I know I said no reviews during NaNo – but I’m finding it hard not read when I’m done writing just to help step away from my characters and their shenanigans. As always, the fifty or so books on the to-read shelf are a mixed bag, but some have really stood out and required reviewing. A Christmas Home was definitely one of them. I really love animal stories but have tended to stick to non-fiction in the past. However, I’m starting to realize that some of the animal based stories coming from Christian authors are filling a real void for me as the stories are about creation from a Biblical viewpoint. I picked up Mr. Kincaid’s book expecting it to be one of those and found to my surprise while those elements were there, it was less about a dog and more about people.

It took me a bit to get into the story since it is a sequel to a book called A Dog Named Christmas which I haven’t read. A Christmas Home did a good job standing on its own after the first fifteen pages or so and since the prologue had hooked me before the book really started, it didn’t really matter. I did get a feeling I should know who the McCrays were, but the characters quickly spoke for themselves. 
The premise revolves around the closing of the animal shelter in a small town that is struggling to cope with the economic downturn. Many families are having to give up pets as they readjust their lifestyles, and the shelter is needed more than ever, but budget cuts and reallocations leave no room for it. As much as this could have become a book focused on saving the shelter and the animals and had plenty of material, Mr. Kincaid focused instead on the shelter employees and volunteers, particularly Todd McCray, a young disabled man who had found his calling in life at the shelter. And perhaps someone to share it with him.
I really loved the themes and tone of this book. Being an animal lover and, I tentatively use the word, environmentalist, I am too familiar with the call to save animals coming at the cost of humans. This book never suggested that animals should come first, but it also never lost sight of the fact that we are responsible for animals. It’s easy to focus of the big issues of endangered species and rainforests, but Mr. Kincaid’s story suggests sometimes we miss the need right in our own backyard.
Setting aside the stories of the animals and the shelter, this is also something of a coming of age story. I don’t know Todd from the earlier book, but I felt there was significant growth to his character as the plot progressed. He started as a mature young man, starting out in the world with his first job, and grew into a man of leadership and vision. I loved that his relationship with Laura wasn't a token romance or over romanticized and felt natural and organic to the story.
As far as an audience for this book, the writing was very clear and the content very clean so I would say age appropriateness would be determined more by the reader’s reading level. While it takes place at Christmas, I wouldn’t classify it as Christmas story at all and certainly wouldn’t regulate reading it to that season.  But it’s definitely something I would recommend people who like animal stories should look for or even if you’re just in the market for an uplifting read.
I also enjoyed perusing Mr. Kincaid’s website: http://www.gregkincaid.com/

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

You have no rights to post comments