Thursday, May 22, 2014

I Love a Good Surprise . . .


They Almost Always Come Home by Cynthia Ruchti surprised me. I thought it would me a nice little romance. I may have downloaded it for free. I read it because I’d seen so much marketing on it over the last year, I figured I may as well see what it was all about.

Wow. I mean, what a lovely story. And not what you think. A husband on a solo wilderness trip fails to return to his wife who is about to leave him. She doesn’t know if he’s dead or if he left her first.

Most of the story deals with internal struggles, but those are amplified by outer, physical struggles that come as part of the physical search for her lost husband. I don’t want to say too much, because there are many surprises along the way. And by surprises, I’m talking about things I (as a well-read, guesser of plots) did not guess. Twists that not only surprised me, but felt perfect for the story.

It took me a little while to jump into the story, since I was not crazy about the main character at first. But trust me, she's worth it. After a few chapters, I found myself longing to get back to the book, counting the hours until I could pick it up again. And lots of sleep was lost to finish it.

The boundary waters on the border of MN and Canada provide a giant setting for this small story. But the smallness of the story has the potential to touch a vast number of lives, because there’s something everyone can relate to in it.

A tale of the broken and beautiful--I hope you’ll give it a try.

What was the last book that surprised you? Have you read They Almost Always Come Home? Were you surprised? (no spoilers, please!)
Leave a comment to win a copy of my first novel: A Familiar Shore.

8 comments:

  1. I have not read They Almost Always Come Home but boy, I sure do want to now!!!! I am intrigued, to say the least!

    mauback55 at gmail dot com

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    1. Oh, I hope you do, Melanie! I'll meet you in the pages!

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  2. We have the book, "They Almost Always Come Home" in the church library. I haven't had a chance to read it but will do so when I check it out on Sunday.
    Thanks for entering me in your giveaway for the book, "A Familiar Shore".
    Janet E.
    von1janet(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. I loved this book! I read it last year and I still think about it. Another book that surprised me was Rooms by James Rubart, it was not my usual type of book but really blessed me. :)
    worthy2bpraised at gmail dot com

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  4. Well, I'll have to check out Rooms. Hope you gals love Ruchti's book like I did!

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  5. Thank you for your insightful review, Jennifer! I'm savoring your words.

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