Stray Affections - A Book Review

Wow, life sure has been a zoo lately. This review was supposed to be out last week, but I just haven't had time. I feel like I'm living several days each day. So, here's to a late review and a goal to get some more posts up soon!

"In Stray Affections, the last thing that Cassandra expects out of her Sunday is to be mesmerized at a collectors’ convention by a snowglobe. She’s enjoying some shopping time, with husband Ken at home tending their brood of four young boys, when she’s utterly charmed by the one-of-a kind globe containing figures of three dogs and a little girl with hair the color of her own. She can’t resist taking the unique globe home—even if means wrestling another shopper for it! The beautiful snowglobe sparks long-dormant memories for Cassie, of her beloved Grandpa Wonky, the stray she rescued as a child and the painful roots of her combative relationship with her mother, “Bad Betty” Kamrowski. Life in Wanonishaw, Minnesota is never dull, though, and Cassie keeps the recollections at bay, busy balancing her boys, her home daycare operation, and being a good friend to best pal Margret. But after a strange—flurrious, as Cassie deems it—moment happens with the remarkable snowglobe, Cassie and the people she loves are swirled into a tumultuous, yet grace-filled, and life-changing journey.

“As a believer, I know the power of forgiveness and new beginnings, and of a God, and family and friends, who love me the way I am,” Charlene Ann Baumbich says. “The heartbeat of change flows through those wonderful gifts.”

With the quirky, close-knit Midwestern small-town feel that made Charlene Ann Baumbich’s acclaimed Dearest Dorothy novels so popular, Stray Affections invites readers to experience the laughter and the healing of second chances."

I enjoyed this tale except for one detail - the "flurrious" happening. There is no resolution to what happens with the snowglobe. It defies reality - which the story is good at being realistic otherwise. I can easily accept what happens after purchasing the snow globe as an incredible God-incidence. But, to ruin it by having a flurrious happening with no explanation made me distracted while finishing the book. If you can ignore this detail, the book is a great glimpse into the not-so-simple lives of ordinary people and how God can orchestrate some fun God-incidences to touch a number of lives. Having four boys of my own, I enjoyed the reading about the life of Cassie and could empathize with some of her feelings about getting out.

Here is a video link of Charlene introducing the book to readers.

To learn more about or purchase this book visit RandomHouse.com or Waterbrookmultnomah.com.

Author Bio: Charlene Ann Baumbich is a popular author and speaker and an award-winning journalist. In addition to her Dearest Dorothy series of novels, she has written seven nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. A bungee-jumping, once motorcycle-owning grandma and unabashed dog lover, Charlene lives with her husband and rescued dog Kornflake in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She loves telling stories, laughing whenever possible, and considers herself a Wild Child of God.

Would you like your own copy? Comment below, and I'll send one to the first two people who want it. Happy Reading!!