The Bridge - Karen Kingsbury

Summary from GoodReads: Number one New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury delivers an instant classic with this heartwarming Christmas story about a hundred-year flood, lost love, and the beauty of enduring friendships. 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.

The Bridge is a story about the downfall of a bookstore in a small Tennessee town.  As the business begins to fail and money becomes very tight, the town and all its patrons come together to save the bookstore and Charlie.  It is a true story of second chances for the store, Charlie and Molly and Ryan.

I enjoyed this book but to me, it was not one of Karen Kingsbury's best books.  I feel that it was significantly shorter than her other books so I did not feel as strong a connection with the characters as I normally do.  It is a quick read and I would still recommend it!