reviewsbyerin

This second book in the “Ada's House” series picks up right where the first one left off. While the central character in this novel is schoolteacher Lena, others that we've come to know and love in “The Hope of Refuge” continue their stories through these pages as well.

Lena is plagued by self-consciousness because of the birthmark on her face. She is convinced that no one can see past the blemish into her warm and fun-loving heart. Despite her fears she is quite a spunky lady and has come under the censure of the school board for following her own instincts and not the Old Ways to reach the children under her care.

Someone in the community does not like Lena at all. A dark plot to destroy Lena's reputation and even her life takes form. Tragedies begin happening in the schoolyard. The community is soon polarized over this woman whose best efforts seem to fall flat on their face time and again.

Cindy Woodsmall is an excellent writer, and while her stories do not ring completely true with my own experience of living near an Amish community in the Midwest, my interest was definitely held all the way through. It was a little confusing keeping all the characters straight and I thought it would have been helpful to have had a recap of who was who at the beginning. I had to chuckle when I turned the last page and saw there was indeed such a cast of characters, only it was placed after the story when it was too late to do the reader any good. Oh well.

I've enjoyed this series and will be watching for the final installment coming in Fall 2011!

You can read the first two chapters of “The Bridge of Peace” here.

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided this book to me for free in exchange for this honest review as part of their Blogging for Books program.

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