“The pains began at two thirty in the morning.”

From Karen Kingsbury’s The Bridge.

Several years ago, young San Francisco heiress Molly was able to convince her father to let her attend college in Tennessee before she began taking over the family business. At freshman orientation, Molly meets the magnetic Ryan, and over the next two years, the pair become close friends. However, they were kept just friends by Ryan’s back-in-Mississippi girlfriend and Molly’s father’s plan for her to marry the wealthy Preston back home. In order to hide their friendship from her father’s employees, Molly and Ryan met at a small bookstore called the Bridge. Spending so much time at the Bridge easily led to a friendship with the owners, Charlie and Donna Barton. After a heartbreaking miscarriage decades earlier, the Bartons decided to move to the small Tennessee town for a fresh start. Life in Tennessee allowed Charlie to run the small-but-successful bookstore for years, but when a devastating flood wiped out their entire inventory, Charlie was left desperately searching for the finances needed to reopen before falling even more behind on the rent.  When an accident lands Charlie in the hospital, the still-unmarried Ryan learns about the challenges facing the Bartons and launches a campaign for people willing to help. When Molly hears, she heads to Tennessee to help, but not wanting to come between Ryan and the girlfriend she’s sure he must have married, she dons her mother’s wedding ring to avoid an awkward past. As Christmas draws closer, Molly and Ryan find themselves still drawn to each other but trapped in a web of misconceptions that threatens to destroy everything.

Kingsbury easily creates a romance story that is engaging and fast-paced. The inspiration for the Hallmark movies creates solid characters with believable flaws, but also genuine redemption by the end. Although the story will attract a specific audience, The Bridge will easily satisfy those looking for a sweet romance.