A Love to Come Home To

Title: A Love to Come Home To
Author: Alicia G. Ruggieri
Series: A Time of Grace Trilogy, Book 3
Major Themes: Rhode Island, Great Depression, Christian Fiction
Synopsis: After finding himself falsely accused of a crime, Ben is forced to accept his stepfather’s help and spend a summer working with Paulie—while Paulie and Grace both think the other lost interest in their relationship.

I enjoyed reading the Time of Grace trilogy over the past few weeks. Grace and her mother Sarah had a very hard life, but by the time A Love to Come Home To began, conditions had improved unbelievably. They still had many struggles, though, and I enjoyed reading about how they worked through them.

Grace was away at school, enjoying learning to sing—but she looked for a letter from Paulie every day, and none ever came. Back at home, Paulie looked for answers to his weekly letters to her—and none ever came. Both were very sad at the death of the other’s love—but what could they do?

Grace’s brother Ben was still working at the racetrack, and drinking and gambling during his off hours. He had a hard life, and trusted no one—he knew that he had to make his own way and trample anyone who got in the way. Then, he was falsely accused of doing something awful, and the only way out of prison was to beg for help from his mother’s second husband. Could he bear to do that? He certainly couldn’t handle accepting the conditions Sam put on giving help—but what other option did Ben have?

After a summer of working with Paulie, Ben was still seething inside, and Grace was more distant than ever, while Paulie was sadder than ever before. Sam and Sarah didn’t know what to do for their children. They prayed for each of them every day, but when those prayers began to be answered, they didn’t know if they could bear to go on. Would life ever be happy again?

A Love to Come Home To is another wonderful story, the perfect ending to this trilogy. I really enjoyed reading it, and recommend it to anyone who likes a slow-paced story with a lot of looks into people’s thought life. There are many points of view; the story is told through the eyes of Sarah, Sam, Grace, Paulie, and Ben. I didn’t have any trouble keeping track of whose head I was in, though, and felt like I got to know each character fairly well. I really liked the picture of how forgiveness can change lives.

I received a free copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

WARNING: Two men fight in chapter 24. Throughout, Ben uses occasional curse words.

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