The Guardian by Beverly Lewis: A Review

From Good Reads:

Must-Have Amish Fiction from #1 Bestselling Author Beverly Lewis 

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?Must-Have Amish Fiction from #1 Bestselling Author Beverly Lewis 
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?


To tell you the truth I had become disenchanted with many Christian Authors as of late. I find them to be predictable and boring, and there were very few books in the past several years that I have been able to finish in this genre...and even though I picked this up as an ARC, and Beverly Lewis is actually one of my favorites...I feared I may have grown weary with the Amish fiction drama as well... 

I was happily surprised. When I started this book till I got about half way through it was on its way to being predictable as well. But when I finally let go of what I thought it should be, and let the book take me to where it needed to be it really had me by the heart strings. This book is about loss, and hurt and anger. It's about losing your will to pray and to love again. This book had whispers of greatness. The characters could easily be anybody you knew...even yourself. I actually grew interested in reading this book because I read the synopsis about Jodi finding a child who only spoke German. But I found myself gravitating to Jodi's story of loss and redemption more than anything. I'm giving this book three stars because it took half the book before I felt like the story started. I felt like there was a lot of added detail, that didn't need to be there for me. But the story once I finally got to the meat...was one I knew from past experiences... I also felt like this story was unusual for Beverly Lewis as well... It seemed that they brought The Englisher into the fold more quickly than I remember...while there was a little tension at first... They just seemed like a different Plain People than I come to expect from Mrs. Lewis.. All in all it was an enjoyable and healing book to read.