A Christmas Home by Greg Kincaid ~ review

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Crown (October 30, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307951979
• ISBN-13: 978-0307951977

This book is also available as an e-book.

Release Date: October 30, 2012

   Todd McCray, hero of A Dog Named Christmas, is now twenty-four years old and working at a local animal shelter, where he meets and quickly becomes best friends with Laura, a young volunteer. Laura, like Todd, has disabilities of her own, but her struggles are more physical than developmental. Their friendship is sealed when Todd—with the help of his trusted companion, the tenacious Labrador retriever named Christmas—trains a beautiful dog named Gracie to help Laura with the day-to-day life tasks that are difficult for her. 
            Life seems good for Todd, but all is not well in his hometown. Struggling families unable to make ends meet are abandoning more and more dogs, and the shelter is swelling to capacity.  The local government is struggling to meet its obligations too, and in early December, on the cusp of another holiday season, Todd’s boss delivers the bad news.  Due to funding problems, the shelter will close its doors before the end of the year.  But what will happen to all the animals?  
   As the Christmas holiday approaches, Todd has limited time to find homes for all the dogs. Not to mention that he needs to secure a new job and figure out what to do when his friendship with Laura takes an unexpected romantic turn. All this seems overwhelming unless you've got a loving family, dedicated friends, and a couple of very special dogs behind you. In which case, nothing is impossible.

My take on this book:

I loved the book as well as  the Hallmark movie "A Dog Named Christmas" so when I learned that "A Christmas Home" was the sequel to that wonderful book I was totally excited to read it. I found myself drawn into the story from the beginning pages.

The town of Crossings Trail is like so many other towns across the US. People are losing their jobs and unable to make their mortgage payments, and have to leave their homes, when they go they often leave their animals behind. Most of the animals wind up at the Crossing Trails animal shelter where twenty four year old Todd McCray works. Todd has become fast friends with Laura Jordan an LPN as well as a volunteer at the shelter. Laura has a disability that becomes much easier to manage when Todd and his dog Christmas train Gracie, a retriever mix to become Laura's service dog. Todd's life seems to be going pretty well, until he gets the news from his boss that the shelter will be closing. What will happen to the dogs at the shelter, and what about Todd, will he find a new job, and will his friendship with Laura turn into something more?

Anyone who enjoys reading a heart touching story that involves dogs will find themselves drawn into this story immediately. It was so easy to imagine the problems that Crossing's Trail was experiencing, because it reflects what is going on in real life. The relationship between Todd and his parents was wonderful. Todd was a young man, whom the reader knows has a disability but he doesn't allow that to stop him from working hard for something that he believes in. The story between him and Laura was interesting and kept me wondering what might happen between the two. Overall, I am a sucker for anything that involves dogs in the story line so would have been hooked because of that, but there is much more to this story. A heartfelt inspiring story that would be great for all ages!

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.