Southern Gal Loves to Read: October 2025

About the Book

Book: A Hidden Hope

Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Genre: Amish Fiction
Release Date: October 7, 2025

Supervising two newly minted medical residents might be the toughest challenge Ruth “Dok” Stoltzfus has ever faced. Wren Baker, sharp and ambitious, graduated at the top of medical school with a hidden agenda in tow. Charlie King, at the bottom of the class, is determined to succeed–though Dok isn’t convinced he’s got what it takes. Then there’s traveling nurse Evie Miller, whose quiet love for Charlie doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by Wren.

Boarding at Windmill Farm, the trio struggles to balance modern medicine with plain living. Between medical emergencies, cultural misunderstandings, and brewing romantic tensions, Dok finds herself juggling far more than she bargained for. Soon the stage is set in the small Amish community of Stoney Ridge for plenty of professional and personal complications.

Click here to get your copy.

My Thoughts

Suzanne Woods Fisher is an Amish author whose books I have enjoyed reading for many years now. Her stories are great, her characters are fun to know and usually have quite a story to tell. If you are familiar with her Amish books, you probably won't be surprised to find yourself in the familiar setting of Stoney Ridge with "friends" you have gotten to know as you have visited that location before.

A Hidden Hope has more than one story line going with a variety of characters, but they all fit together as varied pieces off the same puzzle. There are those, of course, who are Amish or who have backgrounds in that culture. There are those with Mennonite connections. And there are those who find themselves in an Amish community with no previous knowledge at all of Plain lifestyles. Each of them has their own personal and/or professional challenges to work out and lots of lessons -- with some surprises -- to learn along the way. There are even some twists that you may or may not pick up on until the story nears its end!

I highly recommend A Hidden Hope to fans of great Amish fiction. Thanks to Celebrate Lit for providing a copy of the book. I am happy to share my own thoughts in this review.

About the Author

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a Christy finalist, a Carol and Selah winner, a two-time ECPA Book of the Year finalist, and Publishers Weekly and ECPA bestselling author of more than forty books. Her genres include contemporary and historical romances and Amish fiction. Suzanne and her husband live in a small town in northern California. Most friends act a little nervous around her because they usually wind up in one of her novels. She has four grown children and enough grandchildren to keep her young.

More from Suzanne

The Kitchen Garden by Suzanne Woods Fisher

“Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.” Amish proverb

Whenever I visit my Amish friends, I always make a point of wandering out

to their vegetable gardens to see what’s growing. Their gardens, usually not far from the kitchen, are bigger than most people’s backyards. Gardens, for the Amish, are a family affair. Husbands help their wives ready the soil and add the homebrewed fertilizer (ahem, manure), children help their moms plant, weed, and harvest.

Like so many parts of the Plain life, their value of the home

garden—for the sake of nutrition, for sustenance, for well-being—is a wonderful example to those of us who weren’t farm-raised. They’ve been living a sustainable life filled with fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables for over four hundred years. The rest of us are just catching on.

One Amish mom told me a story about her daughter, the youngest of seven. “This girl was a born worrier. Whenever she started on her worry loop, I would send her out to weed in the garden. When she came back in, her worries were gone. There’s just something about weeding that helps a soul settle down.”

I could expand that thought a little further. There’s just something about gardening that helps a soul settle down.

So, it’s late on Saturday and I just wrapped up a very long week. I spoke at three book events and finished the first draft (the drafty-draft) of a novel. I can’t stop thinking about the novel. Is it a mess? As tired as I am, tonight I don’t think I’ve got one more word in me—not to speak, not to write. I’m spent! Done. My husband is out for the evening, so I had a few hours alone at home to relax.

What did I do?

I planted in my garden: lettuce and radishes and carrots. As I dug in the spongy soil, I could feel my soul settle. Worry and exhaustion slipped away as I scattered seeds into furrows. Little by little, that wonderful God-given sense of re-creation returned. Tomorrow, I would write again. Time spent in my little garden does that for me. It renews me and gives me a hope for the future.

Or, at the very least, a good salad.

Overnight Blueberry French Toast

On a sunny July morning, we were served this breakfast dish at an Amish friend’s home and my husband couldn’t stop talking about it. You might be shocked at the amount of eggs, but don’t skimp! It’s worth every bite.

12 slices bread cut in 1” cubes
8 oz. cream cheese cut in ¾” cubes

1 ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 cups milk

Place half the bread cubes in a 9×13 baking dish. Top with cream cheese blueberries and the remaining bread. Beat eggs, syrup and milk and pour evenly over bread. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until well done.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 7

The Avid Reader, October 7

Maureen’s Musings, October 8

Life on Chickadee Lane, October 8

Simple Harvest Reads, October 9 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 10

Devoted To Hope, October 10

lakesidelivingsite, October 11

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 12

Locks, Hooks and Books, October 12

Jeanette’s Thoughts, October 13