Review:The Guardian by:Beverly Lewis

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Guardian Bethany House Publishers (March 26, 2013) by Beverly Lewis

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beverly's first venture into adult fiction is the best-selling trilogy, The Heritage of Lancaster County, including The Shunning, a suspenseful saga of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman drawn to the modern world by secrets from her past. The book is loosely based on the author's maternal grandmother, Ada Ranck Buchwalter, who left her Old Order Mennonite upbringing to marry a Bible College student. One Amish-country newspaper claimed Beverly's work to be "a primer on Lancaster County folklore" and offers "an insider's view of Amish life."

Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time."

A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with their family. They are also avid musicians and fiction "book worms."

ABOUT THE BOOK

When schoolteacher Jodi Winfield goes for a morning run, the last thing she expects is to find a disheveled little girl all alone on the side of the Pennsylvania road, clad only in her undergarments, her chubby cheeks streaked with tears. Jodi takes the preschooler home with her, intending to find out where she belongs. But Jodi is mystified when no one seems to know of a missing child, and the girl herself is no help, since she can't speak a word of English. It's as if the child appeared out of nowhere.

As the days pass, Jodi becomes increasingly attached to the mysterious girl, yet she is no closer to learning her identity. Then an unexpected opportunity brings Jodi to Hickory Hollow--and into the cloistered world of the Lancaster Old Order Amish. Might the answers lie there?

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Guardian, go HERE.

 My Review:
At 33, Ella Mae decided she quite enjoyed being a single mother to her  children. Since losing Benuel to a farming accident a few years prior. She could see his sweet, tender eyes through the eyes of their daughter, Sarah. She made it a point not to question the why's of his accident to the Almighty. The beginning of the book takes us to one night in particular where Ella Mae seemed to really taking in the scene around her. Her horse Dandy seemed to calm her just by the sound of his hooves hitting the ground as he galloped along the road one night after a long day attending a benefit auction.

Everything seemed right as the rain until they returned home to find that little Sarah wasn't in the buggy with them or anywhere else it seemed. Flash over to an Englisher Jodi that doesn't have any babies of her own and really doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry for any right now. Jodi, a school teacher is perfectly content remaining single and enjoying a calm, quiet life. But little did she know that her quiet, little existence is about to take a nice, big turn when she discovers a little, precious young girl all by herself on the side of the road one day.

**Disclosure** This book was provided to me for free by the publisher for my honest review.