🛩️⛪❤️ "Coming Home to Mercy" (Coming Home #1) (2021) ❤️⛪🛩️ - Book Tour & Review
A society woman leaves her comfortable lifestyle so that she can help her daughter adjust to the arrival of twin sons in a small town where the courageous doctor teaches her about taking risks.
About the Author
Michelle De Bruin grew up in Southern Iowa and graduated from Eddyville High School. These beautiful memories of childhood spent on her family’s farm are the inspiration to the setting in the books of the Tomorrow series.
After high school, Michelle received an Associate’s Degree in Office Management from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. She returned to the family farm and later married Tom De Bruin.
Tom and Michelle and their two teenage sons, Mark and John, live in Pella where Michelle works as the Spiritual Services Facilitator for Christian Opportunity Center. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and in Religion with a Christian Ministries emphasis from Central College in Pella, Iowa.
In 2015, Michelle began writing and joined the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) where she discovered that the stories she wrote for fun might actually amount to something. She finished her manuscript for Hope for Tomorrow and eventually found a home for it with a small publisher of Christian fiction.
Characters that bring to life the delights of farm and small town living, whispers of Dutch heritage, and Christian faith make Michelle’s stories distinct.
Tour Giveaway
One winner will receive a copy of Coming Home to Mercy (print if US, ebook if outside the US) and a $25 Amazon Gift Card (open internationally)
Ends August 25, 2021
Thank you in advance to the author, Michelle De Bruin, for providing an advanced review copy of the book through Prism Book Tours. A positive review was definitely not required or requested in any way; all words are my own.
This is not the first book I’ve read by the author. I’ve read the second (2nd) and third (3rd) books of the “Tomorrow” series – Promise for Tomorrow (#2) and Dreaming of Tomorrow (#3). This book, while the first in a new series (Coming Home), picks right up after Dreaming of Tomorrow. I would highly recommend reading that series to get up to speed here as the two main characters (Logan and Karen) from that series are featured almost as much as Margaret and Matthew, thus connecting the two series.
In addition, a lot of folks from Oswell City show up in this book too.
I was a bit taken aback by the premise and story as the cover shows a younger woman, yet this is – for all intents and purposes – a “grandma” romance. Which, in itself is an interesting concept as I haven’t seen many of those, though Margaret’s age is not given in any of the previous books or this one.
The beginning of this book slightly differs from the end of Dreaming of Tomorrow. Those who’ve read the previous book will undoubtedly catch it.
From a historical perspective this is an interesting read to see the evolution of private aviation, automobile transportation, as well as the telephone. In addition, people’s attitudes towards them are quite striking. Today we think nothing of talking on a phone (or texting), but there is a seen in which Margaret feels silly about it.
This is told from Margaret and Matthew’s perspective in third (3rd) person format. Both are widowed but under different circumstances. Neither one really plans on falling in love again, yet during Karen’s wedding it happened, but the two ignore it until Margaret’s arrival in Oswell City.
There is a reference to plane crashes. In addition, Matthew’s wife and child die during childbirth which was a common occurrence back in that time period. These might be troubling to some readers.
Margaret rushes to Oswell City to help her daughter take care of newborn twins John and Simon. That brings the town’s doctor and Margaret together again.
But, Matthew has his own dreams as well – one that involves not just flying, but owning a biplane as well. And, historical aviator Orville Wright makes an appearance in this book.
It isn’t long until Matthew and Margaret talk and have dinner. She tells him of her past and her late husband’s disgrace. Margaret looks forward to flying with him, but she almost leaves Oswell City early due to her own misunderstanding, thankfully Logan talks some sense into her.
She finds trying to find her own place a bit of a challenge something that can seem quite out of place today. Margaret takes it as a sign that she should return to Chicago. However, it is Matthew who encourages her to stay as well as helping her find a place to stay.
It is clear that Matthew wants marriage but Margaret likes the idea of not being married. She admits that Oswell City is becoming more like home.
Despite wanting to stay away from Matthew, she continues to see him and even takes a few flights with him.
Karen is completely against her mother and Matthew courting despite everyone around them supporting them. I was definitely shocked at Karen’s attitude. She certainly seemed different here than in the Tomorrow novels.
As with most romance novels, this has an up/down and will they/won’t they storyline that keeps the reader’s attention until the very end.
The title Coming Home to Mercy was a bit confusing as I thought MERCY was a town or someone. It was more or less alluded to and readers will have to read between the lines to really see how it comes into play.
There is a bit of, what I felt, an uncomfortable scene where Margaret wants to get her own place only because of seeing Logan and Karen together. There are some conclusions she comes to and some of it is out of self-admitted jealousy. I also got the feeling Fran (Margaret’s sister-in-law) didn’t think she was capable of caring for herself as well as Julia being jealous of Karen.
This is a fairly quick read due to the short chapters and the easy, flowing pace. There were a few typos but nothing that would distract from the enjoyment of the story. While it wasn’t an addictive read, I certainly enjoyed it as I read it and wouldn’t hesitate to read future books in the series. I still have to read Hope for Tomorrow (Tomorrow Series #1).
This is distributed through a Christian publisher and written by a Christian author. As a result, there will be references to God, bible quotes, as well as Christian/faith themes throughout. These are highly connected to the plot.RATING:
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – BookBub
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ –
Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)
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