Having not read anything by Charlene Ann Baumbich before, I welcomed the opportunity to review her latest book, Stray Affections and become acquainted with yet another author from whom I’ve not read anything.I enjoyed the easy reading style of this book and found the storyline simple enough to keep straight while reading in bits and pieces here and there while travelling. The book is divided into three distinct sections with the first one setting up the characters, the second one developing the plot, and the third one finishing up all of the lose ends. While I enjoyed this book, it’s probably not going to be one of my recent favorites. However, I enjoyed it enough that I do plan to locate the author’s Dearest Dorothy series to give it a try.PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: In Stray Affections, the last thing that Cassandra expects out of her Sunday is to be mesmerized at a collectors’ convention by a snowglobe. She’s enjoying some shopping time, with husband Ken at home tending their brood of four young boys, when she’s utterly charmed by the one-of-a kind globe containing figures of three dogs and a little girl with hair the color of her own. She can’t resist taking the unique globe home—even if means wrestling another shopper for it!

The beautiful snowglobe sparks long-dormant memories for Cassie, of her beloved Grandpa Wonky, the stray she rescued as a child, and the painful roots of her combative relationship with her mother, “Bad Betty” Kamrowski. Life in Wanonishaw, Minnesota is never dull, though, and Cassie keeps the recollections at bay, busy balancing her boys, her home daycare operation, and being a good friend to best pal Margret. But after a strange—flurrious, as Cassie deems it—moment happens with the remarkable snowglobe, Cassie and the people she loves are swirled into a tumultuous, yet grace-filled, and life-changing journey.

“As a believer, I know the power of forgiveness and new beginnings, and of a God, and family and friends, who love me the way I am,” Charlene Ann Baumbich says. “The heartbeat of change flows through those wonderful gifts.”

With the quirky, close-knit Midwestern small-town feel that made Charlene Ann Baumbich’s acclaimed Dearest Dorothy novels so popular, Stray Affections invites readers to experience the laughter and the healing of second chances. AUTHOR BIO: Charlene Ann Baumbich is a popular author and speaker and an award-winning journalist. In addition to her Dearest Dorothy series of novels, she has written seven nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. A bungee-jumping, once motorcycle-owning grandma and unabashed dog lover, Charlene lives with her husband and rescued dog Kornflake in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She loves telling stories, laughing whenever possible, and considers herself a Wild Child of God.AUTHOR ON YOU TUBE:

GIVE AWAY: WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group has provided one book for give away here on my blog. If you’d like to enter the drawing, please leave a comment. I’ll post an announcement when the winner’s name has been drawn.
UPDATE: Debbie from Following the Narrow Path is the winner of this book.
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.