Another Way Home by Deborah Raney (Romance, Contemporary fiction, Fiction, 10E/10E)

 20th October 2015, Abingdon Press, 304 pages, Ebook, Review copy from NetGalley

Content: family life, being married, compromises, lots of tension, moderate peril, lots of tissues needed. 

Summary from Abingdon Press

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.

Nayu's thoughts 

You'll need lots of tissue for this story about a couple wanting children and getting them in an unexpected way. Don't panic if you aren't religious, God is important to Danae & Dallas (which is nice to see) but it's not in your face, as it were. Although it is part of a series I had no issues jumping in at this story either.

I suspected I'd cry a bit, but what happens to Danae and Dallas is truly heartwrenching. Danae follows her heart even when her husband is a bit against her ideas. For health reasons I can't volunteer at places so was delighted when she got trained to help at a women's shelter, since I learnt a bit more about how they run and what happens when situations get a bit scary. 

I was gobsmacked by the plot twists, which really goes to show that if you don't get something you want in the 'conventional' way, there are other ways out there (not just for getting children). It's the end result which matters, not how Danae and Dallas ended up with children in their lives, although that is a rollercoaster in itself. Their love for each other and the children is immense; infertility is a hard life obstacle to tackle, especially when it goes on for years; although I haven't experienced it the emotions from Danae are palpable.. The way Danae had to cope with her sisters when they got pregnant/when she saw their children made me want to give her a hug. This is definitely a book for keeps. 

Find out more on Deborah's website.

Available for pre-order from book retailers including NRC affiliate Foyles

Suggested read

Another husband and wife centred read, this time with a child, is Tiny Acts of Love by Lucy Lawrie (Fiction, Contemporary fiction, 9/10E)