Blog Tour and Review for Stray Affections by Charlene Baumbich

1:00 PM

by Charlene Baumbich

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: WaterBrook Press (September 15, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307444716
ISBN-13: 978-0307444714

Read An Excerpt

Author's Website

“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.”

Description (Publisher)

The last thing that Cassandra Higgins 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.

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

Sound interesting and you want to know more?

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.

Review

This book was a sweet, nice read. It was interesting watching the characters change during the course of the story and it was a gentle reminder to readers of the kinds of misunderstandings we can have about the people in our lives. This was a book about relationships and how easily they can become messed up through not communicating with each other.

I'm not sure that I absolutely loved this book. It was a little too sweet for me. I also thought that is was a tad corny at times. But if you're looking for a nice story that doesn't involve violence, sex or a lot of cursing then this is a gem that you won't want to miss.

This book definitely carried a strong Christian message about forgiveness, love, faith and prayer.

All in all it was a nice book and would be perfectly suitable for younger readers also.