Home At Last

You can't seem to go anywhere where race is not an issue. From our latest president to the news reports, race is an issue where is simply shouldn't be. All it is is a matter of skin tone and that is all. Yet in this final novel in the Chicory Inn series by Deborah Raney, the lone wolf of the Whitman family, Link finds love where he might least expect it. Tucked quietly away in the Coffee's On Bakery, Link is attracted to Shayla Michaels. I guess one could say it was love at first sight, but as most romance stories go, theirs will not be one that goes smoothly.

Shayla has a lot of things she would rather keep buried, secrets from her past that have earmarked her for a different future than one she might have imagined long ago. Since her parents married years ago, her mother, a white women of some affluence married Mike, a black man and with it came a separation between the families. Shayla's mother's family refused to acknowledge the relationship and left her and Mike to struggle and find a way to make it in the world. Even when a terminal cancer diagnosis was revealed, her parents still refused to budge. After watching her mother suffer needlessly in that regards, Shayla believes that the colors should not mix despite how one might feel differently. Of course, growing up under those stereotypes is bound to make one a bit hardened to it all.

That is why Link is determined to show her that love can transcend any barriers including race, and he is willing to overlook everything that Shayla tosses his way to discourage any attempts at a future for them both. She even has a younger niece, Portia, a wonderfully articulate and precocious five-year-old, that will undoubtedly be one she must care for the rest of her life while her father, Shayla's brother remains locked up in prison. But can love be that easy to accept when one has had to deal with these issues her entire life or will love be the one thing that saves them all and provides a way to change the world or just their part in it, one step at a time?

I received Home At Last by Deborah Raney compliments of Net Galley and Abingdon Press. This novel gives you an idea of what it is like dealing with all the stereotypes people of color must deal with without having the ability to change things or walk away from it. I love that Deborah Raney took this risk in making this a part of the Whitman story and conveys to us all that love really is the best gift of all. There are discussion questions that conclude the novel that makes for a great book club find and for me, this one was worth 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion. I love that you don't even realize that Shayla is a different color until you are well into the story and that is what love is all about, it never takes that into consideration when it unites people together.

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Home at Last by Deborah Raney

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