The Mysterious Amish Nanny

Patrice Lewis

Harlequin Love Inspired Pub

Dec. 2022

The Mysterious Amish Nanny by Patrice Lewis is a very uplifting book.  It has readers understanding how someone needs to change their lifestyle for their emotional well-being, preferring to have family come first.

“I had this story in my head years ago. I wanted to write someone snaping  emotionally, where they leave their job, and then have their car break down in the middle of nowhere after going on a cross country trip. I had read about the pressure cooker environment of Wall Street, contrary to the lifestyle I have. I based some scenes in the story from the book Young Money by Kevin Roose. Where my routine is deliberately slow and unpressured this is contrasted by the intense Wall Street environment that sucks employees every hour of someone’s life. This was the theme I wanted to explore.”

The heroine, Ruth Wengerd, quits her lucrative job on Wall Street and impulsively leaves behind everything to go on a cross-country trip.  Unfortunately, her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and she needs to be rescued by an Amish man and his son. Because she needs money, she agrees to be the nanny for Lucas, the son of Adam Chupp who is a widower.  She begins to fall for this family, bringing back memories of the time she was part of an Amish community as a young child. 

There were two relationship stories, one between the heroine, Ruth, and the young child Lucas and the other between the hero and the heroine. “I wrote both the child and Ruth as impulsive, enthusiastic, energetic, and firecrackers. Ruth understood Lucas.  I based the story where Ruth became Lucas’ nanny on my daughter.  She was a professional nanny and learned how to deal with these overly active children by keeping them occupied. Lucas adored Ruth and always wanted to impress her.”

Adam and Ruth first were connected by his finances. She still has the Wall Street mentality that money is everything, while he just wants to earn enough to support, himself and his son. Ruth was able to keep track of his finances, write proposals, write estimates, and do the billing and payroll.  This freed him up to build, construct, and supervise. This is also based on how my husband, and I handled our business.  He can create and build, while I do the numbers and taxes. Just as with us, with Ruth and Adam, one person’s weakness is the other person’s strength. They balance each other off.”

Adam is also a contrast for Ruth.  He shows her the importance of family, and that money should be for support not for ambition.  While Ruth makes Adam understand the importance of having a partner, he shows her the importance of family.

As with all of Patrice Lewis books readers get a heartfelt story with some mysterious plotlines that will keep people turning the pages.

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