jolene innocently falls in love with a married man, which may sound odd. Among some Amish districts that she falls in love with is Andy Fisher. He lives three hours away in his Amish community and comes there to help with some abused animals to help them through a difficult time.
Andy meets Jolene there, and they have a relationship. Jolene thinks that Andy is a trace widower. That’s what was communicated to her. It was a rushed conversation. Somebody coughed at the wrong time, and she heard Tracy was a widower, which meant a widower whose wife had died. So, Andy is not allowed to divorce or remarry in the Amish community. He has to deal with that because he falls in love with Jolene. She doesn’t know he has that status, so she always knows they have this connection.
Author: Cindy Woodsmall
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Number Of Pages: 338
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
4. Under the Harvest Moon (Amish Harvest)
This is a story largely about recovering from domestic violence. A young Amish woman named Naomi finds herself abruptly free of her abusive husband when he dies in a horse and carriage accident, leaving her with two young daughters and four months pregnant. At least in this book, it’s Amish custom to remarry immediately after a bereavement. But Naomi is too traumatized from the beatings she received from her last husband to ever truly love again.
That is until her father hires a long-time friend (Brock) to help with her harvest. Naomi and Brock hit it off, and her kids instantly adore him. They go to a carnival and have a pleasant game night, and in the end, Brock decides to become Amish to get married.
I was impressed with this particular book because it shows a good understanding of the nonsexual fantasies of single moms. Throughout the story, she’s plagued with the ridiculous notion that she somehow made an otherwise good man violent by being a sub-par wife. Brock making Naomi realize that she’s not to blame is good.
Author: Beth Wiseman
Average Rating: 4/5
Number Of Pages: 145
Available: Kindle
5. Love and Buggy Rides
This book is about an Amish girl named Janie. She witnesses a teenage driver texting on his phone crash into the back of an Amish buggy, injuring several people. The reckless car driver blames the carriage’s driver, Jonathan, for the accident and tries to sue him. Janie is forbidden to give her account of the incident to the police by her father.
Her father claims that the Amish custom never gets involved in legal matters. But she falls in love with Jonathan and disobeys her dad to get him off the hook. When Janie first sees Jonathan, she’s immediately breath taken: “She’d never seen eyes that reminded her of the honey that she buys at the farmer’s market before.”
Author: Amy Clipston
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Number Of Pages: 120
Available: Kindle
6. A Quiet Love
An Amish, antisocial, introverted poetry fanatic with a very bad speech impediment named Dinah. She is sent to her aunt’s farm for a week to stay with her new husband and his autistic son, Amos. Just before she arrives, her Uncle badly injures himself with a scythe. He can’t finish harvesting the fields, so she and Amos must finish the job.
Dinah finds Amos’s earnest attitude and lack of judgment relaxing her stutter. She can talk to him without her speech impediment between them. They start to develop feelings for each other. Then, she quickly becomes frustrated at how his family patronizes him to the point of treating him like a child most of the time.
They eventually decide to get married, which completely shocks his family. They’re concerned that he might be unable to make an informed decision. But they get married anyway, in the end. It would acknowledge that an Amish lifestyle isn’t ideal for someone who requires special needs education.
Author: Kathleen Fuller
Average Rating: 4.2/5
Number Of Pages: 114
Available: Kindle
7. Mischief in the Autumn Air
This is the only story in the book where the plot is more important than the romance. Martha, a bookkeeper at an Amish auction house, and her boss Eli get suspicious when a young man overbids on furniture made by a specific gentleman. They investigate and discover sections of a map caved into the undersides, along with hints, clues, and references to a treasure.
His father knew about this map because he worked with the guy selling the furniture. They discovered the complete map together carved onto a wardrobe. It came with some weird hint saying, You’ll find the true treasure of our town if you follow this map. But the other guy didn’t want to follow it, so they had this big falling out. Also, he obsessed about his whole life and tasked his son with solving the mystery on his deathbed.
Meanwhile, the other guy decided to split the map up and carve it onto eight other pieces of furniture for reasons. All three teams follow the clues and find the treasure. That’s the important bit. The hunt leads them all around their town and forces them to re-learn its rich history, and eventually, they find the treasure. The true treasure was the Amish romance we found along the way” sort of message as Martha and Eli are totes in love.
Author: Vannetta Chapman
Average Rating: 4.3/5
Number Of Pages: 108
Available: Kindle
5 Amish Romance Novels Series
“The Bishop’s Family” series by Suzanne Woods Fisher: Starting with “The Imposter,” focuses on the Stoltzfus family and their challenges in their Amish community. The series explores themes of faith, forgiveness, and love, with each book focusing on different members of the Bishop’s family.
“The Daughters of the Promise” series by Beth Wiseman: This series begins with “Plain Perfect” and centers on different young women in the Amish community, each facing her own set of challenges and finding love along the way. The novels explore the complexities of balancing personal desires with community expectations.
“The Abram’s Daughters” series by Beverly Lewis: Starting with “The Covenant,” this series follows the lives of four Amish sisters in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It shows the sisters’ personal struggles, romances, and the strong bonds of family and faith that define their lives.
“Hannah’s Heart” series by Emma Miller: Beginning with “Hannah’s Courtship,” this series is set in the Amish community of Seven Poplars. Each book focuses on Hannah’s matchmaking efforts for others in the community, leading to unexpected romances and heartwarming tales of love.
“Amish Brides of Pinecraft” series by Shelley Shepard Gray: Starting with “The Promise of Palm Grove,” this series is set in the unique Amish community of Pinecraft, Florida. It features different women finding love in unexpected ways, highlighting the importance of community, faith, and following one’s heart.
5 Steamy Amish Romance Novels
“Forbidden” by Beverly Lewis: This book covers the complexities of forbidden love within the Amish community. The story explores the tension and emotional turmoil of a romance that challenges the norms of Amish society.
“The Secret” by Shelley Shepard Gray (The Secrets of Crittenden County Series): While focusing on a mystery in an Amish town, this series also delves into romantic relationships with a bit more depth and passion than in Amish romances.
“His Amish Sweetheart” by Jo Ann Brown: This novel, part of the Amish Hearts series, explores a romance filled with memories and rekindled feelings, offering a heartfelt and slightly more passionate narrative within the Amish setting.
“An Unlikely Amish Match” by Vannetta Chapman: Set in the Amish community, this story revolves around the growing romance between two unlikely individuals. It’s a tale of love and attraction that goes beyond the usual reserved nature of Amish romance novels.
“A Love for Leah” by Emma Miller: Part of the Amish Matchmaker series, this novel follows the story of a young widow and her journey to find love again. The book faces the themes of love, passion, and second chances in the Amish community.
Amish romance is a refreshing and captivating option for bookworms seeking a unique reading experience in a world filled with countless genres and subgenres of romance novels. These novels offer a window into a fascinating and misunderstood culture, allowing readers to explore themes of love, faith, and family through the lens of the Amish community.
Whether you are drawn to the enchanting settings, the emphasis on faith and spirituality, or the relatable struggles of the characters, Amish romance has something to offer every reader. So, grab a cozy blanket, curl up with one of these must-read novels, and allow yourself to be transported to the enchanting world of Amish romance.
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