Another Way Home {Third in a Series by Deborah Raney}

I did something unintentional when I received my copy of Another Way Home by Deborah Raney--I gave it to my friend Tiffany to read before I read it. Tiffany is a very fast reader, returns books promptly, and has needed something to do a night before going to sleep. She and I had both read the first two books in The Chicory Inn series, so we've both been looking forward to the release of this third book! What I had forgotten about--until Tiffany reminded me when she returned it--was that Another Way Home focuses on Whitman daughter Danae and her struggles with infertility. The reader witnesses Danae's frustration over not getting pregnant while continuing to pay for fertility treatments, the stress it puts on her marriage with Dallas, and the tension it creates among the Whitman family clan when they don't know how to ask Danae if she's gotten pregnant yet. The family then walk on eggshells when her oldest sister, Corinne, discovers she is pregnant with her fourth child.

My friend Tiffany experienced 10 years of infertility. She and her husband have longed for a baby of their own, be it naturally, through foster care, or through private adoption. They've continually desired to wait and rest in God's plan and timing, even though things haven't always been easy in the waiting. Tiffany is an amazing aunt, a wonderful friend to her friends' children, and she was a fabulous foster mom. But, I know within those times there has been a deep longing to be a mom herself. As much as I enjoyed reading Another Way Home, Tiffany expressing that it was a very relatable novel and captured the emotions accurately was a huge endorsement for me! And just like God leading Danae down a path to His plan and His timing, God has done the same in sweet Tiffany's life--she gives birth to her first child TOMORROW!!!! I'm so excited, and I'm glad she and I have been reading The Chicory Inn series together.

Another Way Home is my favorite novel in the series! When I read the first two novels, I felt you could read Two Roads Home (the second book) without having read the very first book, Home to Chicory Lane. While Another Way Home does indeed stand on its own, I do not recommend reading it without reading the other two novels, because the reader will miss out on the rich background stories of the Whitman family that is revealed in books 1 and 2.

The emotions shared regarding Danae's infertility are extremely realistic, as are her husband Dallas' lack of interest in adopting, the stress put upon a couple who is struggling to have a baby, and the way that family approaches conversations with the couple. Most amazing in the book though, is how Danae puts her hope in Christ--not totally in that He will give her a child, but in the actions she takes as she moves her focus off of herself, looks outward, and begins to help battered women. Danae matures in her faith, matures in serving others, and draws closer to Dallas. As the novel progresses, God brings His plan for Danae and Dallas together in an incredible way that does not disappoint.

*I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review*

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About the book: 
Another Way Home (Abingdon Press, October 2015)

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.

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1NQhjf8

 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.

Find Deborah online: website, Twitter, Facebook