Letting go to build a bridge…
A frightened runaway wants her painful past to disappear. A plan to start over is derailed when she co-inherits her late grandfather’s farm with the man responsible for the scars on her heart. But he isn’t the only ghost from the past. Someone else is out to get her and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Will Chance and Dakota lay aside their grudges to restore the old farmhouse and bridge, or will evil forces sabotage their attempt at forgiveness?
A native Texan, Cathy Bryant currently resides in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico with her minister husband of over thirty years. When she’s not spinning tales about the fine folks of Miller’s Creek, you can find her rummaging through thrift stores, hiking through the wilderness, or up to her elbows in yet another home improvement project in the mountain cabin she calls home.
My Impressions:
A Bridge Unbroken by Cathy Bryant is a romantic suspense novel set in the small, central Texas town of Miller’s Creek. The fifth book in a series, it can easily be read as a standalone novel. But if you have enjoyed Bryant’s previous books, you will love returning to the small town and your favorite characters.
In A Bridge Unbroken, Dakota Kelly is a young woman on the run from an abusive boyfriend and a shame-filled past. Finding herself again in the town where she spent many happy childhood summers as well as the turning point in her senior year that set her running, Dakota must decide if she will confront her past and set down roots. Having received forgiveness from God, she still endures the judgment and unforgiveness of first love, Chance Johnson. As they rebuild the farm they both inherit and their wounded relationship, past regrets and present dangers seek to undermine the bridge they want to build.
The theme of forgiveness is front and center in A Bridge Unbroken. The main characters both struggle with guilt, regret and blame. Bryant includes prayer, sermon messages and dialog with other characters to present just what forgiveness looks like. I liked this aspect of the story. Chance and Dakota are frustratingly real characters who take one step forward and two steps back in their spiritual and emotional lives. I did not enjoy the suspense thread as much. It just didn’t seem to flow naturally with the story, and the resolution came much too quickly. I also had a small problem with the formatting of the novel– no page numbers! This did not take away from the story, but kind of threw me off, especially when I dropped the book without my bookmark in place!
All in all, I liked the book and would like to read the earlier books in the series in order to revisit Miller’s Creek.
Target audience: older teens and adults
(Thanks to the author for a review copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
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