Review: The Long Way Home by Karen McQuestion

Karen McQuestion grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second of four girls. As the daughter of two school teachers, she was required to get good grades and stay out of trouble, which she did, for the most part.

Later she got a really cool last name when she married Greg McQuestion. When they met, she was intrigued by the fact that he danced like Steve Martin and looked like Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movies. Today he looks less like Harrison Ford except for his smile--a mysterious smirk. The dancing is the same.

Together they have three kids—Charlie, Maria, and Jack. They’re nearly grown, but still like hanging out with their parents, (or maybe they just like going out to eat and on vacation, and having someone else pay for it).

In 2009, after nearly a decade of trying to get her fiction published, Karen uploaded her books to be available on Amazon’s Kindle. What happened next was astounding. From the start, sales were good and supportive readers gave her books positive recommendations and reviews. As a result, one of her novels, A Scattered Life, was optioned for film in November 2009. And then, just when she thought things couldn't get any better, she got (and accepted!) an offer from Amazon's new publishing division, AmazonEncore, to publish the book in paperback. It came out in August 2010.

Today she has seven books under the AmazonEncore imprint, two of which are published in paperback by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

*********************************************************************************

About the novel:  Four women bound by chance take the trip of a lifetime in Karen McQuestion's fifth novel The Long Way Home.

For Wisconsinites Marnie, Laverne and Rita, life isn't working out so well. Each is biding time, waiting for something better, something to transport them out of what their lives have recently become. And then there's Jazzy: bubbly, positive, and happy even though she hears voices of the departed. Brought together by a chance meeting, the women decide to join Marnie on a road trip from Wisconsin to Las Vegas where she intends to reunite with Troy, the boy she raised as her own—and who she’s been separated from since her boyfriend’s death. Little do they know that as the road trip unfolds, so will their lives—in directions they never anticipated. Humorous, heartwarming, and bittersweet, the journey has something special in store for each woman.

Heartwarming, funny, and occasionally bittersweet, The Long Way Home is a winning novel of friendship and love from best-selling author Karen McQuestion. 

#######

My Review:

This the first book I read by McQuestion and I have to tell you that I really enjoyed it. McQuestion has a genuineness that comes through the pages.  She tells a story that any woman can relate to.  The story is about how grief brought some very different women together and how each gave the other something that they did not even know they needed.  I marveled while watching the women evolve and create bonds while they traveled across the county.  I laughed, was moved, cheered and honestly, at times, wanted to yell at the ladies.  This novel speak volumes to how grief can take over your life and how friendship can transform you!!!   I highly recommend it and rate is 4.5 stars!!!!

*********************************************************************************
BUY THE BOOKS!!!!