Deborah Raney is our guest today.

She wrote a book called Reason to Breathe. She’s here to share the story behind her story.

Phylicia thought life was passing her by, but maybe this was love’s plan all along. . . 

At twenty-nine, Phylicia Chandler put her life on hold to care for her dying mother with her sisters, Joanna and Britt. Now Mom is gone and their father stuns them all by running off with a woman young enough to be their sister. Life is moving forward all around her, but Phylicia feels stuck—until her father’s protégé, Quinn Mitchell, presents the sisters with an intriguing business opportunity to purchase a trio of cottages just outside of Langhorne, Missouri. Joanna and Britt are convinced the three of them should launch a vacation rental venture, but Phylicia remains skeptical.

To complicate matters, Quinn soon finds himself falling hard for Phylicia. But how can he pursue this beautiful, talented woman twelve years his junior when she’s still reeling over her father’s hasty engagement to a younger woman? Quinn is determined to give Phylicia her happily-ever-after. But first, he must help her come to terms with her discovery of long-held family secrets and persuade her that true love can transcend their differences.

Learn more and purchase a copy.

What inspired you to write this book?

My newest series, The Chandler Sisters Novels, was inspired by my wonderful friendship with my own sisters. I was blessed to grow up with three sisters, and because we lived on a Kansas farm eight miles from the nearest town, my sisters were my playmates and dearest friends. I’m the oldest with only a year between Vicky and me, two years between Vicky and Kim, and then our “baby” sister, Bev, came along when I was eight. (We have a fantastic brother, too—the second to youngest—and I never want to leave him out, but these books are about the relationships unique to sisters.)

When I went off to college, and then only two and a half years later moved to New York with my new husband, I missed my sisters like crazy. We wrote long letters to each other (this was long before e-mail and Skype) and whenever I came home for a visit, we’d sit cross-legged on a bed in the bedroom we all shared and catch up with each other’s news.

It was devastating when our middle sister, Kim, was killed in a car accident a few years later, a newlywed of only three months. But one small silver lining of her death was that the three of us left behind became even closer, realizing that time is too short and sisters are precious.

Of course, in writing a series about sisters, I wouldn’t dare spill any of the secrets my sisters and I share. For one thing, good stories need conflict and tension, and my sisters and I love each other too much and get along too well to make a very good story. What I have hoped to capture with Reason to Breathe and the other books in the series, Chasing Dreams, and Finding Wings, is the special bond sister’s share. The family history they share with no one else, the lifetime friendship that goes deeper than mere friends could ever be.

My sisters are the greatest friends God could ever have given me, and some of the greatest gifts in my life. It was fun to write about three sisters who share many of the joys and sorrows, and yes, even the quirks and annoyances, I share with my own sisters. I hope this series will make those blessed with sisters appreciate the gift they have, those who’ve only wished for a sister to feel like they’ve gotten a taste of the joy it can be, and for those who might be estranged from a sister, I hope this story will encourage them to pick up the phone and begin the journey back to true sisterhood.

Awe. How sweet. What a beautiful bond you have with your sisters! Thanks for sharing your story.

Deborah Raney’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched her writing career after 20 happy years as a stay-at-home mom.

Deb and husband, Ken, traded small-town life in Kansas––the setting of many of Deb’s novels––for life in the city of Wichita.

They love traveling to visit four children and a growing brood of grandchildren who all live much too far away.

Follow Deborah on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, BookBub

Deborah is giving away a copy of Reason to Breathe. *Only continental residents of the United States residents may enter this book giveaway contest.

Follow the directions below to enter. 

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