Revell Reviewer-At Home in Last Chance By Cathleen Armstrong

Afternoon everyone!! Hope you all are having a fantastic start to your week!! After working in the library, I'm ready to finish this review for y'all and dig into the Julie Klassen titles I found!

*About the Author*

I grew up in New Mexico knowing two things were true:  Any time you could spend reading was time well spent, and that one day I, too, wanted to write books. Both certainties presented problems. In the first instance, my parents and teachers felt that while reading was good, even wonderful, time must also be allotted to chores, homework, and even social interaction. Psssh. They never did convince me on that one.

The second difficulty was harder to get around. I knew I was supposed to write what I was familiar with, but my family had not cooperated in placing us someplace interesting. I thought if they had tried just a little harder, if my granddad had homesteaded in, oh, New York City, or my parents had taught school in, say, China, I would be loaded with fascinating things to write about. But as it was, we all lived in ordinary New Mexico, with its ordinary hundred mile vistas, ordinary thunderstorms boiling up on a hot summer afternoon and pounding the earth before they rumbled away at sunset. And ordinary people with names like Baca and Begay whose roots reached from hundreds to thousands of years into the pale, gravely soil. You can see my predicament.

The reading never stopped, but the writing was put on hold as I married my high school sweetheart, and moved with him first to Arizona and then to California. Our three children came, grew up, married and began families of their own with a speed that still makes my head spin.

Finally it is time to write, and I have long since realized that the last word that describes my home state is ordinary. Long ago it began to be known as The Land of Enchantment.  I can’t wait to show you why.

*Book Description*

Kaitlyn Reed and Steven Braden have something in common: They both run from their problems. Only now, Kaitlyn is desperately trying to win her daughter's heart back and show her that she's here to stay. Naturally, the seven year old girl is skeptical-as is the whole town of last chance-making her try all the harder. When Stephen Braden, Elizabeth's handsome, bad boy grandson seems to think he can charm her, Kaitlyn does what she does best. Tries to ignore him and thinks he'll go away if she runs. Then with an unexpected visit from her parents, Kaitlyn feels she's not any better then before. Will people ever learn to accept her? Will she ever change for the better?

Stephen Braden is disappointed to learn what his family thinks of him. Especially when the sweet, loving grandmother warns him to stay away from Kaitlyn Reed because he's too much of a charmer. Determined to prove them wrong, Steven does his best to change...but will Kaitlyn ever get close enough to see it? When an unexpected and unwelcome change occurs Stephen makes sure to take advantage of the situation by stepping up and showing his family he's not the careless charmer they think him to be. Will they ever give him the benefit of the doubt?

*What I liked*

This was a really sweet story. At first, I didn't like Kaitlyn very much but everyone has their imperfections and I came to love her and Stephen both. Also, I didn't read the first stories and still read right along fine. The characters were real and I found myself so much in love with Elizabeth, as if she was my grandmother instead of Stephen's.

*What I didn't like*

At first, I didn't really like Kaitlyn's hair on the cover, it wasn't something I'd normally pick up in Lifeway but I got over it and it fit her personality as I read along. I also couldn't stand Kaitlyn's mother acting so much above everyone else but that just means Cathleen was doing a fabulous job!

*My Rating*

I give At Home in Last Chance...

4 stars!!

*My overall opinion*

At Home in Last Chance, while part of a series, reads as a stand alone and is full of second chances, hope, and love!

                                                                   

 *Where to buy it*

Deepershopping

Barnes & Noble

Christianbook

Have an amazing week everyone!!

Happy Reading,

Nicki