Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Home and Family
SERIES: Heart, Home, Family #3
AUTHOR: Andrew Grey
PUBLISHER: Andrew Grey Books
LENGTH: 126 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2021
BLURB:
Mark has worked on Clay and Dell’s farm for a year, and he’s now in charge of the care and feeding of their growing herd of goats. He’s worked hard to provide for himself and build a life of his own. But with the operation continuing to expand, additional help is needed.
Isaac lives in a self-sustaining, simple-life community a few miles up the road. He’s spent his life working and wondering what the outside world might be like. When his father requires him to earn outside money, he asks for a job at Clay and Dell’s farm.
What neither Mark nor Isaac expects is a friendship that quickly grows into something more. But their feelings for each other go against everything that Isaac has been taught, and acting on those feelings will mean leaving the only way of life he’s ever known.
Together, Isaac and Mark are going to need a great deal of strength to weather the storm that’s sure to head their way.
REVIEW:
I’ve read all three books together, and as a whole they tell a warm and wonderful story of three relationships (not counting the father/son relationships that feature so significantly) that seem against the odds. Individually, each couple gets their own book and it would be technically possible to read each as free-standing. However, you would miss so much if you read only one. The pairing in the first book, Clay and Dell, are the glue that holds the whole thing together as one coherent whole and have important parts to play in all three books. Together, they create a warm and welcoming home, not only for themselves and their son, but for anyone who needs one.
The writing itself is fluid and easy and carries the story forward through three books that are most definitely feel good stories. Each couple have their hurdles to leap and their crosses to bear, but the angst, misunderstandings and trauma are kept to a minimum and the tension comes, mainly, from struggling to come to know each other and their specific purposes.
Fathers, good and bad, feature large in the series. Clay and Dell are fathers to a most adorable little boy, Archie, who the author manages, pretty well, to keep age appropriate as he ages from five to seven. Then there’s Clay’s father who starts book one as a bad guy and mellows, and all the subsequent characters have issues, of one kind or another, with their fathers, all held up against the standard set by Clay and Dell who are doing their damned best to be good father to Archie.
The role of mothers is very different and they seem to be almost idealised. I can’t think of one strong, independent woman in the entire series. This may annoy some people. It’s not a series for feminists.
In case there’s any doubt, I loved this entire series and I particularly liked how Clay and Dell, in particular, grew and strengthened. They created a wonderful home, not only for themselves but for others who needed it, temporarily. All of the male characters have very strong characters, for good or ill, and all have very distinct voices. I can’t say I disliked any one of them (the good ones, of course), but I think of them all Isaac is my favourite. He’s so innocent and sweet and fit right into the story.
I was sad ending the last book and although the series feels complete, I can’t help but hope there might be more. The author is an excellent storyteller and creates a strong and powerful vessel to hold them. I heartily recommend to anyone who is looking for a heartwarming, down-to-earth and richly drawn series, or just a stand-alone.
RATING: 
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