Home with You

December 18, 2017
First in a series set in fictional Benevolence, Wash., this sweet contemporary is enjoyable but suffers from an implausible setting. Sullivan Bradshaw, bachelor and academic, is called to family-owned Pleasant Valley Organic Farm after his brother, Matthias, is killed in a car accident. Matt’s wife, Sunday, is in a coma, and their six adopted children need care. Sullivan can’t cope—but Rumer Truehart can. She’s a former foster child with a master’s in early childhood development, and she instantly diagnoses and addresses any situation the children can cook up. She’s in urgent need of cash and reluctantly agrees to a job as housekeeper. The adults’ connection is well-executed, if inevitable, but how is it that Rumer, who hails from another local farm, has never heard of Pleasant Valley? Who’s running the agricultural operations while Rumer keeps house and Sullivan writes his research paper? And why did no one from the allegedly supportive Benevolence Baptist Church offer help until weeks after the tragedy? The setup, to a distracting extent, is not thought through. The book is worth reading for the cute kids, but readers shouldn’t expect an immersive experience.