Permeates with hope: My review of "The Bridge" by Karen Kingsbury

about the book...

Molly Allen lives alone in Portland, but she left her heart back in Tennessee with a man she walked away from five years ago. They had a rare sort of love she hasn’t found since.

Ryan Kelly lives in Nashville after a broken engagement and several years on the road touring with a country music duo. He can still hear Molly’s voice encouraging him to follow his dreams; Molly, whose memory stays with him. At least he can visit The Bridge—the oldest bookstore in historic downtown Franklin—and remember the hours he and Molly once spent there.

For thirty years, Charlie and Donna Barton have run The Bridge, providing the people of middle Tennessee with coffee, conversation, and shelves of good books—even through dismal book sales and the rise of digital books. Then in May, the hundred-year flood swept through Franklin and destroyed nearly every book in the store.

Now the bank is pulling the lease on The Bridge. Despondent and without answers, Charlie considers the unthinkable. Then tragedy strikes, and suddenly, everything changes. In the face of desperate brokenness and lost opportunities, could the miracle of a second chance actually unfold?

The Bridge is a love story set against the struggle of the American bookstore, a love story you will never forget.

my review....

Karen Kingsbury excels at writing books that tug on the heart strings, and The Bridge is no exception. I will even admit that there were scenes that brought tears to my own eyes, particularly some of those involving Charlie Barton and the miracle that unfolds to change his life. I have to say that I never truly connected with the love story between Molly and Ryan. It could be because as a novella, the length of the book doesn't allow as much time to let their story unfold. However, what I really loved about the book was the bringing together of community around Charlie and Donna, and watching the impact that this had on their lives. The result is a story that shines with hope and with the true meaning of Christmas and of love.

I am confident that fans of Karen Kingsbury will easily connect with the characters who star in The Bridge, and will enjoy the deep emotion that permeates the story. Although the story doesn't contain a lot of surprises, the ending is a purely happy one, and sometimes that is exactly what you are looking for in a book during the Christmas season. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

Book has been provided courtesy of the publisher, Howard Books, for the purposes of this unbiased review.

about the author...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury is America’s favorite inspirational novelist, with more than 20 million copies of her award-winning books in print. Karen has written more than fifty novels, ten of which have hit #1 on national lists. She lives in Tennessee with her husband Don and their five sons, three of whom are adopted from Haiti. Their daughter Kelsey is married to Christian artist Kyle Kupecky.

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