I am impressed! I loved 'Ella's Wish' by Jerry S. Eicher is Amish Fiction at the best. This is the second book of a series. I did not read the first book but this works very well as a standalone book. The author fills in enough of the details that you don’t feel lost.

Ella Yoder was engaged to Aden Wengard and thought they would get married and that was it. But he died before the wedding. Now she was blessed with a great big house, enough for three families but no husband. She moved in and thought that she would just stay single the rest of her life. She did need a way of supporting herself. She made arrangements for a young married couple to rent out the first floor and was sought out by Preacher Stutzman to babysit his three daughters. His wife had recently died and it would be imposing on his sister to have her take care of the children any more.

If this was a trite story, she would promptly fall in love with Preacher Stutzman. But no, Bishop Miller has decided that God has willed her to be his wife. Ella has nightmares about him, dreaming that she was marrying him and waking up trembling, and full of fear. Yet Preacher Stutzman gives fiery sermons and she is not attracted to him either. To top it all off, her brother, Eli has been seeing an Englisha girl and is risking being banned.
So, along with trying to support herself, she is thrown into a muddled mess and is most frightened of her brother being thrown out of the community.

The author writes Ella like he completely understands women. He somehow has gotten inside of a woman’s feelings and her mind! That is the main reason that I love this book. But it is not all, through this book; we learn a lot of about the Amish ways. When the grace is said at lunch, it is the men that say it. That struck me because that was the way it always was at my grandmother’s house. Also, you are not supposed to stand out in the community but to be an integral part of it. There were quite a bit of references about God’s will but it fit into the book so seamlessly.

I would recommend this book to all who love Amish Fiction. ( )

Aden, the only man Ella ever loved, has died and left her with the house they were to share together. Suitors make their intentions known, but Ella is drawn to caring for three motherless girls. Can a young woman be happy alone?