About Home At Last {Chicory Inn series, Book 5}
Why did their differences matter so much?
Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters’ efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.
All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother’s white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn’t repeat in polite-well, in any company. Her father’s family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry’s incarceration, life has left Shayla’s father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn’t people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?
Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl’s aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee’s On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?
My Review
Confession: This is book 5 in a series. No, I haven’t read the others. And if you know anything about me or my blog, this is par for the course. 🙂
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way – I really enjoyed Home at Last. Partly due to the author (YAY I GOT TO READ A DEB RANEY BOOK FOR THE BLOG </end capslock of doom>), and partly due to the book itself. 50/50, really.
The interracial component of the book made it particularly interesting (in a good way) to me! Very relatable and applicable in my own extended-family experience; eye-opening, raw, and honest, as well. We live in unique times, and for that alone I recommend this book. It reminds the reader of the struggles that many people face; the goodness found amidst those challenges; and the Savior that works even the bad for the good of those who love Him.
Home At Last is a clean, fast read with theological gems and punches throughout.
Typical Deborah Raney (again in a good way); she delivers yet another winner in Home At Last. I’m curious to pick up the other books in the series, and have no doubt they are on par with this one. I’d recommend this to any Christian- or contemporary-fiction fan.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Home At Last from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
About Deborah Raney
Deborah Raney’s novels have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers’ Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have three times been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken Raney, have traded small-town life in Kansas–the setting of many of Deb’s novels–for life in the city of Wichita.
Find out more about Deborah at http://deborahraney.com.
She Reads Wherever She Goes 