I’ve just finished this book and it has made me cry (in a good way!). I read a LOT of novels, but this one has to be in the top 10% for me, and that’s saying something since it’s not even from one of my favourite genres.
One of the book’s reviewers, Sid Evans, says “Valerie Luesse has a profound gift for storytelling” and he is spot on. This book is an absolute gem. In just one volume are the stories of three couples: Jessie and Anna, Reed and Daisy, and Si and Dolly. The first four all arrive at Si and Dolly’s family home with various troubles on each of their shoulders. Si and Dolly have lived in their family home for years, and have opened it as a boarding house in order to try to make ends meet.

Jessie and Anna arrive barely speaking, their marriage strained and their future uncertain. Daisy is a young widow, and Reed an injured veteran returning from the war with severe injuries and PTSD. And underneath all of the stories runs the question of what happened to a bride who is rumoured to have disappeared immediately after her wedding a century before.

The stories are told absolutely beautifully, and genuinely. Jessie and Anna’s story is told first, with that of Reed and Daisy following. Their emotions, hurts, and struggles are so well described and totally believable, but for me Reed and Daisy’s story was the more powerfully impactful on me as a reader. Their individual struggles are so well told, and Reed’s PTSD is graphically portrayed. The scene in the church during the funeral is cleverly and sensitively described, and is a neat and very believable twist on things. Their romance is beautifully developed, and the end of chapter 40 is PERFECT! The friendships between everyone, and especially that of Anna and Daisy, are lovely to read.

Throughout, the story of Catherine, the bride from 100 years prior, is interwoven in a wonderful way. The pauses in her story work very well indeed.

This book is one I was really, REALLY sorry to finish, because it was an absolutely wonderful read. I miss the characters in it as though they were my friends, and I’d love to hear more about them if Valerie should ever write a sequel.

A full on five star read!

Almost Home
A Novel

by Valerie Fraser Luesse

Revell

Christian

Pub Date 05 Mar 2019

I am reviewing a copy of Almost Home through Revell and Netgalley:

After America enters into the Second World War the town of Blackberry Springs Alabama explodes practically overnight. Workers from all over the country are coming south to find work in Munition Plants, and with them they bring their pasts. And those pasts are coming into Dolly Chandler’s grand but fading Boarding House.

An Estranged Young Couple from the Midwest unemployed professors from Chicago, a widower from Mississippi as well as a Young Veteran struggling to heal from the horrors of the war, they all hope that Dolly’s House will help them find their way back to the lives they left behind them. The house too has a past of its own.

After tragedy strikes, Dolly’s only hope will be the circle of friends under her roof and the ability to find the truth about what happened to the young bride who lived there a hundred years before.

I give Almost Home five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Many thanks to Bookishfirst, Netgalley, and librarything for providing me advance access to Almost Home by Valerie Fraser Luesse in return for my honest review.

I enjoyed Almost Home. It is a character-driven story, and the characters are charming and quirky in the very best of ways. They are facing significant struggles, but through friendship they thrive and flourish. This was a quick read for me, one I looked forward to coming back to each day. There were parts, however, that required suspension of reality. Additionally, although it is a story of substance there were some overly sweet chapters, almost too good to be true.

So many books are dark and twisted. It was such a pleasure to read a story about good people, strangers in fact, that become family.

Where do I even begin? This book struck me clear to my heart. I fell in love with each and every character. I wanted to be friends with them, I wanted to sit on the porch with them, and be a part of their wonderful group. They made me want to be a better person. It's not often that a fiction book can change you, but this one definitely had that affect on me. I want to buy this book for each of my family members and close friends so they can experience this wonderful book too! If you read this book, you not only will not regret it, but it just might have an impact on you too! Now my next step is finding more books by Valerie Fraser Luesse!

Oh what a delightful book! A beautiful story of faith, friendship and healing. A cast of characters that are so real by the end of the book you consider them friends. A special house, some broken people, and a 100 year old mystery about a pirate and missing treasure all add up to make this a superb read. One that will touch your heart and won’t soon be forgotten!

A wonderful book that drew me in with the compassion shown between the various families drawn together. It's encouraging to see what God can do when people are in tough circumstances together.

This was a very wonderful book! The characters were likable and the plot was woven very well through all the characters. It moved a little slowly in the beginning, but by mid-book it was ready to take off. If I didn't need sleep... I would have stayed up and finished it! Although it was set during World War II, it was focused on the characters and their lives instead of war reports and problems. I found that I wanted to know what happened to them and how they solved the problems.

Should have been listed as "Christian Literary fiction" rather than just literary fiction. An almost too cute aw shucks ma'am, gee golly can I buy ya a pop we'll save each other romance novel that just doesn't come close to the reality that is the open raw wound of PTSD of returning soldiers. But sure, we're seeing dead husbands in the corners of bedrooms giving us the blessing to move on with our new boyfriends, and portents of doves and .... ugh. This book is drowning in god talk, and dripping with saccharine. If you can get past that, the overall story of it really isn't that bad, a couple of cute young couples in the 1940s find healing in a boarding house in the south, they save each other, they save the older couple that own the home, and there's a pretty interesting mystery from the 1800s about a N'awlins river pirate and his lady love tied up in mysterious journals that they discover is tied to the original owners of the house. This book isn't my genre and I won't dip into it again, but for a free book in exchange for an honest review it was worth one read.

I fell into the middle of this story of heartbreak, tragedy, mystery, and overcoming! It's actually two stories interwoven into one....the present-tense story of Dolly and her boarders, and the past-tense story of the pirate Chauvin and his mysterious disappearance. The first is set in WW2, while the second is set in the mid-1800s and told through diary entries and present-day gossip. It was a four-star book for me right up until the very end, when it took a surprising twist and tied everything up beautifully!!! (No spoilers here...just read it.)

Almost Home will take readers back to the sights and sounds of Alabama in 1944 during World War II. This historical fiction novel tells the story of Dolly and Si Chandler and the people who came to stay at their home that they turned into a boardinghouse. Through their time spent with the Chandlers, deep and lasting friendships are formed and opportunities arise for healing from the emotional and physical scars from the past. Journals uncovered from a hundred years earlier lead the inhabitants of the Chandlers’ house on a quest to find out answers of what happened to the previous owner.

This was an enjoyable story that focused on new beginnings and hope for the future despite past heartaches. The epilogue tied up unanswered questions from the story nicely. Fans of historical fiction will thoroughly enjoy this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Revell Publishing and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.

Southern Fiction is not my go-to genre, but I have enjoyed The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton. Most Southern fiction doesn't capture my attention. Almost Home by debut author Valerie Fraser Luesse. . . is a wonderful realistic view of the Southern culture. The enduring characters kept the story moving and kept my attention focused on the story. The idea of a family of misfits keeping tabs on each other while surviving in Dolly's and Si's house was a little different but interesting. The pirate's treasure with Catherine and her husband mingled with my imagination. I wanted to find the treasure along with the characters. The only problem I have with the plot is that the story starts with a letter written by Dolly to her sister, but I had no idea what actual year the story starts off in. I believe it isn't long after the letter was written with the clues from Reese and the other male characters, but sometimes it felt much later than during the last year of World War II. Overall, Almost Home is a informative and entertaining debut novel bringing the southern historical culture to life for readers. Fans of Billy Coffey, Lauren K. Denton, and Charles Martin might enjoy this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of Almost Home by Valerie Fraser Luesse from Revell Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.