REVIEW: The Family Journal by Carolyn Brown

The Family Journal by Carolyn Brown: Reading a Carolyn Brown book is like coming home again. You feel joy, contentment and love. Congratulations to Carolyn Brown on this – her 100th book!

Single mom Lily Anderson found her fourteen-year-old daughter Holly in the library bathroom with a marijuana joint and that was the last straw. When Lily confiscates all of Holly’s electronics as punishment Holly tattletales on her twelve-year-old brother Braden by telling Lily that he has been sneaking out and smoking cigarettes and drinking beer with his friends. That revelation gets Braden’s electronics confiscated also and finalizes Lily’s decision to move the family away from the city of Austin, Texas to the small town of Comfort, Texas where Lily was born and raised and from which she couldn’t wait to escape come time to attend college. Going home to Comfort, Texas where she inherited her childhood home after the deaths of her parents. Going home to the house she and the kids will be sharing with Mack Cooper who is renting there. Would this move bring Lily’s family back together again? Is Lily making the right decision?

Carolyn Brown always somehow stikes right to the heart of the matter in her stories. She portrays her characters’ faults as well as their positives and their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Thus she brings her characters to life on the pages of the book and makes the reader want to get to know them. She tells the story here of a divorced mom who moves back home to better her life and the lives of her children who all benefit from the entrance of vo-ag teacher Mack Cooper into their lives.

Carolyn Brown does an excellent job of contrasting Mack with Lily’s ex-husband Wyatt. The reunion of Lily with her two best friends from high school added additional joy to my reading of this story. This gave me a sense of how these three women were truly sisters of the heart. The introduction of Granny Hayes delighted me as this character helped portray the essense and goodness of small town living.

The family journal was an excellent bridge to Lily’s healing of her doubts as well as an opening to reconnect with Lily’s rebellious daughter. I’m sure the reader will feel good after reading this story and close the book with a sigh of contentment for a story well-told.

Book Info:

Publication: November 12th 2019 | Montlake Romance |

Join the millions who have fallen in love with New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown in her landmark hundredth novel.

At the end of her rope, single mom Lily Anderson is determined to move her rebellious children in the right direction. That means taking away their cell phones, tablets, and computers—at least temporarily—and moving to the house where Lily grew up in the rural town of Comfort, Texas. But Lily has a bigger challenge than two sulking kids.

The house comes with Mack Cooper, high school teacher and handsome longtime renter. The arrangement: just housemates. But Mack’s devoted attention to the kids starts to warm Lily’s resistant heart. Then Lily finds an old leather-bound book in which five generations of her female ancestors shared their struggles and dreams. To Lily, it’s a bracing reminder about the importance of family…and love.

Now it’s time for Lily to add an adventurous new chapter to the cherished family journal—by embracing a fresh start and taking a chance on a man who could make her house a home.