Reason to Breathe

Reason to Breathe
(A Chandler Sisters Novel)
Deborah Raney
(Gilead Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1683700616
October 2018/288 pages/$15.99
Phylicia thought life was passing her by, but maybe this was love's plan all along. . .

At twenty-nine, Phylicia Chandler put her life on hold to care for her dying mother with her sisters, Joanna and Britt. Now Mom is gone and their father stuns them all by running off with a woman young enough to be their sister. Life is moving forward all around her, but Phylicia feels stuck--until her father's protégé, Quinn Mitchell, presents the sisters with an intriguing business opportunity to purchase a trio of cottages just outside of Langhorne, Missouri. Joanna and Britt are convinced the three of them should launch a vacation rental venture, but Phylicia remains skeptical.

To complicate matters, Quinn soon finds himself falling hard for Phylicia. But how can he pursue this beautiful, talented woman twelve years his junior when she's still reeling over her father's hasty engagement to a younger woman? Quinn is determined to give Phylicia her happily-ever-after. But first, he must help her come to terms with her discovery of long-held family secrets and persuade her that true love can transcend their differences.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deborah Raney dreamed of writing a book since the summer she read Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books and discovered that a Kansas farm girl could, indeed, grow up to be a writer. Her 30-plus books have garnered multiple industry awards including the RITA® Award, HOLT Medallion, National Readers' Choice Award, Carol Award, and have three times been Christy Award finalists. Her first novel, A Vow to Cherish, shed light on the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and inspired the highly acclaimed World Wide Pictures film of the same title. A Vow to Cherish continues to be a tool for Alzheimer's families and caregivers. Deborah is on faculty for several national writers' conferences and serves on the executive board of the 2600-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization. She and her husband, Ken Raney, traded small-town life in Kansas—the setting of many of Deb's novels—for life in the city of Wichita. They often travel to teach at writers conferences across the country and to visit their four children and a growing brood of grandchildren who all live much too far away. Visit Deb on the Web at www.deborahraney.com as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and BookBub.


MY THOUGHTS

Deborah Raney once again creates an engaging tale in this first book of her new series. I loved the relationships and interactions between the three Chandler sisters, which portrayed a realistic balance of love and sisterly aggravation. Their individual and collective grief over their mother's death touched my heart. While Phylicia is the primary focus of this story, Joanna and Britt's personalities are well-depicted, and I look forward to their time in the spotlight in future books. My one frustration with this story was the thread involving their father's disappearance, primarily because the woman he became involved with was his wife's hospice nurse. As a nurse myself, I was appalled by this completely unethical action and breach of professional integrity and disappointed by the lack of repercussions. Other than that, I loved this story. Recommended with a caveat for other medical professionals.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a digital copy of this book free Gilead Publishing and Net Galley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”