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 review:
Maybe it is weird that I like this series since I am a guy, but I do. I have always enjoyed a series that focused on one family as this one does, and they aren't really what I'd call romance books though they do have romance in them.
This is the third book in the Chicory Inn Series, and is the best so far in my opinion. Another Way Home deals with a couple wanting children and not being able to have any. Danae, the main character, doesn't just have to deal with wanting children and not being able to have any, but she also has to deal with her sisters having children about every year.
The book was a great read with some unexpected twists and turns. Raney did a great job of portraying the anguish of a childless couple and of the friction that can go on between the couple as they try over and over again with no results.
The reader also gets a glimpse into the world of women's shelters and what goes on as women hide out from abusive husbands and girlfriends.
I typically read Christian suspense and can get so into those kind of books that I don't want to put it down, but that happened with this book. I got so caught up in the story that I kept reading until I got to the end. And though the book isn't suspense, there were some suspenseful moments in the book when you don't know what is going to happen. I found it a very emotional read, even though I am a single guy, and found my eyes "watering" a few times.
I won't give any spoilers, but the author brought a great solution into the mix for the couple and the book ended on a great note. One thing I thought the author should have done, is brought Dallas' brother into the ending of the story. After talking to Dallas a lot about one solution to the childless problem, I thought it a bit odd that the brother wasn't around when they ended up doing exactly what the brother suggested. Maybe it was an accidental oversight. Regardless, this is a fantastic novel that I would recommend, though the first two books should be read first.
About the author:
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.
Thanks to Litfuse Publicity for the review copy
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