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Home to Heal
It took losing his sight to find his way home.
When his world goes dark,
she’s there to help…
Widower and single dad Dr. Zac Calhoun thinks he can handle anything life throws at him…until an incident at his mission leaves him blind and reeling. But when nurse Abby Armstrong steps in to help Zac and his twin girls at the family’s ranch, he feels less lost and alone. With Abby by his side, can Zac find hope again?
When his world goes dark,
she’s there to help…
Widower and single dad Dr. Zac Calhoun thinks he can handle anything life throws at him…until an incident at his mission leaves him blind and reeling. But when nurse Abby Armstrong steps in to help Zac and his twin girls at the family’s ranch, he feels less lost and alone. With Abby by his side, can Zac find hope again?
- GenresLove Inspired
Mass Market Paperback
Published June 1, 2020
46 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Lois Richer
130 books69 followersLois Richer made her debut in 1997 with the launch of Steeple Hill. Today, with over a dozen titles and well over half a million books in print worldwide, Richer continues to build a huge fan base through her inspirational work. Twice a finalist for the prestigious Holt Medallion — Honoring Outstanding Literary Talent — Richer has also been nominated by Romantic Times Magazine for Best Love Inspired Book of 2001. In 2002 she won second place in the Inspirational Reader's Choice Contest sponsored by the Faith, Hope and Love chapter of Romance Writers of America (RWA).
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 20, 2022
I try SO HARD to stay away from the 'cowboy', 'rancher', 'cattleman' and other 700 good ol' christchun books that are out there, and yet I can't seem to. It's like christian women writers have NO other trope, and it's annoying as H-E-double hockey sticks.
This book was called 'Home to Heal' and was SUPPOSED to be about a missionary guy - NOT a cowboy. I was gypped. He's a cowboy, lucky, lucky me. But better still, he's a doctor cowboy missionary counselor widow etc. Because why not, right? Ugh. And no, I'm not kidding. Apparently he graduated at sixteen, was racking up more hours than anyone else in 'practicum' while working on his masters in counseling at 18 (?! How is that even possible? And who in HADES is going to take advice from a 17 year old?!), and started med school at 19. Not. Even. Working for me. I'm not saying people aren't smart, I'm just saying NO to all of this. It's too fast, too pat, too much.
The amount of death to set up the story is ridiculous, too. Her parents died at the hands of a drunk politician, her husband and child died in a plane crash, his wife died of an aneurysm, his parents died in a car accident, her grandparents died, etc... all in the first three chapters of the book. Because EVERYONE loses everyone they're related to. GAH.
Also, there are 4-year old twin daughters (naturally)... and for some reason, they're A-OK with the fact that their dad's FACE has been burned and he's wearing bandages over his eyes. Not to mention their grandparents are getting skin grafts and have wound care - they have *NO* reaction to any of this. That's NOT realistic. At all. Kids are not okay with that stuff - my dad broke a collarbone when I was five, and I wouldn't go near him for weeks because of the splint. Just shaving off a moustache freaks kids out, hello. These are MAJOR wounds... and la-ti-da! - nobody cares in this book. NOT even.
The ex-husband is over the top. He can't just be a moody sonuvagun or judgmental or have a vice, no... he has to be after her scads of money. (As a missionary's kid?! Because missionaries take out LOTS of life insurance and pay premiums from over there in Botswana, right? A nd she's got LOTS of settlement $$ from her parents, husband's, son's deaths?! C'MON...!!!!) Not only that, her husband refused to let her work her normal hours, refused to let her wear pants, hated on her ministry, etc. TOTAL villain, because believable, right? He takes a toddler up in his plane and does loops and kills the kid. Because believable, right?
I think my biggest problem was the writing - the author is all about her audience, and not about her story. It feels staged and grand and annoying in delivery. Worse, she 'preaches' through her characters, instead of letting them have lives of faith. It's off-putting beyond words. More, the characters 'preaching' at each other are people whose faith are NOWHERE near where they should be, so there's an absolute lack of humility in any of them, just blah-blah-I-have-all-the-answers-when-I-really-don't blah. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.
As for his blindness, the storytelling is really bad on that, too. First she says he's got great brown eyes on the plane, but then at the doctor's much later he hasn't opened his eyes and they're 'crusted' with a D-word that they have to remove with 'burning' chemicals'... makes NO sense. And of course his vision isn't restored right away - he can only see well enough to note 'she has hoops in her ears and no rings on her fingers'. That's... better than my eyesight without my glasses, hello. That's GOOD eyesight. But it's 'all blobs', at the same time. Of course. Because reasons. By page 177 he's able to read texts in one paragraph, but two paragraphs later, he's using a guide rope because he can't see the terrain. SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
I just... no. This whole book was an overload of just no.
This book was called 'Home to Heal' and was SUPPOSED to be about a missionary guy - NOT a cowboy. I was gypped. He's a cowboy, lucky, lucky me. But better still, he's a doctor cowboy missionary counselor widow etc. Because why not, right? Ugh. And no, I'm not kidding. Apparently he graduated at sixteen, was racking up more hours than anyone else in 'practicum' while working on his masters in counseling at 18 (?! How is that even possible? And who in HADES is going to take advice from a 17 year old?!), and started med school at 19. Not. Even. Working for me. I'm not saying people aren't smart, I'm just saying NO to all of this. It's too fast, too pat, too much.
The amount of death to set up the story is ridiculous, too. Her parents died at the hands of a drunk politician, her husband and child died in a plane crash, his wife died of an aneurysm, his parents died in a car accident, her grandparents died, etc... all in the first three chapters of the book. Because EVERYONE loses everyone they're related to. GAH.
Also, there are 4-year old twin daughters (naturally)... and for some reason, they're A-OK with the fact that their dad's FACE has been burned and he's wearing bandages over his eyes. Not to mention their grandparents are getting skin grafts and have wound care - they have *NO* reaction to any of this. That's NOT realistic. At all. Kids are not okay with that stuff - my dad broke a collarbone when I was five, and I wouldn't go near him for weeks because of the splint. Just shaving off a moustache freaks kids out, hello. These are MAJOR wounds... and la-ti-da! - nobody cares in this book. NOT even.
The ex-husband is over the top. He can't just be a moody sonuvagun or judgmental or have a vice, no... he has to be after her scads of money. (As a missionary's kid?! Because missionaries take out LOTS of life insurance and pay premiums from over there in Botswana, right? A nd she's got LOTS of settlement $$ from her parents, husband's, son's deaths?! C'MON...!!!!) Not only that, her husband refused to let her work her normal hours, refused to let her wear pants, hated on her ministry, etc. TOTAL villain, because believable, right? He takes a toddler up in his plane and does loops and kills the kid. Because believable, right?
I think my biggest problem was the writing - the author is all about her audience, and not about her story. It feels staged and grand and annoying in delivery. Worse, she 'preaches' through her characters, instead of letting them have lives of faith. It's off-putting beyond words. More, the characters 'preaching' at each other are people whose faith are NOWHERE near where they should be, so there's an absolute lack of humility in any of them, just blah-blah-I-have-all-the-answers-when-I-really-don't blah. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.
As for his blindness, the storytelling is really bad on that, too. First she says he's got great brown eyes on the plane, but then at the doctor's much later he hasn't opened his eyes and they're 'crusted' with a D-word that they have to remove with 'burning' chemicals'... makes NO sense. And of course his vision isn't restored right away - he can only see well enough to note 'she has hoops in her ears and no rings on her fingers'. That's... better than my eyesight without my glasses, hello. That's GOOD eyesight. But it's 'all blobs', at the same time. Of course. Because reasons. By page 177 he's able to read texts in one paragraph, but two paragraphs later, he's using a guide rope because he can't see the terrain. SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
I just... no. This whole book was an overload of just no.
August 25, 2020
I enjoy Lois Richer's books. This is the second book in the Calhoun Cowboys series.Dr. Zac Calhoun's mission in Africa is blown up by terriorists and he is blinded in the attack. He had already lost his wife and he and his twin daughters come home to Hanging Hearts ranch. Abby Armstrong comes as his nurse and the girls' nanny. Looking forward to the next book in the series!
December 27, 2020
I really love the depth of emotion this author captured with both Zac learning to function without his sight and loss of a dream, and with the creative ways Abby found to help him cope, learn and adapt.
Read
July 2, 2020Categories
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Western Romance, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
The Calhoun Cowboys (Book #2)
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Western Romance, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
The Calhoun Cowboys (Book #2)
Read
July 2, 2020Categories
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Western Romance, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
The Calhoun Cowboys (Book #2)
Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Western Romance, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
The Calhoun Cowboys (Book #2)
June 4, 2021
I was blind
Oh another awesome story wrapped around God’s love for us and a desire that we grow and trust Him more. There are Sunday School lessons here. Next?
Oh another awesome story wrapped around God’s love for us and a desire that we grow and trust Him more. There are Sunday School lessons here. Next?
June 6, 2021
Awesome
This is a great series. I am really enjoying it. So glad Abby and Zac got together. The way Lois brought so many scriptures in the book was great.
This is a great series. I am really enjoying it. So glad Abby and Zac got together. The way Lois brought so many scriptures in the book was great.
August 3, 2021
Go
This is the second book in this series I excited to get started on the next one. To see what is in store for Sam and who he will fall in love with
This is the second book in this series I excited to get started on the next one. To see what is in store for Sam and who he will fall in love with
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews