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Home Another Way
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After he mother's death and her father's abandonment, tiny infant Sarah Graham was left to be raised by her emotionally distant grandmother. As a child she turned to music for solace and even gained entrance to Juilliard. But her potentially brilliant music career ended with an unplanned pregnancy and the stillborn birth of her child. In an attempt to escape the past, Sara
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Paperback, 352 pages
Published
October 1st 2008
by Bethany House
(first published 2008)
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Home Another Way is unlike many of the other Christian novels I've read, and that's what I liked best about it. There are many themes within the book, such as forgiveness, adultery, abortion, divorce, and premarital sex, and Parrish is never preachy. Best of all, Sarah is unlike any character I've seen in Christian fiction (granted, I haven't read all that much) because she's not really religious. She's promiscuous, vindictive, and angry, but also vulnerable and caring. She's far from perfect...
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I was blown away by Christa's spectacular writing. Her characters step out of her book and right into your life. This is a real story about real people--anyway it feels that way.
I will be reading a lot more books by this author. I'll be watching for her next one to release.
Thanks Christa for this most excellent read--and my favorite this year.
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I will be reading a lot more books by this author. I'll be watching for her next one to release.
Thanks Christa for this most excellent read--and my favorite this year.
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I disliked the way the stereotypes of the mountain people were never refuted in conversation or in general. I disliked the main character immensely. I strongly disliked the ending. If I hadn't read her second book first, I wouldn't have read it at all.
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Christa Parrish's books are proving a strange phenomenon for me. While I read, I always think of this or that I didn't like about it. When I get to the end, however, I realize everything is as it should be.
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Growing up with a grandmother who resented her very existence and deprived of a normal family and childhood, Sarah Graham takes refuge in her music. Her violin is the only solace she has, as everyone Sarah meets bears the brunt of her anger and caustic tongue.
"I'd been called heartless before. Sometimes with blatant disgust, by those I had - in their own estimation - handled too carelessly. And other times with admiration for my deft ability to remain unmoved, untouched. Either way, I'd always ...more
"I'd been called heartless before. Sometimes with blatant disgust, by those I had - in their own estimation - handled too carelessly. And other times with admiration for my deft ability to remain unmoved, untouched. Either way, I'd always ...more

I bought this book a long time ago and never read it. I thought the cover looked good and the description interesting. I wasn't familiar with Christa Parrish so I was in no hurry to read the story. It was on my to-be-read list. I could kick myself! I have read very few books that impressed me as much as Home Another Way. Parrish has a way of describing situations and characters that caused me to read the segments more than once. I actually wrote a few of her descriptions and dialogues in a noteb
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A young woman, flat broke and steeped in anger, resentment, and fear travels to a small village—Jonah, New York—to claim her inheritance when her father dies. He is the anti-hero who stole her childhood when he killed her mother and then went to prison. He owes her, which is why she feels driven to collect.
But she doesn't anticipate the stipulations her father has placed on the inheritance. In order to claim the modest estate that seems huge to this girl who has nothing, she must live in Jonah ...more
But she doesn't anticipate the stipulations her father has placed on the inheritance. In order to claim the modest estate that seems huge to this girl who has nothing, she must live in Jonah ...more

This debut novel blew me away! Written largely from the first person perspective of Sarah, a young lady who has never known love, the tone of the novel is often harsh and gritty but it is very believable. Sarah was raised by her malicious extended family after her father murdered her mother and was sent to prison. Never reunited with him after his release, Sarah comes to the mountain town to Jonah to claim what he left her after his death. There's one catch, however: she has to live in Jonah for
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Home Another Way is the story of Sarah Graham, a woman consumed by bitterness, anger, and a troubled past, who finds herself relunctantly spending six months in a small mountain community in order to collect an inheritance left to her by a father she never really knew.[return][return]As you would expect, Sarah's stay in Jonah starts out rocky and gets quite a bit worse before it gets better. I would have liked to see more detail about Sarah's past brought out much earlier in the novel. She's not
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I was at a very unique place in my life when I read this book. I was raised extremely religious and at the time I was attending a ministry school that I didn’t feel wanted or needed at. I was 19, stumbling around in the dark, trying to decide if I believed any of my upbringing. I doubt it was the purpose of this author to give me courage to take a step out into the unknown and pack my bags for the 12 hour drive back to Alabama from South Carolina, but that is what I did. I am not even sure where
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This is a mini ‘Books For Christian Girls’ review. It is not a full content review and will not receive one. These mini-reviews are years old and just for clarity on the rating the book received on Goodreads.
1/22/2014-
“DNF. Too much Sexual and Negative content plus I read a bit of the ending and I don't think it ended well.”
*Main Content-
Removing an ulcer on a man's foot (very detailed); Mentions of bars, drinking, alcohol, & getting drunk; Sarah says Jesus' last name and Memory whacks her; ...more
1/22/2014-
“DNF. Too much Sexual and Negative content plus I read a bit of the ending and I don't think it ended well.”
*Main Content-
Removing an ulcer on a man's foot (very detailed); Mentions of bars, drinking, alcohol, & getting drunk; Sarah says Jesus' last name and Memory whacks her; ...more

The writing is exquisite, Parish is a master at writing first person stories. It is literary fiction at its best! Although I read this book several years ago, just by seeing the cover, it brings back the unique cast of characters. The brokenness, deceit, and desperation are authentic and the storyline is not as predictable as I first thought. You can’t help but root for the misguided young woman and cringe as she burns bridges and bites the hands that feed her. Some say it is a story about forgi
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I loved the story and couldn't put the book down, that's what made the ending all the more disappointing. It doesn't always have to be happily ever after, but a little more closure with the characters would have been nice, unless a sequel is in the works. It seemed like the author just got tired of the story and ended it about 10 pages too early. The characters were all so devoted to Luke. It would have been nice to hear them tell more details about how that came to be.
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definitely a different book, as in a 'religious' book...I get so tired of the Christian genre. the people are usually entirely too perfect to be real. This book was NOT like that. Sarah slept around, both while married and after, she was bitter, angry and as prickly as a cactus. Yet Gods grace still found her. I didn't like how it ended though :( definitely needs a book 2.
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I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this book. Although a bit predictable in storyline, you continue to turn pages because Parrish has a gift for creating realistic characters. Characters that you smile with, get angry at, and cry with (ok, I was a blubbering mess at times). Characters that I will miss when I wake tomorrow and their story is at an end.

Home Another Way by Christa Parrish
Not only is this book so heartfelt but it truly is direct, Parrish really captivates the reader with this story that somehow teaches a lesson. More than just the life of her lead character Sarah but also the people she finds herself surrounded by, they all have stories that Parrish so beautiful ties together in this story that results to a gripping plot. I find that the story's message lays in the character within Sarah and how she discovers herself in this sma ...more
Not only is this book so heartfelt but it truly is direct, Parrish really captivates the reader with this story that somehow teaches a lesson. More than just the life of her lead character Sarah but also the people she finds herself surrounded by, they all have stories that Parrish so beautiful ties together in this story that results to a gripping plot. I find that the story's message lays in the character within Sarah and how she discovers herself in this sma ...more

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I loved this book. It is the story of a young woman who stands to inherit money from her now-deceased father (who she thinks murdered her mother). The catch: to inherit she must live in the town where he lived for 6 months. Their are quirky characters in the mix which add more humor and interest to the story. Along the way, the young woman becomes friends with some of the townspeople even though she can be a prickly pear at times. The novel leaves things open-ended, so I am hoping there are more
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Christian fiction usually tends be too “ Hallmarky” or “preachy” for me, but I found this book to be neither. I found myself being pulled into the small town of Jonah, NY. The characters were interesting. The fact that nobody had a cellphone was kind of odd. I’m not sure what year she intended as a backdrop for the story. There were a couple other things that were hard for me to buy into, but, the story had some twists I wasn’t expecting and I always like that in a book. If there would be “half
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This book was interesting. I liked that it was not sappy sweet like many of the books I’ve read by Christian authors. The author did not try to make everything work out wonderful for every situation. It was very realistic, with people getting sick, dying, etc with no miraculous healings or death bed conversions. The story line Itself was well done in that the foreshadowing was so obscure that the reader had to get to the very end before piecing together what had happened with the parents relatio
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Oh, I struggled through this book disliking the main character possibly more than any character I have ever come across. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah...self-centered and oh, so hard to endure. I did enjoy having to look up unknown vocabulary words: sloe-eyed, antediluvian, luthier. I have nothing else to add; this book depressed me.

Sep 04, 2019
Peggy
added it
Won't say I enjoyed this book. Not one to enjoy. One to get pulled into and feel what these people are feeling. I wish there was a follow up, because the ending left you hanging. Didn't like that part..
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Depressing. Didn't like this book at all. I will say that I thought at least the ending was better than I expected. It would have been unrealistic for Sarah to have had a loving relationship with Jack.
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Christa Parrish is the award-winning author of four novels and founder of Breaking the Sea Ministries. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, pastor and writer Chris Coppernoll, and they have four children in their blended family. When not writing, she is creative director of Concentric, a contemporary "arts-based" worship service, co-leads her church's youth ministry, and produces a week
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