About this Book
Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever
intending to. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters’ efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.
All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds.
Her mother’s white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn’t repeat in polite––well, in any company. Her father’s family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry’s incarceration, life has left Shayla’s father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn’t people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?
Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl’s aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee’s On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?
About the Author
DEBORAH RANEY’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title. Her books have since won the RITA Award, ACFW Carol Award, HOLT Medallion, National Readers’ Choice Award, Silver Angel, and have three times been Christy Award finalists. At work on her 32nd novel, Deb and her husband, Ken Raney, recently moved to the city after years of enjoying small-town life in Kansas, the setting of many of Deb’s novels. They are new empty nesters with four children and a growing quiver of grandchildren, all of whom live much too far away.
Website | Facebook | Twitter |Goodreads
My Review
Deborah Raney took on the tough topic of interracial relationships and handled it with grace and style. She reminded readers that there are still areas of our country that people still judge others by the color of their skin.
Link and Shayla danced around their feelings for most of the book creating situations that were at times funny and other times sad and touching. I struggled with Shayla’s dad, Mike, at times. At times I felt like he was a hypocrite, yet I understand where he was coming from. He had experienced a lot of hurts.
The story was extremely engaging. The author’s style draws you in and you feel like you are sitting with the family as things unfold. Of the two books in the series I’ve read, this was definitely the edgier of the two. The topic of racism is prevalent in the news and the author did a good job of displaying it in this story.
I felt like the author handled the topics of racism and interracial marriage extremely well. She brought out how we are often awkward in our conversations rather than being open and honest.
This is a book I’d recommend to many of my friends. I give it 4 stars!
Disclaimer: I did receive a complimentary copy of this book from the author in order to lead a discussion group on it. I was not required to give a review.
AIM
GoodReads
Facebook