Review of:  Marrying Matthew (The Amish Mail-Order Grooms Book 1)

Kelly Long.  Zebra, $8.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4201-5165-7

In this marriage of convenience tale, readers are introduced to Tabitha, the 20-year-old sole heir of her father’s successful lumber and wood-working company located in the remote Amish community of Blackberry Falls, PA [p. 1-2]. Due to fears of Tabitha being kidnapped for ransom, her father has insisted that his half-brother Abner serve as her security guard ever since she was born [p. 3]. Little does her family know, Tabitha has taught herself how to carve wood in secret, despite the craft being forbidden to women [p. 78]. She is determined to marry on her own terms, without the possibility of a suitor who is only seeking to inherit her father’s fortune. Hence, she takes an ad out in the newspaper for an Amish mail-order groom and is pleasantly surprised when it is answered by handsome Matthew King who comes to Blackberry Falls to wed [p. 1-22]. However, Matthew has secrets of his own, as do the other major characters in Long’s work [p. 3 ff]. Through the romances of Tabitha and Matthew, as well as Abner and housekeeper Anke, each finds the courage to trust that true love requires [p. 201 ff]. However, detailed descriptions of sexual desire are overly abundant throughout [p. 9 ff], and Long’s treatment of Amish culture borders on disrespectful (the Bishop is the town’s buffoon [p. 19 ff]; roles are reversed [p. 250, 252]; the characters are all obsessed with sex [p. 9 ff]; there are supernatural/ pagan elements [p. 43, 69, 133, ff]; and none of the characters act with the propriety, modesty, or biblical values of the Amish).  Definitely not a biblically-based book, and only superficially Amish (sadly).