One year after Rachel Eli's Christmas baby changed everything in Hickory Ridge, the county threatens the children's schoolhouse. Now the fight to keep it open pulls Hannah between an approved courtship that promises peace...and the changed man everyone still doubts.

Hannah Eli only wants the year to begin in peace. But after Christmas, a county inspector posts a compliance notice on the schoolhouse door: guardrails, exit signs, and repairs must be finished before winter term can reopen after New Year and Old Christmas.
Marcus Glick offers Hannah a straight road: an approved courtship, a tidy life, and distance from "confused" joint work between two districts. It's tempting. Then Caleb King steps forward ; the boy everyone remembers for foolishness, now volunteering for the hardest, coldest work where anyone may watch.
As rumors spread and a petition threatens to divide the ridges, Old Christmas brings a meeting that could change everything. Outside, lanterns glow on the snow and boots stamp warmth from frozen toes, but inside the meetinghouse every word feels sharp enough to cut. And when Rachel Eli, the sister whose story once shook Hickory Ridge, stands to speak for the children, Hannah must decide what kind of beginning she will ask Gott to bless: the safe one... or the brave one.

Warm, honest, and full of winter light, this clean Amish New Year romance is a story of redemption proven by work, love tested by scrutiny, and a community learning that mercy and order can hold the same house. Come back to Hickory Ridge, and start the year with hope.

Note: Each book in the series is a stand-alone read, but to make the most of the series you should consider reading them in order. All Grace Lewis's books are clean and wholesome romance.