21 Shelley Shepard Gray Books to Give You Faith in Romance

Amish bride-to-be Leona is thrilled to be in Florida with her best friends. It gives her a break from wedding planning... and also her fiancé. Edmund is a good man and will make a decent husband, but he's just not right for Leona. The more time she spends with him and his overbearing ways, the less she wants to marry him. 

She's all the more certain about this when she meets a handsome, fun-loving Amish man named Zachary Kaufmann. These two men promise two very different futures for her. Should she follow her head or her heart?

When Anna decides it's time to leave her abusive boyfriend, she doesn't know where to turn. Everyone thinks Rob is the perfect gentlemen, including her own parents. Only she sees his true self, and she needs to get away from it as soon as possible. 

Desperate, she runs to the only place she's ever felt completely safe—the Amish Brenneman Bed and Breakfast, where Anna met her best friend, Katie Brenneman. The family welcomes her in, and with few questions asked allows her to stay, dressed in Plain clothing, and help around the inn. 

Only Katie's older brother Henry is suspicious of this intruder. But as he gets to know Anna, he discovers her good heart and openness about embracing his faith. This could be her true home, but her husband won't let her get away for long...

Katie Brenneman has always had a soft spot in her heart for Jonathan Lundy. So, when the broken-hearted widower asks her to help him take care of his two young girls, Katie knows it will be tough but she can't say no to him. They get on so well too. 

But, just as she's settling into this new chapter of her life with him, a message arrives from Katie's past, threatening to expose her darkest secrets. During her Rumspringa, her running-around years, she got wilder than planned and now it's coming back to haunt her. Will the past destroy Katie's chances for love or will her faith and Jonathan's own feelings overcome her errors?

When a fire destroys the Lundy family' barn, Winnie is injured trying to get the animals to safety. Now she's stuck in hospital, far away from her loved ones and left with only an Englisher for company. 

Though Samuel Miller's family is part of Winnie's tight-knit Amish community, Samuel left years earlier to pursue a university education. He's offered to help Winnie during her hospital stay, and soon their attraction grows. Their lives are so different and love seems impossible as long as Samuel chooses to remain in the outside world.

It's Christmastime at the Brenneman Bed and Breakfast, and everyone is excited about closing down for the holidays. A pair of unexpected visitors puts a halt to those plans. Levi is sullen and angry, and Melody is almost nine months pregnant, but won't say a word about why she traveled all the way from Kentucky by herself. 

As the strangers settle in, the Brennemans try to make the best of an unusual situation. Katie, however, is determined to figure out the truth, even more so once a snowstorm takes over and leaves them all trapped together. 

Perry Borntrager had been missing for months from the quiet Amish community of Crittenden, Kentucky, when his body is discovered at the bottom of an abandoned well. This is the first death from mysterious circumstances to occur here in over twenty years, and with the shock comes the scrutiny of the outside world. 

It seems as though everyone is a suspect. Lydia Plank, Perry’s former girlfriend, and Perry’s best friend, the Englischer Walker Anderson, are shoved into the spotlight. They both know they didn’t have anything to do with Perry’s death, but they also know some things about his final days they'd rather keep hidden. They don't want everyone to know what kind of man their beloved friend had become. The truth could do more than hurt them.

Crittenden continues to live under the shadow of Perry Borntrager’s death. His involvement in drugs and un-Amish activities has divided the community. 

Luke Reynolds, a detective who worked on the case, found himself more drawn to one of the suspects, Frannie. When she ends up in the hospital, it's Luke who sits at her side and comforts her. Can love blossom in the darkest of circumstances?

The search for Perry's killer is finally coming to an end. Detective Luke Reynolds has uncovered the murderer, and with it comes a shocking revelation for the people of Crittenden. Perry's dark past comes back to haunt several people, including his ex Frannie, who has found a second chance at love with Luke the outsider. 

Justice requires more than the law; it requires faith, and for the people of Crittenden to find a way to move on from this insurmountable tragedy.

Beth Byler has a secret. Ever since she met Englischer Chris Ellis while helping out at the Yellow Bird Inn, she can't stop thinking about him. A relationship between them seems impossible. He was working undercover in Crittenden County as a DEA agent, making him unsuitable for a nice Amish girl. 

When he left without warning, she knew it was probably for the best. But then, three days before Christmas, while Beth is taking care of the inn, Chris returns. This time, he is bleeding and in need of a place to hide. Before long, it becomes clear that nothing between them has changed, including their chemistry.

In the small Amish town of Sugarcreek, Ohio, Joshua knows that his whole life has been laid out for him. He's expected to work in his family store, marry Gretta, and live simply for the rest of time. Then a new English family moves in next door and their teenage daughter catches his eye. 

It's a shock for Gretta, who has been courted by Joshua for years. When Roland begins to take an interest in her, she considers what her life might be like with someone other than Joshua. As for the new focus of Joshua's attention, Lilly, she has her own secrets, ones that compelled her family to pack up everything and move to Sugarcreek.

Clara Slabaugh is the local schoolteacher in Sugarcreek. Having been scarred by a house fire when she was a child, she believes that her entire life will be defined by those marks. She teaches her students to see beyond the surface but knows that many adults have never been able to do so. 

Timothy Graber, a new arrival in town, seems different. He's here to help out with his uncle's farm, and he seems drawn to Clara, able to look past her scars and make her feel beautiful again.

Miriam Zehr has spent years working at the Sugarcreek Inn, the town's favorite restaurant and a hotspot for tourists keen to sample Amish life. It's an honest living but Miriam craves her own life and family. When Junior, the man she's pined for all her life, suddenly seeks her out, she's thrilled to be noticed, but her heart is quickly broken when she realizes he's only asking her to help get the attention of Mary Kathryn Hershberger, her much prettier and more outgoing friend. 

If Miriam helps Junior court Mary Kathryn, she'll get to spend a lot of time with him, but she might lose him. Is it worth a shot to hope that the man she's adored from afar finally sees her as something other than a friend?

Randall Beiler will sacrifice anything to take care of his younger siblings and the family farm, even if it means giving up on his own dreams. His brother hires Elizabeth Nolt to help cook and clean for the family, which troubles Randall because he once broke her heart and has never entirely gotten over her. 

But Elizabeth needs the work to help make ends meet for herself and her grandmother, so she'll swallow her pride and hide her own heartache to work with the Beilers. Spending time in their house, however, makes Elizabeth realize that her love for Randall still burns strong.

Lucy Troyer is heading out of town to visit and care for her ailing cousin Mattie, who is battling an aggressive form of cancer. It’s a good excuse to get away from her own life, including the traumatic memories of her abusive late husband. 

On the way, her train breaks down, but not before she meets Calvin, a tender-hearted man dealing with his own romantic problems. They’ve both been hurt and pain permeates their lives, but their connection is undeniable and might be worth pursuing despite the odds. 

Ella Hostetler was always enamored with Loyal Weaver, even as a child, but he never noticed the wallflower who kept to herself. After the death of her father, only child Ella was forced to not only care for the family farm but also her sick mother. 

After her mother's death, Ella decides to auction off the farm and make a clean break. Now, Loyal is back and he's purchased the farm. He also wants something else: for Ella to become his wife.

Mattie has finally beaten cancer. Aged only 23, she's been through hell but is ready to restart her life. She's missed a lot, having spent her adolescence in and out of hospitals while other Amish girls her age were courting and finding the men they would marry. 

The only man who’s ever captured her interest is her best friend Graham Weaver. Is it finally time for their friendship to become something more? And can their love overcome the vicious rumors spread about Graham?

When Viola Keim starts working at a nearby Mennonite retirement home, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with resident Atle, whose only living relative, his son Edward, is living as a missionary in Nicaragua. It's a world away from Viola's life as an Amish girl in a tight-knit family. 

When Ed surprises his father with a visit, Viola and Ed both discover an attraction they never expected. Choosing Ed, however, would require Viola to leave behind everything and move to a whole new country. Does Viola dare leave everyone she loves behind to forge her own life?

Mark Fisher has returned home to Hart County two years after being wrongly accused of assault. He left behind the Amish community he grew up in but yearns for the past. When the one person who had helped him through his rough times asks for help, Mark can't deny them. 

Neeta is one of the few people in Hart County who doesn’t believe Mark is guilty of hurting anyone. When a close friend of Neeta’s is attacked, everyone blames Mark. It's up to him and Neeta to uncover the truth before time runs out.

Calvin Fisher left the Amish community at fourteen and never looked back. Only his brother’s illness can bring him back to Hart County, where a lot of people want answers about his absence. As he works to make amends, he meets Alice, a local nursery school teacher, and falls hard for her. 

But his past rears its ugly head. He's an undercover DEA agent and he's investigating a sudden surge of criminal activity among the community. His double life doesn't just put him at risk: it's putting Alice's life in danger.

Gray contributed the story "A Reunion in Pinecraft" to this collection of short romance stories. 

When sisters Sharon and Sherilyn Kramer attend a wedding in Shipshewana, one of them returns with a new pen-pal while the other returns to her job at the bakery. After sending weekly letters back and forth, Sherry and Graham Holland arrange a reunion in Pinecraft. But then Graham realizes that he's been writing to the wrong sister.

This quartet of Amish romance stories all focus on homecomings. In Gray's story, "The Courage to Love," Irene Keim seeks a fresh start after the the death of her Englisch husband. She moves in with new friends Mary Ruth and Henry Wengerd in exchange for helping them around the house. 

Marcus, Mary Ruth and Henry's son, isn't pleased by this development and wants Irene gone. But the more they get to know one another, the more they realize that first impressions aren't everything.