Book Review: Homefires by Emily Sue Harvey

Homefires by Emily Sue Harvey is a story about faith, family, and love. I’ve read all of Emily Sue Harvey’s books so when the opportunity arose to review Homefires I jumped at it. Homefires is a pretty chunky novel at 450 pages and they are certainly filled with a lot of drama. While I can’t say that this is my favorite novel by Emily Sue Harvey, I still did enjoy it.

Janeece and Kirk are fresh out of high school when they marry. As a young couple they are full of hope and dreams for the future. Janeece is quite happy staying at home and making sure she takes good care of her man. In their marriage, Kirk is pretty much the boss and takes care of the money, bills, and makes the decisions. Soon enough Janeece is pregnant and along comes their first child Heather. Krissie, Toby, and Dawn follow in the years to come.

After some time Kirk comes to Janeece and tells her he has received the calling to be a pastor. They’ve always been believers and gone to church and while Janeece doesn’t really know how to take this revelation, her first priority remains to her husband and supporting him. Kirk takes the classes he needs to become a pastor while Janeece starts to feel left out. It seems that now that Kirk is in school and learning all these things Janeece’s company is pretty dull. After all she only has the kids to talk about.

Being a pastor takes Kirk, Janeece, and their kids to a few different churches. In each place Janeece makes a home for her family and keeps the homefires burning. That is, after all, the job of a pastor’s wife. Although Kirk is very busy all the time and often not at home he is still very attentive to Janeece and she knows she’s loved. Then things begin to change and Kirk starts to become a man that Janeece doesn’t know; he’s not acting like her old Kirk. As startling revelations come to light and tragedy hits the family, the faith and love that Janeece always believed held her family together begins to unravel.

I loved the premise of this story but for some reason the characters fell flat for me. I didn’t connect with them as I would have liked to. Janeece was a sweet woman and a good mother but to me she was much to much of a pushover. She let Kirk control her life and everything in it. She needed a backbone and instead of always being so sweet and nice, she needed to be looking out for herself and her needs a little more. Kirk was much to controlling for me. I’m not fond of men like him so he rubbed me the wrong way at many times even though for the most part he was a good man, husband, and father.

Really this is a story of a family. A family who faces tragedy and a couple who faces the everyday things that test us in so many ways. Do they have the faith and the strength to battle it out and keep their relationship intact? Can they get past hurts to move on and become a stronger couple in their marriage and lives? This is a Christian based novel. I did not find it preachy but I also enjoy Christian novels quite a bit. There is much talk of God and such as this is a novel of a pastor, his wife, and their family. Homefires basically follows this family from when Janeece and Kirk are first married all the way to the end when their children are grown up with families of their own. For those who like a story that will have you happy and break your heart at the same time, Homefires is the book for you!

I read Homefires by Emily Sue Harvey for her book tour with Pump Up Your Book. To find out more about Emily you can visit her website or Renewal Stories. You can purchase your own copy of Homefires here in the US and here in Canaada.

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

My copy of Homefires by Emily Sue Harvey was received for review from Pump Up Your Book and the Publisher.

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