Close to Home Book Review

I read two other books in the Chicory Inn series and I was excited to see what I was missing.  I got the chance to review the fifth book in the series and they kindly sent this book with it so that I could get caught up.  Close to Home: A Chicory Inn Novel - Book 4 by Deborah Raney was the fourth book in this interesting series.  I was super excited that I read the two previous books but didn't remember everything about them since it was in 2015... I can barely remember what I did yesterday let along 2 years ago so I was glad to get to read both and catch myself up with the series.

Bree Cordel Whitman is a Whitman by marriage, but sometimes she forgets she wasn't born into Grant and Audrey's family. Her late husband, Timothy Whitman, gave his life for his country on a windblown hill in Afghanistan. Bree has let the love of Tim's family keep her ties to him strong--in the same way she keeps Tim's memory alive for them. But it's been almost five years, and she can't hang onto the past forever.

Fighting the guilt she feels for wanting to love again, she can't help her dreams about a tall, dark, and handsome man--a man who is not her Tim. How can she accept the flirtations from Drew Brooks without throwing the Whitman family back into grieving? And how can Drew compete with the ghost of a hero and the hero's very alive family who seem to hold some spell over the woman who shares their name . . . a woman he might just love?

I really enjoyed this book and started to remember everything after just reading a little bit.  Bree is the outsider in the Whitman family because she married Tim Whitman but he died fighting in the Marines.  She still feels a big connection to the family and even though she wants to start dating, she doesn't want to loose the connection to her late husband's family.  She still attends the weekly Tuesday night family dinner which helps her keep Tim's memory alive but she is starting to move forward with her life after losing him five years prior.  She starts dating and her boyfriend immediately wants her to cut ties with her husband's family and she can't do it.  She is starting to wonder whether she is ready to move on and if she deserves to have a husband and family.  This book is very sad but a great journey to watch.  I hope that you pick up this book and the rest of the great series because I know that you will enjoy the great writing and characters as much as I did!!