Review + GIVEAWAY: Another Way Home

Another Way Home
By Deborah Raney
Chicory Inn Series, #3
Abingdon Press, 2015


Summary

Sometimes God’s ways are not at all what we expect . . . and exactly what we need.

Grant and Audrey are adding grandchildren to their family left and right, but middle daughter, Danae, and her husband, Dallas Brooks, have been trying for years with no baby in sight.

Though Danae is ready to consider adoption, Dallas will not even discuss it. Despairing of ever having a family of her own, Danae decides to pour her passion and energies into volunteer work with a newly opened women’s shelter in town. Looking for a good cause to fill her lonely days, she never expects to give her heart to the hurting women she meets there. She’s finally learning to live her life with gratitude, but then heart-wrenching events on Thanksgiving weekend threaten to pull the entire Whitman clan into turmoil—and leave them all forever changed.


My thoughts

Another Way Home is a moving story, book #3 in a series that is quite excellent. It’s a story about family – a big extended, multigenerational family that shares in each other’s joys and heartbreaks. Returning to Grant and Audrey’s B&B in the Cape Girardeau, Missouri area near the Mississippi River is a delight (visit Deborah’s Pinterest board for some great visuals). Well written and highly entertaining, this story is also relevant for two reasons . . . One, because so many people deal with the agonizing disappointment of infertility today, and two, the importance of having an attitude of gratitude in our hearts every single day.

I love romance novels as much as anyone, but it’s the stories of a marriage that are my favorite – and Deborah’s Chicory Inn series is a gem. Danae and Dallas are struggling in Another Way Home, yet there’s never any doubt that they love each other deeply. But Danae has what is called “unexplained infertility” and Dallas has personal reasons for not wanting to adopt. These characters are very real and it was easy to feel for both of them.

Danae had become self-absorbed, totally focused on having a baby, to the extent that her family walked on eggshells around her. And her focus became a spiritual matter, for Danae felt that if they didn’t have a baby, “she wasn’t sure she could go on believing in a loving, caring, fair God.” Although I never went as far as Danae’s extremes, I can relate to her longing because it took several years before we were blessed with children. The same frustrations, the monthly disappointment, the remarks of well-intentioned friends as to when we were going to start a family were all there.

The best part is seeing Danae’s gradual transformation as her eyes are opened to the plight of women in the shelter where she volunteers, and she reaches the place we all have to arrive at sooner or later – the point where God’s will matters more than our own. And Danae’s attitude of gratitude especially strikes a chord during this Thanksgiving season.

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“Sometimes life’s greatest adventures – and greatest blessings –

were found by taking another way home.”

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I think the title of this story will always stay with me, for it gently reminds me that God always has a plan - often "another way" from ours - the results of which will be beyond anything we could ever have imagined.

There are some emotional, heart wrenching moments in this story, as well as moments of sublime joy that will thrill readers. I greatly enjoy women’s fiction and wish there was more of this genre in Christian fiction. Dallas’s brother, Drew, was a part of this story, often serving as a sounding board and providing accountability. I liked him very much and felt the stage was being set for his story, so I hope we see more of him.

I’m so glad there’s more to come in this series and eagerly anticipate book #4, Close to Home. Recommended.

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Deborah Raney’s books have won numerous awards, including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, and the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken, recently traded small-town life in Kansas—the setting of many of Deborah’s novels—for life in the (relatively) big city of Wichita, where they enjoy gardening, antiquing, movies, and traveling to visit four children and a growing brood of grandchildren who all live much too far away.

Find Deborah online at deborahraney.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity and Abingdon Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Litfuse landing page:

http://litfusegroup.com/author/draney

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GIVEAWAY

My deepest thanks to Litfuse Publicity and Abingdon Press for this giveaway copy. To enter the drawing for Another Way Home . . .

1) Please follow this link to my Facebook page and share about the giveaway ("likes" to my FB page are not required, but very much appreciated).

2) Answer the following:

In light of Danae’s decision to live with an

attitude of gratitude, what is something

for which you are very thankful today?

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Please leave your NAME and EMAIL address in a safe format - [at] and [dot] - for the drawing. E-mail required for entry. Contest ends at midnight PST on Wednesday, December 2. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and contacted by e-mail. Respond within 48 hours of notification or another winner will be chosen.

Eligibility: US residents