Reviewed by: Linda Taylor, assistant professor of Professional Writing at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.

Introduction

Title: Reason to Breathe

Author: Deborah Raney

Publisher: Gilead Publishing

Publication Date: 2018

Format: print book

Length: 352 pages

OVERVIEW

In this first book in Raney’s upcoming Chandler Sisters series, we are introduced to Phylicia (Phee), Joanna, and Britt who make their home in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Their mother has just passed away from cancer, their father has disappeared to Florida (with the hospice nurse) with instructions left for his daughters to clean out and sell the family home. The sisters are left to grieve, to wonder, to worry, and to figure out how to move on when both parents are now as good as gone.

Enter Quinn, an employee in their father’s construction company who is sent to help the sisters carry out their father’s instructions. But there’s more . . . their father had located a property on the edge of town with a cottage and two “cabins” (so named by the sisters because of the work needed to fix them up). Their father wants Quinn to recommend that the sisters purchase the property with the inheritance left by their mother. After much concern and arguing, the girls determine that this could be an investment if they fix up the property and advertise it as an Airbnb.

In the process of moving, Phylicia discovers a secret compartment in her mother’s old desk holding a photograph, a letter, and a wedding ring with a necklace. Studying the photo creates questions about the girls’ mother and the true identity of Phylicia’s father. These questions create chaos for Phylicia, even as she begins to discover the much-older Quinn’s long-hidden feelings for her.

Raney creates a charming story with the dynamic of three sisters learning to navigate new waters individually and together. Each woman is unique, likeable, and real. Readers will enjoy meeting this family and cheer them on as the story unfolds.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5)

5 stars

Suggested Audience

Women who love Christian fiction, especially women who understand the dynamic of sisters.

Christian Impact

The characters in the book are people of faith who struggle with questions, especially in the wake of the untimely death of the mother. There is the concern of the father who initially leaves with the (much younger) hospice nurse. Also, there is admission one character of having had premarital sex. But the backdrop of each unveiling reveals the characters’ sorrow at such decisions and their desire to be faithful to God.

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