Long Journey Home

The Christmas Edition Long Journey Home by Sharlene Maclaren is another hit. First off, the cover is really great. It captured my attention right away. I became involved in the book immediately from the first page to the end. Once I began reading I couldn't put it down until it was finished. It took me 2 days. I love it when I find a book that I am involved with.The characters are real. The drama and heartbreak is so relevant. The plot is well crafted. Sharlene is one of my all time favorite authors. Every time I pick up one of her books, I know it will be filled with wonderful characters.

Sometimes a book takes you away from your everyday circumstances into a place of comfort. Other times the book is a sweet love story that renews your belief in true love. And some keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Then, there are the books that bring broken hearts and faith together in perfect healing. When you find a book that does all of this and more, you have a true treasure. Sharlene MacLaren has written such a book in Long Journey Home. Newly divorced from an abusive husband, Callie May is trying to be the best single mother, daughter, and school teacher she can. She knows first-hand that emotional scars take longer to heal than physical ones. She isn't sure how to trust God, much less her handsome new neighbor, Dan Mattson. Dan, recently widowed is searching for a place in a world without his wife and daughter. Bitterness has planted deep roots in his heart. And, as the attraction between the neighbors grows, he comes face to face with his anger and rejection of the One Who can truly heal him. When Callie's ex-husband returns to stake his claim, will Dan overcome his own internal obstacles and come to her rescue? Can two broken people find the way to healing and another chance at true love and happiness? This book is one of those treasures that surprises. The characters are rich and attach themselves to your heart. You will laugh when they do, cry with them, and wish you could slap some sense into their stubbornness. I highly recommend this book. This is the first Sharlene MacLaren book I have read, but I guarantee it won't be my last.

Don't you just love it when you read a book that makes your heart flutter? Your eyes fill with tears? Your breath catch when danger suddenly appears? Well, Sharlene MacLaren is an author you need to become acquainted with, dear reader! The sooner the better! Long Journey Home is a tender blend of sorrow, pain and broken dreams wrapped up in God's clever and sometimes miraculous plans of healing and forgiveness. Callie May is a single mom struggling to renew her long-stagnant faith after the end of a brutal marriage. Dan Mattson is a widower who has lost his faith after a tragic accident and is making every effort to push God and everyone else a safe distance from his broken heart. When the two become across-the-hall neighbors in an apartment complex, sparks begin to fly almost immediately! Sharlene MacLaren uses realistic scenarios to create a poignant love story. The characters are people you connect with easily, and the story draws you in and keeps you captivated. And romance? Be still my heart! Dan Mattson and Callie May's chemistry sparks off the page!! Even though both of the main characters are struggling, God's gentle nudges and long-suffering ushers them past their pain and into a new level of spiritual growth and maturity. Long Journey Home is one of those books you can get lost in. However, once you reach the final scene, you are completely satisfied! If solid Christian romance is what you are looking for, your search ends here!

Sharlene MacLaren's "Long Journey Home" took me completely by surprise! This is one of the best love stories I've read in a very long time. Callie May is a beautiful middle school English teacher and mother of an equally beautiful baby girl. Her recent divorce from an abusive man has left her battered and broken. Daniel Mattson is broken as well. A former pastor whose wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident, Dan just wants to run away - from his congregation, his family, God. When Dan moves into the apartment across the hall from Callie, the sparks begin to fly. But will Dan return to relationship with his savior? And will Callie make it through another confrontation with her abusive ex? This is a heart-wrenching and heart-warming read. This novel is a wonderful addition to a fall afternoon and a mug of hot apple cider! The characters are the kind of people you want sitting around your own dining room table for dinner every night. I fell hard into this love story and would pick up another book by this author in a heartbeat! This is a thoroughly satisfying, outstanding read!

Ever feel completely abandoned by God? While intellectually you know it's not true, there are times when you wonder where He is and why He's allowed bad things to happen to good people. So feels Dan Mattson, a former pastor who lost his wife and daughter in a car accident, and Callie May, a new mom who is left by her abusive husband. If you think that Inspirational Romance is all sweetness and giggles and smiles; think again. Callie is a scaredy-cat who doesn't trust anyone of the male persuasion - you will feel her fear as an abused woman; cry at her losses; and rejoice when she finds freedom in Christ. With Dan you want to shake him from his one-sided anger and his downwards spiral into alcohol but you will find yourself completely understanding his pain and hoping that you don't have to endure what he does on his journey back to God. Maclaren was not afraid to show humanity at its weakest point or to show our loving God who will pull us from the precipice if we allow Him too. I know that there are going to be a lot of people turned off by the idea of a divorced heroine in an inspirational romance novel. I don't like the idea of divorce either, but you know what? Sometimes no matter how hard you try (Callie did!), divorce is inevitable - Maclaren wisely chose a situation that affects 2-4 million women in our country - physical abuse - and the toll that it takes on a woman's psyche and showed how she can have healing from a loving Father and Savior. I applaud her for taking on not one, but two, highly risky subjects. She wrote the characters with such depth and perception that it helped me understand their pain and why they struggled. I'm not sure if I've ever read any of Maclaren's other novels - but I know this one will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend this novel; I wanted more when the journey ended.