Phylicia thought life was passing her by, but maybe this was love’s plan all along. . . At twenty-nine, Phylicia Chandler put her life on hold to care for her dying mother with her sisters, Joanna and Britt. Now Mom is gone and their father stuns them all by running off with a woman young enough to be their sister. Life is moving forward all around her, but Phylicia feels stuck–until her … Phylicia feels stuck–until her father’s protégé, Quinn Mitchell, presents the sisters with an intriguing business opportunity to purchase a trio of cottages just outside of Langhorne, Missouri. Joanna and Britt are convinced the three of them should launch a vacation rental venture, but Phylicia remains skeptical.
To complicate matters, Quinn soon finds himself falling hard for Phylicia. But how can he pursue this beautiful, talented woman twelve years his junior when she’s still reeling over her father’s hasty engagement to a younger woman? Quinn is determined to give Phylicia her happily-ever-after. But first, he must help her come to terms with her discovery of long-held family secrets and persuade her that true love can transcend their differences.
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I thoroughly enjoyed Deborah Raney’s newest release, Reason to Breathe, the first in the series A Chandler Sisters novel.
This new series is focused on three sisters, Phyllicia, Joanne, and Britt Chandler, with the first novel set following the death of their mother. All three sisters had put their own lives on hold to care for their terminally ill mother until her passing. Now as the young women try to move forward with their lives, they find themselves somewhat lacking direction, made even more stressful when their father takes off for an extended stay in Florida leaving the women to grieve and adjust to their new life without their mother. Now dad is gone too.
When word comes that their father has decided to sell their childhood home, it is up to the sisters to prepare the house for sale. Father wants nothing in the home except for some paintings collected while his wife was still within him. The Chandler sisters are at their wits end trying to remove all the personal and extraneous items while preparing their childhood home for showing.
Enter in Quinn Mitchell who, an employee of their father’s, arrives with a very interesting proposal, one their absentee father approves of. Quinn is tall and handsome, and too old for any of the young women to consider. Yet, Phee, Phyllicia, finds herself strongly attracted to the man she first met at 16; almost 30 Phee struggles with the idea of becoming involved with an older man.
As Quinn proves himself invaluable to all three sisters, it is Phee who develops a strong emotional bond, especially after learning some information about her parents that is highly troublesome.
I am very much looking forward to reading more of the Chandler Sisters series. Highly recommended.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, and am not required to provide a positive review. All thoughts and opinions, therein, are solely my own.
Deborah Raney has written another winner with Reason to Breathe! This book deals with grief for many things. You’ll feel frustration with Turner Chandler for leaving for Florida as soon as his wife dies and leaving his three single adult daughters to deal with their own grief without him! Then he puts the family home on the market and expects the sisters to prep the house! As the oldest, Phylicia feels responsible for her sisters. Quinn Mitchell, Turner’s coworker and a fine male protagonist, helps the girls purchase and renovate a new place to live. Quinn has regrets from his past plus he is twelve years older than Fee who he has been attracted to since she was 16. You’ll enjoy the antics of the close Chandler sisters as their lives move forward and as Fee learns secrets from her parents’ past. I enjoyed this first book in the Chandler Sisters series and recommend it to others. I received an advance e-book from NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.
Oh, this was such a good story! I loved the dynamic between the three sisters. They were all thrust into such an uncertain situation, while trying to work through their grief over their mother’s death.
Quinn and Phylicia were great characters. I loved the way Quinn was there for Phee and her sisters. I felt such varying emotions throughout this novel. The author did a great job of making me feel confusion and frustration toward the sisters’ father, who headed to Florida, leaving the sisters struggling emotionally. I felt the heart tugging emotions that Quinn felt as he hoped Phylicia would begin to see him as someone to love. I felt hope as the sisters worked together to make a new start in the cabins they had purchased.
I simply enjoyed this beautiful novel from start to finish and look forward reading the future books in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
I was drawn into this story very quickly and it felt so very real, and as I got to the end, I am thrilled to know that the other two sisters will also have a story to tell.
This is Phylicia Chandler’s story, and wow, a lot of bomb shells are dropped, but will she get the answers she is seeking. The setting is in Missouri, and a hard time in the lives of three sisters and the author has us feeling their pain, as they lose their mother and in a sense their father.
Grief is hard and we put faces on those recently affected by this terrible pain, but we are also shown how living their faith in God is a healing factor.
We are shown options of moving on, and there is a bit of sweet romance, along with the tears comes a few chuckles, and smiles.
I can’t wait for the next book in this series, I love this family!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Gilead, and was not required to give a positive review
Awesome book
I became acquainted with Deborah Raney’s books with her first one, A Vow To Cherish, and have read some good ones by her the past few years. Most of them I read before I started regularly doing reviews. I really didn’t know what to expect with this one but she didn’t let me down. She writes real life characters and situations that make you feel like you are there and involved with them. You want to rejoice with their victories and cry with their heartaches. This is Phylicia’s story but I loved all three of the sisters and am looking forward to Joanna and Britt’s stories next. I highly recommend this book. I won the first two books in this series in a drawing with no requirement for a review. All opinions expressed are my very own thoughts.
My review:This book started off kinda slow, but the more you read it, the better it got. Reason to breathe was a beautiful story of forgiveness, love and change. And I really loved the aspect of change. Accepting that people move on and you have to. And that it’s okay to change be open to knew ideas. It was really sweet and cute! Perfect book to read on a cold, rainy afternoon.
Reason to Breathe is a wonderfully crafted story, one that leaves you feeling good after the last page is turned. It felt like coming home in a way, because the setting is that of Langhorne, Missouri, same as the previous Chicory Inn series. Contemporary romance/women’s fiction is my favorite genre and Deborah Raney does it exceedingly well.
One thing I liked about this story and others by Raney is that life isn’t always happy, and we see fictional characters exploring real issues in an uplifting way. The story is kicked off when the Chandler sisters – Phee, Joanna, and Britt – discover that their father is acting totally out of character after the death of their mother three months previously. Phee seems to have the most difficult time – and had I learned that my father was moving some distance away, with plans of remarrying a nurse he met during hospice care, I would experience great difficulty also. I know that people deal with grief in many different ways, but I didn’t care for Phee’s father for a long time and hope we see his character grow through the series.
This is mainly the story of Phee and Quinn, who works for her father and unwittingly finds himself thrust in the middle of a rough situation. I liked the sweet chemistry between them and that there’s no arguing, but rather, their friendship has to steadily progress through the overcoming of several obstacles – such as age difference and trust issues. Spiritual themes are gently woven throughout, reminding us of God’s timing in all situations and that He often places people in our lives exactly when we need them.
I enjoyed Reason to Breathe so very much and eagerly anticipate coming back to these characters in future series books. Recommended.
I received a copy of this book through JustRead Tours. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
A lovely journey from grief to hope to love
My rating is 4.5 stars
Reason to Breathe follows the journey of Phylicia, known as Phee to her family, as she attempts to make sense of her life after the death of her mother and what felt like abandonment by her father. As she and her sisters did the best they could in the situation, they had to rely on each other in a new way.
Quinn is put in the precarious situation by Phee’s father, of becoming the girls’ advisor. I loved that not only was he twelve years older than Phee, but that he was in his early forties and had never married. Somehow that endeared him to me even more. His maturity and patience made him quite a hero in my eyes.
There were a few specific things I loved about the story.
The way Quinn knew when his police friend described the middle of the night call they had that Phee and Britt were the women he was talking about
That Quinn refused to refer to Phylicia as Phee and why he began to refer to her using that nickname
The choice of chaperone and the fact that Quinn cared enough to feel the need for one
The overall tone of the story is serious and yet not somber. There is hope amid the pain. There is a subtle and appropriate humor interspersed to keep the tone from becoming sad. While it isn’t the kind of story that has sentences jumping off the page begging to be highlighted, the writing is tender and lovely.
Read with a Preview at AmongTheReads.net
I was given a copy of this book for free. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.
4.5 Stars
Deborah Raney has a gift for taking a story and adding elements to give it so much depth that it reaches across a multitude of reader likes.
In Reason to Breathe, Raney introduces three sisters who are getting back to life after the loss of their mother. When they agree to take on a huge project, Phylicia has no idea she’s about to face a crisis of identity.
This book has so much to recommend it! There’s the journey of grief the sisters and their father are on, the fun elements and details of the sisters’ experience getting the cottage together and livable, the mystery of what’s going on with the girls’ dad and the mystery surrounding a photo Phylicia finds, and, of course, some romance.
And though that sounds like a lot, Raney expertly fashions all of these pieces with the thread of faith that brings them together to make something beautiful.
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
This was a good book. I enjoyed reading this book. Deborah Raney is such a good writer. Keeps your attention all the way through.
Phylicia Chandler feels so lost without her mother, who had recently died of cancer. Phylicia, along with her two sisters, Joanna and Britt helped take care of their mom during her illness. One of her mom’s regrets was not getting to see any of her daughters marry. Phylicia is twenty-nine and only having had a handful of dates, feels something may even be wrong with her and that she’ll never have a family of her own.
To top everything else off, their father has gone to Florida, only a couple months following his wife’s death. He said it was for work, and granted, he has traveled there for work in the past. But, now is just not a good time for him to leave. The girls still lean on him and they’d like the four of them to be together so soon after their mom’s passing.
Their father has passed on duties to his employee, Quinn, to see after the girls and to even guide them into purchasing property as an investment. Quinn, while not appreciating being put in the middle of things, does appreciate the extra time he gets to spend with Phylicia. He has known the entire family for many years and has cared for Phylicia for a long time, unbeknownst to her.
A big unwelcome surprise is when their father tells them, via phone call, that he is engaged to be married to non other than their mom’s hospice nurse! The girls, naturally, feel he has betrayed their mom. Was this going on while their mom was still living? So many questions, yet he seems to be avoiding their phone calls and questions. What is really going on with their father?
Is Quinn in on this? Is he keeping secrets from the girls?
Their father, Turner, also put the task on the girls of getting the home they grew up on ready to sell and on the market. What is he thinking, they wonder?
Great story. Lots of emotions. You’ll laugh and cry with the characters.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Gilead, and was not required to give a positive review