Hannah's Dream

Hannah's Heart #1

by Jerry S. Eicher

Set in the Amish communities of northern Indiana and Montana, Hannah Miller has just found a poem about love that stirs her dreams. Checking her past experiences with boys, no one seems to fit, especially not Sam. She had chosen him in the eighth grade only because everyone back then just had to have someone. With his mouth that always fell open when astonished, Hannah now looks for someone else. Feel the agony of mistakes, the burden of guilt, and one girl s attempt to make sense out of love. In this end, will Hannah go the whole way with the logic of her conclusions?

Genres: Amish, Romance, Christian Fiction, Christian, Amish Fiction, Fiction, Christian Romance

318 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2008

About the author

Jerry Eicher’s bestselling Amish fiction (more than 210,000 in combined sales) includes The Adams County Trilogy, the Hannah’s Heart books, and the Little Valley Series. After a traditional Amish childhood, Jerry taught for two terms in Amish and Mennonite schools in Ohio and Illinois. Since then he’s been involved in church renewal, preaching, and teaching Bible studies. Jerry lives with his wife, Tina Eicher, and their four children in Virginia.

Reviews

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah's Dream by Jerry S. Eicher


In my Fans of Amish Fiction book group on GoodReads, we noticed the ratings for Jerry S. Eicher are generally low, and when this book was available on Amazon for under $3 we figured, why not give it a chance? It wasn't too much money to spend after all!

So, I bought Hannah's Dream.

In this story we meet Hannah, a girl prone to accidents and injuring herself. While in the hospital recovering from an injury she meets Peter, an Amish boy going through his rumspringa and who her family believes is not a good choice for her. Yet Hannah finds herself intrigued, torn between him and her family who does not want her to be interested in him.

However, tragedy strikes, shaking Hannah to her core. Unable to cope, she is sent to live with her aunt in Montana for a summer and help her out on her farm. Hannah is determined to never again feel what she felt before, because clearly God could not have meant that path for her or such tragedy would never have struck.

As Hannah recovers she now is finding herself again torn between options. Which path is she supposed to be on? Which is the one that God meant for her, and will she ever fulfill the dream she has had in her heart for so long?

Read Hannah's Dream to find out!

I am not sure why this book gets such harsh criticisms. While it wasn't my absolute favorite it wasn't at all bad. I enjoyed the story and felt pulled into, wanting to know what was going to happen.

My only criticisms would be that I found Hannah almost a bit off-putting at times. Maybe I just don't clearly remember my mindset at that age, but I found annoying for a few moments here and there. But at the same time I could sort of understand her logic.

I think this book is worth a try, and I will be interested in reading the next book in the series!

3.5 out of 5 stars!

[Diane U · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah is a seventeen year old Amish girl who has this perfect picture of love in her head from a poem she read. When she meets Peter, she knows that he is the one. But Peter is going through rumspringa is not the right influence for her according to her family. When she decided to follow her heart, she gets caught by her parents and tragedy strikes. Hannah cannot deal with it so her mother sends her to live with her aunt in Montana for the summer.

While she is in Montana, she is helping them run a stable and is enjoying the mountain lifestyle of the West and the small and new Amish community. She starts receiving letters from Sam back home and she starts to believe that she should stop dreaming about love and do what is right and be with Sam. But Hannah stays strong as she meets Jake, another lost Amish soul who left his home to spend some time alone after his girlfriend left him. With a broken heart, he finds a job in Montana and gets involved in their Amish community. Hannah and Jake start to become friends but this is only for the summer since she will be returning home. Will their friendship become more? Will Hannah do what is expected of her or will she follow her heart?

I must admit, I was a little skeptical about reading an Amish book by Jerry Eicher since all of his books received rather low ratings on Amazon. Well one day I was poking around on Amazon and found it for under $3 so I decided to give it a try. I loved it so much that I bought the next book in this series, A Hope for Hannah. If you are interest, A Dream for Hannah is currently priced at $2.81 for the kindle. If you enjoy Amish fiction, be sure to grab it, you will not be disappointed!

[pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the first book i read by this author i did like his style of writing. It is about a girl named Hannah she was reading a poem about love and then she had a dream about it. Hannah has a accident and went to the hospital where she meets a boy and she felt all mushy inside and she was wondering if this is what love is like. The boy was amish but going though his running around years and was dressed in english clothes. when they left the hospital he wanted to see her and take her a ride in his car. Hannah kept telling him no her parents would not aprove. One night he climb a tree to her room to ask her she said yes it was raining and he said he would drive her to town and then home but he had other things on his mind when he started to kiss her it scared her and she wanted to go home when she got home she was so upset she told her mom what happen the next day there was an accident that is when her whole life changed.
this is the first book in the series i will definately read the other two.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Dream for Hannah" was such an enjoyable read. It dealt with a young Amish girl's "starry-eyed" dreams of love, guilt and the unrealistic penance that comes with it, and finally the healing that comes when we allow God to take over. I enjoyed the main character, Hannah, but at times became frustrated with her lack of insight. Actually, she was quite realistic - a normal teen doing what she thinks is correct.

Mr. Eicher puts a wonderful aspect of reality throughout the story. He grew up in the Amish community, and later on, taught in their schools for a short time. He gives a peek inside the Amish beliefs and worship with a funeral, church services, a baptism and a marriage. I found this book to be one of the better Amish fiction books because of this.

If you enjoy Amish fiction, this is definitely a series you must add to your must-read list!

[Diane Holm · Rating 3 out of 5]

When young hearts dream of love it can lead to perilous paths. Unprepared, with high expiations, those dreams can be easily shattered.

I found the writing vivid and the people and places easy to visualize. The story line, however, had some definite dry areas and seemed to drag in places. In my mind, Hannah's character needed deeper development so the reader could better understand her heart and her choices. Teenagers however, Amish or otherwise, make spur of the moment decisions that can lead to devastating consequences, a fact that is definitely brought out in the story. Truth is also found in the need for honesty and openness in communication between parents and teens that can help prevent tragic outcomes. There are valuable lessons here for the growing young heart

[Cheryl Baranski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Dream for Hannah, By: Jerry Eicher
This is the story of Hannah Miller.
She is a good Amish girl. Hannah knows
that she wants to remain Amish. A lifestyle
that she has known all her life.
She loves her family, friends, church.
Yet Hannah yearns for more.
Should Hannah choose good old Sam whom she
has known all her life?
Should Hannah choose Peter who is wild
and daring?
Or should Hannah choose Jake that lives
in the mountains of another Amish community.
This is a must read book!
5 stars!

[Nicki Rhode keck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very hard to get into when first starting out, but it truly redeemed itself by the end. I loved the ending and felt it ended well. It kept me on the edge of my seat at one point in the book, when it surely seemed that something that should not happen was going to. Looking forward to reading the other books in this series. I had read one other book by this author, which was a Christmas book, so I was a bit disappointed in the beginning when it seemed slow moving and wasn't keeping me hooked, but again, it truly did redeem itself in the end.

[Debbiedowner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best of Jerry S. Eicher's novels I've read so far. His knowledge of authentic Amish life surpasses all other writers of the genre, mostly because he was born and raised Amish. The emotional build up to the end of this novel was one of the most edge-of-your-seat reading experiences I've had in a while. My heart was pounding, truly uncertain the writer would give me what I wanted! I won't tell you if he did or not!

[Linda Pohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love books about the Amish. Although this book was well written, there were some periods when I was a bit bored. I enjoyed the poem, A Ballad of Spring, that was the catalyst that caused Hannah to dream about being in love. The struggle young Hannah had, between following her heart and what was expected of her by her family and community, wasn't an easy one. I enjoyed the storyline and found it quick, easy reading.

[ANNETTE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowser! I couldn't put this book down. My mother - in law said this was really good so I started in reading and wow!
Lots of adventure with twists-n- turns .A faith based with fear, love and God's intervention .
Loved it! Well done.

[Sarah]

Will read after it comes in at the library. My shelf can't hold many more Amish books :)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good.

[Margaret Chind]

*Thanks to Harvest House Publishers for providing a copy for review through FIRST Wild Card Tours.*

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

stop by www.reneesuz.blogspot.com on 7 September to read the first chapter as well as my thoughts

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mediocre Amish romance, not bad but not especially good either.

[Ida Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it

[Felicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not even finish this book it was just so slow and boring that it did not hold my interest. Which is weird since I so loved his other book missing your smile.

[Sheri Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread along with the rest of the trilogy

[Barbara Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last of the series by Jerry Eicher. Excellent series. Looking forward to reading more.

[Louise E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story. But, I found the story dragging.

[connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay . Learned some things about the Amish I didn't know . Not big into romance books .

[Maria Pierron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. My first book by an author named Jerry. I'm going to be honest, I was gripped during most of the story. Why do I immediately want to pick up book 2?? There were a lot of bizarre happenings, Hannah is pretty square, and I lost count of how many times Sam's open mouth was mentioned. The writing really wasn't bad for an Amish book, but the content made up for that and kept me entertained.

You better believe that I will be reading the next book ASAP.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complicated story of love. Two young people meet after hard losses of what they believe is love when both have rejected the opposite sex. As they come to feel for each other, circumstances part them. This is all I will say except that it is an excellent book.The author gives characters distinct likeable personalities

[Donna Bowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is good to have dreams

Hannah was a dreamer and through a bad experience made herself believe that dreaming was bad. Although it took some time she finally found out just how dreams can come true. It loved her story and can r wait to read about her life in the other books!

[Margaret Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time liking the main female character. Hannah is so naive and so self-focused! I wasn't like that when I was 17! There's plenty of plot twists, and I wanted to know what happened, but it was a struggle to finish.

[baby · Rating 2 out of 5]

was given to me by my grandmother. about an amish girls struggle with a love triangle, honestly, was interesting enough for me to finish and i did find myself rooting for the love interests and picking sides. lots of gender roles, heteronormativity, yada yada but for what it is its fine

[Isabelle (SimplyLovedBooks=etsy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did really enjoy this book! The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was, as an older teen gal myself, it was harder to relate to her. Her character seemed more like a 14yr old because of how naive she was at times… but otherwise loved the book! 💕

[Tracy Flint 1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised with the ending !!!

[Debbie West · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book dreams can be powerful things