From the back of the book:
Josie Mitchell’s sister Laurel thinks she’s come hoem to pitch in with the apple harvest and save the family orchard. Her brother-in-law Nate thinks she’s there to talk the overworked, very pregnant Laurel into finally selling the family business. The orchard’s new manager Grady Mackenzie just thinks she’s trouble with a capital T. They’re all right…and all wrong. Because no one really knows what drove Josie from home in the first place. Why she’s never come home before, even for her own father’s funeral. Why she pushes herself so hard…and what she’s running from. And nobody, not even Josie, is prepared for the surprising new fruit she’ll find on her last trip home.

My two cents worth:
There’s no place like home? Josie Mitchell doesn’t agree – or at least her mind doesn’t, but something in her heart wants to find a place to rest in the middle of her secret pain. When desparate times, desperate measures, and a very pregnant sister suddenly call her home, she’s forced to face all the reasons why she left in the first place. Will she succumb to the lostness in her spirit, even if it costs her life – or will she open up to the blossoms of hope stirring within her and find a second chance to come home.

Denise Hunter’s book is a moving read about the spiritual shackles of guilt and resentment. Josie lives with both, but isn’t really living at all. She’s always running….running from her past and hurt. Coming home to Sweetwater Gap nearly kills her…literally and in so many ways our walk with Christ is like that. We must die to all of the things that keep us from truly coming home to him. We must release them to Him, before we can truly and completely enjoy the benefits of being ‘Home” in His love.

Josie can’t even rest in the budding romance developing between her and Marlboro man, Grady Mackenzie, because her heart is too full of guilt and memories. In many ways, her confession is her step to freedom. Sound familiar? For the Christian, it’s our step to spiritual freedom too. 🙂

I enjoyed this story. It isn’t an adventure and the pace stays at a steady forward movement. The development of the main character, Josie, keeps the reader interested in the story and just as the harvest in her family’s orchard comes to a bountiful end, so does the spiritual trip Josie makes home.