I really liked the story line and the inner struggle of Christine as well as Andy's own struggles. My issue with this book was the "teaching" part of it. It felt as if we were reading a text book about the history of Raymond's tribe. While I appreciate Christine's desire to learn more, I felt like the author took too much time to educate the reader. Rather than being vague, it was very specific and read more like a history lesson. This brought my rating from 4 stars to 3. 

** ARC received from Netgalley **

Kelly Irvin has done it again! This book is absolutely amazing!

This book is filled with new love, old love, new adventures, and new lives.  It is the perfect sequel and it gives the reader insights into more of her characters. The plot is written around new love having to embrace things in the past and move forward while remembering the lessons learned and the new adventures that await.  The plot also has some grief, loss, and regret in it that the characters will have to bind together to get through.

Kelly is an amazing writer and this book is just a testament to her wonderful works of art that she pens down!

Book 2 in Kelly Irvin's Amish of Big Sky Country, A Long Bridge Home tells Christine's story.  As her family is relocated due to the wildfires, Christine's world is turned upside down.  She and her boyfriend struggle with new demands by each of their families and have to decide what is most important in their lives.  Although this book can easily be read as a standalone, you don't want to miss book 1 in the series.  I can't wait for book 3!  Great read!

Superspeed readers like me can read a book in an hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today. LOL			
			
I received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  			
			
From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.			

After her community in the awe-inspiring Montana mountains is suddenly consumed by a raging wildfire, one young Amish woman finds herself in a new town where she’s introduced to the Native culture of the Kootenai people. 

When the Mast family is forced to evacuate their home in the West Kootenai region of Montana, Christine chooses not to move with her family to her father’s childhood home in Kansas. Instead, she wants to stay closer to home and to her beau, Andy Lambright, who has yet to ask for her hand in marriage and who seems to be holding tightly to secrets from his past. 

Now, living with her aunt and uncle in St. Ignatius, Christine is on her own for the first time in her life. While working in her uncle’s store Christine meets Raymond Old Fox, whom she befriends, and he introduces her to his rich native culture with strong ties to the earth and nature. Despite the warnings of her aunt and uncle, Christine is inexplicably drawn to Raymond, and her mind is opened to a history and heritage far different from her own. 

With her newly expanding horizons, Christine wonders if she can return to the domestic life that is expected of her. Her heart still longs to be with Andy, but she isn’t the same person she was before the fire, and she wonders if he can accept who she is becoming. Has too much distance grown between them? Or can they bridge the gap from past to present and find their way back together?

I really enjoyed this clean romance - there was even some education involved...something we librarians love for people to get out of a book in addition to enjoying reading it. Raymond Old Fox was a delight to read about and learn from and Christine's worries about going back to such a domestic life were interesting. My mom is a typical 1950's housewife to this day: she is 91 and dad is 92 and he still just shows up to meals and eats (mind you I make most of the healthy meals for her to defrost and re-heat these days, he also "magically" wears clean clothes in a sparkling clean  house. Why? ... MOM!!!!  

This is the second book in the series: I plan to go back and read the first book in the series (Mountains of Grace) and some of her other books ... I am always searching for her other books at my local library and read her oeuvre whilst on vacation in mid-October. 

Want a clean romance that you will enjoy from page one to end??? Read this book!!!! END NOTE --- I had no idea that there were that many Amish in Montana or Kansas... 760 according to Google/Wikipedia. (0.07% of the population, though --- they must be a small and connected godly community!) .  And Kansas?  1,850	Increase, 0.06% of the total population.
			
As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I love emojis (outside of their incessant use by "Social Influencer Millennials" on Instagram and Twitter) so let's give it some of those said bridges. 🌉🌉🌉🌉🌉

A Long Bridge Home made me think. I was expecting a light, quick romance of a read, but instead I found myself stopping often to think about the book and the characters. I thought about how the randomness of birth forms a child's whole life. I thought about how Christine's intellectual yearning to know about another culture is totally squashed and forbidden by her own community. I thought about how I would react if she were my daughter or granddaughter. I wondered why some communities are so closed to outside influences. Is it following their beliefs, or is it fear of different ideas?