The Newcomer by Suzanne Woods Fisher

From the publisher:

In 1737, Anna Konig and her fellow church members stagger off a small wooden ship after ten weeks at sea, eager to start a new life in the vibrant but raw Pennsylvania frontier. On the docks of Port Philadelphia waits bishop Jacob Bauer, founder of the settlement and father to ship carpenter Bairn. It's a time of new beginnings for the reunited Bauer family, and for Anna and Bairn's shipboard romance to blossom.

But this perfect moment cannot last. As Bairn grasps the reality of what it means to be Amish in the New World--isolated, rigid with expectations, under the thumb of his domineering father--his enthusiasm evaporates. When a sea captain offers the chance to cross the ocean one more time, Bairn grabs it. Just one more crossing, he promises Anna. But will she wait for him?

When Henrik Newman joins the church just as it makes its way to the frontier, Anna is torn. He seems to be everything Bairn is not--bold, devoted, and delighted to vie for her heart. And the most dramatic difference? He is here; Bairn is not.

Far from the frontier, an unexpected turn of events weaves together the lives of Bairn, Anna, and Henrik. When a secret is revealed, which true love will emerge?

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I really enjoy reading Suzanne Woods Fisher's novels about the beginning of Amish in America.  It creates different settings that most "bonnet" novels and I appreciate being able to see a different historical perspective and side to these stories.

This is book two, so you will definitely want to read book one to appreciate Anna and Bairn's story and how it relates to Henrik.

This book will make you analyze and think with the characters and they see what is real love and what a leader should be.  I was glad that Fisher didn't gloss over the changes Bairn had to face or what some of the problems and friction spots would have been for the early Amish pioneers.

I received this book free from the publisher, all opinions are my own.