A Wedding Quilt for Ella

Little Valley Series Book One
Jerry S. Eicher
2011
Harvest House Publishers
Fiction/Romance

Reviewed by Cindy Loven

Ella Yoder is on top of the world, she is in love with a wonderful young Amish man, and they are soon to be married, but one tragic day will change all of that.  When her intended Aden becomes ill, he really does not think it is serious, he did not find out in time, how serious it was.  His appendix had ruptured and the poison leaked into his body, causing his death.  His family, his community and his beloved Ella are shocked.   How can Aden be gone?  He was so full of life and happy, and now there is a bare spot in their hearts for him.
Ella is not sure that God loves her, why would he take he beloved Aden from her, right on the brink of their wedding? To add to her doubts, there are several accidents and deaths that follow immediately after Aden's death.  There are whispers among the young people that it is bad luck come in threes, and wondering amongst them of who will be the next to die.  Ella doesn't buy into all the superstition, but she is puzzled why God would take Aden from her.
Two odd offers come that seem to set her path, first Daniel, Aden's brother comes to visit her and offers to build her a house, the house that Aden had been saving money for.  She is not sure about this, it is not something that is done in her Amish community.   Secondly the young bishop Jacob Miller comes wanting to marry her, even though he knows her intended just died.  Both have Ella in question of what she should do. 
This is the first book I have read by author Jerry S. Eicher and I greatly enjoyed the book, it was different from many of the other Amish books that I have read, and I truly believe that it is because of the different regions and different Amish orders.  I enjoyed those differences and thoroughly enjoyed this story.  I grieved with Ella and her family as they went through the loss of Aden, and the accident of her brother Eli, I could truly feel the pain she felt through the author's writing.  A great book, and I am looking forward to book two in this series, Ella's Wish to be released April 2011.  283 pages US $11.99 4 stars.  Discussion guide included. 
This book was provided for review purposes only by Harvest House Publishers, no payment was received for this review.