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Wanted: A Family
The ramshackle Victorian house is all that widowed mother-to-be Callie Mitchell has left. But she's "going" to make that house into a true home--a home where she and her baby will be safe and happy...and where women in need can find refuge. And if that means trusting stranger Jacob Smith to help with the repairs, then so be it.Jacob came to town with a handful of old postcards and one goal in mind--to find the mother who'd abandoned him years before. He never planned to stay...and he certainly never planned to care for Callie. Yet as they rebuild the house together, Jacob and Callie also build the "family" they've always wanted.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 9, 2011
12 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Janet Dean
22 books85 followersJanet Dean grew up in a family who cherished the past and had a strong creative streak. Her father recounted fascinating stories, like his father before him. The tales they told instilled in Janet a love of history and the desire to write.
She married her college sweetheart and taught first grade before leaving to rear two daughters, but Janet never lost interest in American history and the accounts of strong men and women of faith who built this country.
With her daughters grown, she eagerly turned to Inspirational historical romance. Today Janet enjoys spinning stories for Love Inspired Historical.
When she isn’t writing, Janet stamps greeting cards, plays golf and is never without a book to read. The Deans love to travel and spend time with family.
She married her college sweetheart and taught first grade before leaving to rear two daughters, but Janet never lost interest in American history and the accounts of strong men and women of faith who built this country.
With her daughters grown, she eagerly turned to Inspirational historical romance. Today Janet enjoys spinning stories for Love Inspired Historical.
When she isn’t writing, Janet stamps greeting cards, plays golf and is never without a book to read. The Deans love to travel and spend time with family.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 31, 2011
Love this story about the power of forgiveness and redemption! Judging someone without getting to know them or the circumstances is always easier for us to do. In the end everyone learns a valuable lesson. Callie is recently widowed and about to give birth to her child. In the process she needs to fix up her Victorian house so that it can help her with her dream of helping unwed mothers. Obstacles that she faces arise and there are prejudice to overcome, but with the carpentary skills of Jacob Smith anything is possible. Jacob and Callie become close over the months as he works on her house. But, there is something that holds Jacob back from completely trusting Callie. In the end both learn to depend on God.
February 22, 2018
A Story of Forgiveness in God's Time.
My favorite saying, "God moves the pieces of our lives around to serve His purpose for us.". We can fight and struggle against life or we can trust God".
Living our lives, believing that God knows best, is what Callie did. It is Callie's belief that forgiveness is required by God, not condemnation/judgement of others brings peace to us.
Definitely read this story this story and know God's way will bring a life without regrets or guilt.
My favorite saying, "God moves the pieces of our lives around to serve His purpose for us.". We can fight and struggle against life or we can trust God".
Living our lives, believing that God knows best, is what Callie did. It is Callie's belief that forgiveness is required by God, not condemnation/judgement of others brings peace to us.
Definitely read this story this story and know God's way will bring a life without regrets or guilt.
November 29, 2019
I enjoyed this story of faith, family relationships, clean romance, remorse, and forgiveness. Callie and Jake are characters I enjoyed a great deal. The impact that secrets and pride can have on our lives is a valuable lesson. If you like Christian historical fiction, you will enjoy reading about Callie’s dream of establishing a home for unwed mothers and how she deals with the obstacles and opposition she faces.
July 1, 2022
Callie is widowed and pregnant. Her desire to turn the house left by her late husband into facilities for unwed pregnant ladies in Peaceful, Indiana in1900. Jacob is hired as itinerant carpenter that is hiding something that brought him to Peaceful. The ladies of the town feel there will be undesirable women coming to town. Jacob had is looking for his mother who gave him up and growing up in orphanage.
July 2, 2018
Callie has lost her family and now her husband, but she has a big old house to make her dream come true. Jake is looking for his family and wants to help her fix her house to be ready to house unwed mothers. They have a connection that is a generation old...read to find out what that is.
October 16, 2017
slow start. surprisingly happy ending
November 15, 2017
Excellent story and a touching and surprise ending. Again a beautiful reminder of the healing powers of the Saviors Atonement.
April 15, 2022
This was a little slow in places but a good story with some surprises.
May 5, 2022
A little slow but, had a good message. The story got better once i was half- way .A good surprise ending.
August 10, 2011
Wanted: A Family by Janet Dean is a book that I won through the GoodReads “First Reads” giveaway program. If you are a GoodReads member, check out the giveaways here.
In this book, we are introduced to Callie Mitchell, a young widow living in Peaceful, Indiana, in 1900, who discovers she is expecting just shortly after her husband dies. The old Victorian house that she and her husband were renovating is all that she has left for herself and for her baby, and she is determined to make it into a home. To do this, Callie plans to house young women who are in need of a home and also in need of God’s mercy and love.
In order to restore her house, Callie must trust a stranger, Jacob Smith, who has his own reasons for coming to this small Indiana town. Jacob plans to stay in Peaceful only long enough to find the mother who abandoned him years ago. He did not plan to have any feelings for Callie whatsoever, and he especially did not expect to start seeking God for a possible plan for his life.
As Jacob and Callie deal with their own struggles, they wonder if it will be possible for them to have the family they have been wanting.
I always like when a book pulls me right into the story as soon as I start reading, and this book did just that. I immediately liked and had sympathy for Callie and also for Jake. I thought they were both dealing with thought-provoking circumstances, and I was interested to see how things would turn out.
I was especially interested in the part of the story where Callie wanted to house young women who were in need. The need in this case was mostly women who were pregnant and unmarried, and it was interesting to see how loving and caring Callie was towards these women. It was also interesting to see the way these women were treated in the community—they were not treated well. This storyline was appealing to me, and I felt connected to it, because my church has a similar ministry. (Visit http://www.faithlafayette.org/voh for more information). I also liked that the story was set in Indiana!
As for the romance between Callie and Jake, I felt that it progressed at an appropriate pace and felt natural. I also liked that both points of view were told in this romantic story. While some of the romantic notions were a little much for me—I tend to get irritated with the repetitive ‘…the way his broad shoulders filled out his shirt…’ wording (this is not a direct quote from this book)—the love story was still good and was not the entire plot of the book.
This book had a good ending that was believable, except that I thought the townspeople changed their minds about one particular issue rather quickly.
I would like to thank author Janet Dean for my autographed copy of Wanted: A Famly and GoodReads for their giveaway.
You can read my other reviews at http://shoopettesbookreviews.blogspot...
In this book, we are introduced to Callie Mitchell, a young widow living in Peaceful, Indiana, in 1900, who discovers she is expecting just shortly after her husband dies. The old Victorian house that she and her husband were renovating is all that she has left for herself and for her baby, and she is determined to make it into a home. To do this, Callie plans to house young women who are in need of a home and also in need of God’s mercy and love.
In order to restore her house, Callie must trust a stranger, Jacob Smith, who has his own reasons for coming to this small Indiana town. Jacob plans to stay in Peaceful only long enough to find the mother who abandoned him years ago. He did not plan to have any feelings for Callie whatsoever, and he especially did not expect to start seeking God for a possible plan for his life.
As Jacob and Callie deal with their own struggles, they wonder if it will be possible for them to have the family they have been wanting.
I always like when a book pulls me right into the story as soon as I start reading, and this book did just that. I immediately liked and had sympathy for Callie and also for Jake. I thought they were both dealing with thought-provoking circumstances, and I was interested to see how things would turn out.
I was especially interested in the part of the story where Callie wanted to house young women who were in need. The need in this case was mostly women who were pregnant and unmarried, and it was interesting to see how loving and caring Callie was towards these women. It was also interesting to see the way these women were treated in the community—they were not treated well. This storyline was appealing to me, and I felt connected to it, because my church has a similar ministry. (Visit http://www.faithlafayette.org/voh for more information). I also liked that the story was set in Indiana!
As for the romance between Callie and Jake, I felt that it progressed at an appropriate pace and felt natural. I also liked that both points of view were told in this romantic story. While some of the romantic notions were a little much for me—I tend to get irritated with the repetitive ‘…the way his broad shoulders filled out his shirt…’ wording (this is not a direct quote from this book)—the love story was still good and was not the entire plot of the book.
This book had a good ending that was believable, except that I thought the townspeople changed their minds about one particular issue rather quickly.
I would like to thank author Janet Dean for my autographed copy of Wanted: A Famly and GoodReads for their giveaway.
You can read my other reviews at http://shoopettesbookreviews.blogspot...
March 8, 2012
Wanted: A Family by Janet Dean
Callie Mitchell has found herself widowed, pregnant and a dream. Her dream is to open her big Victorian home up to unwed mothers. Problem is her home is badly in need of repairs. In fact, her husband died trying to fix the roof. Her father-in-law would want nothing more than for her to come and move into their home so they can take care of her and the baby. She already has one very pregnant girl living with her, a girl from town who made the wrong choice. When a handyman offers to work for a room and three meals, Callie cannot turn him down.
Jake Smith is a man with a past. When the past catches up to him he's sure that the town will shun him. So he is going to accomplish what he came for as quick as he can before moving on once again. Only he just can't leave the pretty widow with her home in need of so much repair. And the longer he stays around, the more he wishes this was his home and family.
Janet does an excellent job of bringing the emotions out. I cried so often through out the book when reading Jake's part of the story. He seems to be such a kind soft spoken man and yet nothing seems to go right for him. And the anger boils over at the so-called Christians who don't want their pew soiled by unmarried pregnant women or drifters.
A new book coming out called Brides of The West has a story in it that continues with Elise Langely's story. The first pregnant girl she took in. They are such good stories and I would recommend reading this book first.
Callie Mitchell has found herself widowed, pregnant and a dream. Her dream is to open her big Victorian home up to unwed mothers. Problem is her home is badly in need of repairs. In fact, her husband died trying to fix the roof. Her father-in-law would want nothing more than for her to come and move into their home so they can take care of her and the baby. She already has one very pregnant girl living with her, a girl from town who made the wrong choice. When a handyman offers to work for a room and three meals, Callie cannot turn him down.
Jake Smith is a man with a past. When the past catches up to him he's sure that the town will shun him. So he is going to accomplish what he came for as quick as he can before moving on once again. Only he just can't leave the pretty widow with her home in need of so much repair. And the longer he stays around, the more he wishes this was his home and family.
Janet does an excellent job of bringing the emotions out. I cried so often through out the book when reading Jake's part of the story. He seems to be such a kind soft spoken man and yet nothing seems to go right for him. And the anger boils over at the so-called Christians who don't want their pew soiled by unmarried pregnant women or drifters.
A new book coming out called Brides of The West has a story in it that continues with Elise Langely's story. The first pregnant girl she took in. They are such good stories and I would recommend reading this book first.
September 18, 2011
This is another great book by Janet. I really enjoyed the story. Callie wants to start a home for unwed mothers and we see how she struggles with the idea and raising money, getting the community onside all while she is a widow expecting her first child. Jacob is a drifter who has spent time in Jail albeit for something he didn't do. Jacob is a God send and helps with repairs at the house which badly needs the help. He is an orphan and has come to Peaceful for a reason. The story is set early 1900s when being an unwed mother was considered a huge sin and the women were often shunned I found the story interesting seeing Callie's desire to help these ladies when so many shunned them and thought so bad of them. It made me realise how often the women get labelled and have to deal with what has happened where the man gets of scott free. Its almost like its all the womans fault where quite often the pregnancy is a result of rape but this isn't taken into consideration. The book makes you think about how the women were treated and also deals with prejudices and perceptions. The background story with Callie and Jacob is interesting to watch what develops.
May 3, 2011
This book is about Callie a young widow who is expecting and is wanting to restore her home into a home for unwed mothers. Jacob Smith is a young drifter who comes along and helps her in restoring the home. Jacob has a few secrets of his own since he came into town searching for his birth mother. The ending is a surprise since Callie and Jacob fall for each other during his stay in town. This book is set in 1900 when being an unwed mother isn’t as socially acceptable as it is today with some of the unmarried pregnant women either marrying the father of their child or put the child up for adoption. Callie also has to deal with the prejudices of the town about out of wedlock births. Even though out of wedlock births occurred during this time it isn’t an issue that is talked about in history class since there are those who want to idealize the past and pretend that those things didn’t occur.
March 5, 2012
Wanted: A Family is definitely a pleasant read. I fell totally in love with Callie and Jake, as well as Elise and the Doc. I can't wait to read Elise's story, if indeed there is one. For me, this book is a great catalyst for a potentially great series. Not only do I want to see if Elise ends up with Doc, but I want to see what happens with Grace and JoAnn, as well. I was a little disappointed with the end. It's seemed a little jumbled. I had a hard time liking Commodore and I needed to like him. While there were some things I'd like to see improved, over all she did keep me guessing til the end and it was a really good story!
February 6, 2011
I enjoyed this book very much. The characters were very real, with real problems, real conflicts, and a realistic attraction. I was completely taken up in the story. This is the first book I've read by Janet Dean, but definitely not the last!
July 2, 2016
The story line seemed rather complicated than it should have been. Callie flew off the handle towards the end for little reason, in my opinion. And the sudden change of attitude was beyond my idea of believability.
July 23, 2013
This book was so good I finished it quickly!The cast of characters were so worth the read!Loved every second of this book!
January 20, 2012
it was a sweet story of faith
May 30, 2012
Sweet book
Read
January 2, 2015to be read: maybe. note to self: I think is a christian romance
October 29, 2015
Sweet story but kind of slow. Lots of repeating with no movement forward on the story line.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews