Loretta Donnelly

Loretta Donnelly is a character from Book One (also mentioned in Book 2). She was previously married to a man named Rick, who passed away. Thus, she raises her two children, Abby and Conner, alone. She takes the classes to simplify her life, where she meets Eli Miller, and they fall in love.

Physical Appearance
In the trailer, Loretta wears her blonde hair up in a bun. In the book, she is mentioned to also wear it in a ponytail, or simply down; however, when she decides to become Amish, she starts wearing it up with a headscarf and wears plain dresses. She is described as having 'coffee-brown eyes' in book 2.

Role in Book One
Loretta takes Heidi's cooking classes to simplify her life. She lives in Sugarcreek (near an Amish community) with her two children Abby and Conner, both of which she is already raising in a simple way of life. She meets Eli, who begins to visit her, bring her gifts, and take her out to dinner. He also likes her kids and takes all three of them to meet his parents.

His parents disapprove of them seeing each other as she is not Amish, but Loretta ends up becoming Amish.

Role in Book Two
Loretta is mentioned a few times in the book. She and Eli are now courting, and she says once she officially becomes Amish, they will probably marry. Once she becomes Amish, she and Eli have their first argument, and Heidi suggests she tell him what's wrong.

Trivia

 * Loretta's grandparents were Amish, but her parents decided not to be because her father wanted a car.