review: the bridge of peace by cindy woodsmall

The story of Ephraim, Cara, Lori, and the others in the Amish community continues with the second book in the Ada House series though the focus is shifted to another set of characters. While I thoroughly enjoyed The Hope of Refuge, The Bridge of Peace wasn’t quite as entertaining. I looked forward to the scenes with the familiar characters, but felt the story dragged whenever the focus was on Lena, the protagonist of this novel. Lena is a headstrong teacher who feels she’ll never find love because of her birthmark. Complicating matters is that the one man she thinks she could love is already married. (Now I was interested in how the Amish would deal with this issue, but Cindy Woodsmall took the easy way out here.) And if that wasn’t enough to distress Lena, there’s also the fact that a newcomer to the community despises her (for truly ridiculous reasons) and wants her dead.

I could have done without the Lena story, but the book was still enjoyable because it showed how Cara continues to struggle to adapt to the Amish way of life. There was also a bombshell cliffhanger with Cara’s story that will make me read the third and final book of the series, The Harvest of Grace.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, WaterBrook Press.