Carly is the kind of girl whose nickname should be Calamity Jane. Wherever she goes on her pink bicycle, disaster follows--not on purpose--NEVER on purpose. She's just full of ideas and energy. She works at Sweet Life--a Mennonite home for the elderly, especially those with some kind of dementia. She loves the residents and wants to help them all feel less lonely. Her friend, Adam, volunteers in the woodworking shop, helping the residents make things. He's been friends with Carly and her brother, Jimmy, since before Carly dated his cousin Dale, and he's in love with Carly.
That sets things up for this story to move forward. One of the residents, Martha, remembers an early love named James, that she met near a covered bridge when she was just a young girl. Carly goes looking for the bridge but gets mixed up with which bridge it is. She wants to find out what happened to James for Martha's upcoming birthday.
Dianne Christner has written a sweet novel about the bumps in the road to a love that conquers everything. Her characters are real and believable, and her settings are a delightful addition to the story. Her plot is not overly slow, but it does lag a time or two. That still does not detract from the overall story and the book is hard to put down for most of the tale. You get to know the residents of Sweet Life so well, they become friends.
This is a five-star, two thumbs up, and a pink bicycle for your travels.
My thanks to Barbour Press for allowing me to read and review this book
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