Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Faith Words. I received a complimentary copy of Someday Home to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” However, Lynn Lundberg, Judith Rutherford and Angela Bishop can’t but feel forsaken as each of their lives have been turned upside down my tragedy. Someday Home by Lauraine Snelling tells the story of how together these three women help each other manage grief, start over and renew their faith all while forming a friendship.
The book opens with Lynn, whose life came crashing down almost two years prior when her husband Paul got sick and died out of the blue. Talk about a major heartache. I loved that as the reader I got to see Lynn battle not with overcoming her grief, but learning how to manage her grief so that she wasn’t constantly reliving the past. With the family’s plumbing business slowing down and not bringing in enough money to support three families (Lynn and her two sons, Philip and Tommy) and being worried that’s spending too much time depressed and alone, Philip suggests that Lynn sells her house and moves next door with him and his family- Maggie, his wife, and their three kids (2 boys and 1 girl).
Of course, Lynn will hear of nothing of the sort. For her the house is not just a home, but her connection to her late husband and the memories they made over the years. Judith spent much of her life taking care of her ill parents. Her father promised her that she’d be taken care of when he passed for being such a good daughter and caring for them. After her father’s passing, she realizes that her definition and her father’s definition of being “taken care of” weren’t the same at all.
Instead of leaving Judith the family’s estate to with as she will, her father set up a trust to have the estate turned into a heritage center. She can’t help but feel like her father deceived her. And while we’re talking about deception, can you imagine going out and sitting down to dinner in a fancy restaurant to celebrate your 25th wedding anniversary only to have your husband tell you that he filed for divorce earlier that same day? Despite doing everything to remain a sense of appeal to her husband, this is exactly what happens to Angela. She’s completely blindsided by her husband’s sudden need to find himself.
These ladies all meet after Lynn visits with her doctor who suggests that she look into shared housing as a solution to both financially help her be able to stay in her home and as a way for her find a new form of companionship through friendship. Stubborn and a bit skeptical, Lynn needs a little push and her kids give her just that when Tommy decides to announce on his Facebook page that his mother is opened to sharing her home with other middle aged women who are at a crossroads in their lives and are seeking an alternative living arrangement. Thus, the ladies meet and soon a friendship between the three start to blossom.
It’s not all rainbows though. While Judith and Lynn seem to bond the fast, it takes Angela a while to come out of her shell in my opinion. Lynn also struggles with change and has a bit of a meltdown when her boys help Judith build a chicken coup on the property. In the end these ladies learn how to work past their differences and become not only friends but a sisterhood.
This was my first reading a book by Lauraine Snelling and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lauraine did a great job of telling all three women’s stories and creating characters that readers will become emotionally attached to. Get your Kleenex or hankies because I did shed a tear or two reading this book. I also applaud Lauraine for tackling serious issues such as moving on after death and divorce and painting a realistic portrayal of what it’s really like.
I enjoyed the sharing living aspect of Someday Home as well because it’s a lifestyle that I’ve grown up seeing since I was a baby. I have three aunts on my mom’s side who all share my grandparents old house. Their stories are almost ideal to the main characters with one of my aunt’s having loss her husband pretty quickly after he was diagnosis with liver disease and another who went through a rough divorce while trying to balance being a new mom and stopping her health from failing after her pregnancy put too much strain on her weak heart. And my other aunt opted to stay home and become teacher once my grandparents got sick to help take care of them and pay for medical expenses.
Reading Someday Home has really made look at their situations through fresh lenses. I never really took into consideration how challenging it must be to have three families under one roof. Sure there have been times when they disagree, but that’s what families do. But now I feel like I have better sense of the amount of compromise and humbleness that it takes to fully embrace shared living.
Last but not least the main characters’ stories have reminded me that at the end of the day God always has a plan for our lives. We just need to keep our minds and hearts open to allowing His will to be done instead of our own. No matter how dark the road ahead of gets, He’s always with us and will lead us to sunshine again if we allow Him.
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About The Author
Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of more than 65 novels. Her books consistently appear on ECPA bestseller lists and have been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German. A hallmark of her style is the empathy with which she explores difficult issues in her compelling stories. Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a bassett named Sir Winston.
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Would you ever consider shared living? How do you deal with sudden life changes?
