Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand (2014)

The book that started it all. Felty and Anna Helmuth are 2 of the best daddi and mammi in the world. In their 80s, they have kinner, kinskinner and even some great kinskinner. While many are happily married, too many of the kinskinner still need to get married, most of all their kinskind Moses, who is still pining for that Barbara, who broke their engagement and ran off to the world. But Mammi has a plan. It involves Lia coming to help Anna for the summer. She lets Moses in on her plan, so when the pair meet, she’s quite surprised when he tells her that he doesn’t want to marry her. She doesn’t want to marry him either and so begins their love story. 

Lia and Moses have a lot in common. Best of all, Lia is almost 6 feet tall, so Moses can talk to her without her getting a view of her nose hairs. (It’s even better that her height means he doesn’t have to fold himself in half to kiss her. But that thought comes later.) 

Of course, Lia doesn’t think height is a gift; no one wants to marry a tall girl, especially when her sister, Rachel, is unmarried. Rachel “is a gutte girl” — their Daed has to point this out any time Rachel behaves badly (so often). Both of Lia’s parents love Rachel best; Rachel almost died of pneumonia when she was little and it was Lia’s fault for not watching her better (even though Rachel refused to go home and threw a fit that caused her to trip and fall into shallow water). Coming to Huckleberry Hill is the first time people notice her good qualities… like being eager to work hard, encourage and serve, and is a chef whose pies are to die for. By the time Lia Leah temporary early returns home to help with a funeral, she has quite a favorable opinion of Moses, one she makes the mistake of sharing with her family. Daed decides that Moses is a man worthy of Rachel and decides that Rachel will help out the Helmuths, too.