Review of:  Jeb’s Wife

Patricia Johns.  Zebra, $7.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4201-4913-5

Johns continues her inspirational romance series set in the small Amish community of Abundance [p. 4]. This story features Leah, a 30-year-old unmarried woman whose fiance broke their engagement upon discovering her inability to bear children [p. 2]. Her grief is intermingled with a sense of insufficiency – perhaps she is unlovable? [p. 56].  Upon returning to Abundance following a brief stint teaching school in a neighboring community, she finds her younger brother Simon beaten as a result of unpaid gambling debt [p. 9]. In order to save Simon’s life she agrees to marry Jeb, a scarred widower who lost his first wife in a fire [p. 40]. The two agree that the marriage will be strictly for business-purposes, as Jeb can only inherit his late uncle Peter’s estate if he marries within four weeks of Peter’s death [p. 12]. Leah will then have enough money to be able to pay off Simon’s debt [p. 20]. As Jeb and Leah attempt to convince the community that the marriage is a love-match, they form a friendship as they share their daily life and learn to trust the other [p. 126]. The arrangement becomes complicated when romantic feelings develop [p. 129]. Johns crafts a town and characters that feel intimate, with rich back stories and relationships. This is a series readers will fall in love with and eagerly await the next installment.