Beautifully written. What I liked most about this book was how different the background of the two main characters was. They came from different walks of life and yet that didn't prevent a connection. Too often I find that romance stories are often about the same status and I found this refreshing. There is a great lesson in this book about overcoming your past and creating your own future separate from the environment in which you were raised. It's great to read about two people who find each other in a manner in which they help each other grow. Very well written. Five Stars!

Wow, this was a great book! It was hard to put down. It is different than other books by this author. This one is a bit more dark or depressing. Shay has made some poor choices in her life. This story is how she changed her life around, how she learned to cope and take responsibility. It's also about judging others (when we do not have that right). It's also about expectations, how different people make different choices and it's about redemption. Changing what you can, and doing the your best to be the best person you can be.

In typical Macomber style, you get a good read from this story but I found I wasn't as in love with this book as others I've read. Having gotten use to flying through her novels without loosing much interest, I was a tad bit disappointed. I liked the relationship development between Drew, Shay, and the children however but it seemed to lack in someway I can't quite pinpoint. Overall it was a nice story but not anything I'd recommend when suggesting a Macomber novel.

Absolutely beautiful and moving. A story of second chances and new beginnings. Told in Debbie's well known style that pulls at your heartstrings and makes you feel personally connect to each character. I loved it!

Debbie Macomber knocks another one out of the ballpark! I absolutely loved this one. By the end of the book I felt like I was seeing the story in real time and that I personally knew all the characters.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC!

I really enjoyed this story, but.....

It took me a little bit to get into it and then of course I didn't want to put it down or end.

I felt a few parts where thrown in but not fully developed.

This is the story of Shay, a good hearted woman who for the right reasons does the wrong thing and has the deal with the consequences of it.
This is the story of Drew, who is drowning in sadness.

Can you ever go wrong with a Debbie Macomber book? I think not.
Any Dream Will Do is about siblings, Shay & Caden, who lost their mom early in life and were left with their abusive father. After their father passes away they are left on their own and start making poor choices. After hooking up with a gang member and being treated the same as when her father was alive Shay gets away from the gang and tried to get her life back together. However, Caden is continuing to make poor choices and wants his sister to bail him out.

This is just the beginning of the story. The characters are well thought out and the story line is great with a romance of course. You can always count on Debbie Macomber to give us a good old fashion love story.

This dysfunctional family will worm your way into your heart. Once again, Debbie Macomber has scored a major league hit.

Shay is a woman who has had nothing but bad luck. She helps out her baby brother and it ends up with her spending 3 years in jail and ruining her future. When she is released from jail she is dropped off in front of a church. She is scared, broke and has no place to go. She decides to go into the church to get warm. Pastor Drew is in a bad place too. His wife died 3 years ago and he is still struggling. He recognizes someone else in pain and tries to help Shay. He manages to get Shay into the Hope Program, a program designed to help people get a fresh start.

This is a story about relationships fresh starts, heart break and joy. I liked the characters in the book. This is a great summer read. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Shay has made some poor life decisions, and wound up serving a 3 year prison sentence for one of them. Jaded and angry, she meets Drew when she is released, and he helps her get into a transition program which changes both of their lives. Another uplifting read from Debbie Macomber.

A heartwarming read.

Shay's had a rough life, but after a disastrous error of judgement she is now on the slow path to recovery - not physical, but emotional. She's learning to trust, building friendships, and trying to reenter society. It's not easy, especially with her history.

A widower with two children, Drew has been struggling for a while, illustrating the old problem of who pastors the pastor.

Both are vulnerable, both have a tentative hope that maybe there's more to life than they have, and both may lose if they can't reach past the barriers of fear and miscommunication. Through it all, Shay's generous spirit shines through, and brings renewed life those around her as she uses her experiences to reach out to others, finding those she can help with the little she has.

Any Dream Will Do
Debbie Macomber
Available: August 8, 2017
Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
The family is away for the next 9 days so I had the opportunity to sit down with Debbie Macomber’s latest at about 7:30 this moring and whipped through it. Like her other books, its filled with a positive message involving God, trusting in yourself and opening your heart to others. 100% believe able? No but isn’t getting lost in a beautiful story why we read in the first place?
What I loved: Sarah is such an adorable character – she’s bossy, stubborn, and is strong her beliefs and ideals. I wish I had that sort of confidence when I was 8 years old. She’s the kind of character I would love to see featured in her own book in about 20 years because I think she will grow up to run the world.
What I didn’t love: I would have loved to learn more about Shay’s rehabilitation program and the growth she received from it instead of fast forwarding to her life 1 year later. As the story reads she’s just too good to be true and I would have liked to see her struggles while she was working out her personal demons.
What I learned: A little charity can increase your life ten-fold.
Overall Grade: B

www.FluffSmutandMurder.com

I have been a Debbie Macomber fan for at least 12 years. I love her story telling- you can easily get lost in her characters. They are family members, friends or live on your street. This book is no different. I didn't know a "Shay" but I did know a "Drew". Shay's mother died and then their father. They left Shay and her younger brother Caden alone. Shay had fallen in with a bad boyfriend ~a real bad guy. He had introduced Caden to the drug world. Drew on the other hand was a man of God. He was a widower with two young children and the pastor of a rather conservative church. Yes, they meet, yes they fall in love but you will need to read the book for the rest of the story. As is Ms. Macombers' style there isn't a lot of foul language and sex scenes. It's just a good book that doesn't need to rely on "fluff". I would definitely recommend this book to family and friends. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

An uplifting story about love, loyalty, hope and redemption with more depth than the Ms Macomber usually has in her books. Don't know if this will be a series, but can see the potential there.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Debbie Macomber provides feel good stories,but this one stretches it a bit. Ithas the trademark Macomber ending. I read it in one afternoon.

This was a great story about starting over and second chances. I thought it was beautifully written and I enjoyed it.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review. I love Debbie Macomber's books and this book was one of her best. It is the story of Shay and Drew. Shay gets into some trouble with the law and spends some time in prison. When she gets out, she ends up in a church because she has no where to go. She meets Drew, who is the pastor of the church. The relationship between them, the obstacles they overcome and the love that they share is all part of this wonderful story. I highly recommend this book!

This book is so full of love and hope that you can’t help but be inspired. I loved every second of this book and was extremely disappointed when I all too soon turned that final page. This book is about redemption and forgiveness, both of which we all need a little more of from time to time. It’s easy to hold other’s past mistakes against them, but as children of God, we are suppose to love as God loves, which means looking at the person they are now, not who they were before. I was impressed with how much Shay changed throughout this book and how she inspired people. Way too many people get into trouble when they are young and then feel as though they can’t make anything of themselves because of their path. Shay made no excuses and, with help from some truly amazing people, was able to make a wonderful life for herself.

The homeless population is a huge problem in our country right now and I loved how Debbie Macomber tackled this issue with this book. It is easy for us Christians to look the other way but we need to remember that the Bible tells us to take care of the homeless and poor. There are many times when churches seem to forget this so I was glad that was showed in this book. The way the elders tried to condemn Drew for associating with Shay and Richard was a perfect example of how even Christians forget how to love like Jesus.

I love how these huge issues were called to attention in such a loving, entertaining, and brilliant way. I have loved Debbie Macomber’s books since I picked up the first one, but this one probably got moved up to one of my all time favorite books. This is a book I will reread when I start to feel down about my life. We could all use the reminders that not only could our lives be worse, but God has a plan for our lives and plenty of grace to go around.



*I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher. A positive review was not required. All opinions are my own.*

What drew me to this book was that the main character, Shay, reminded me of an earlier character of Macomber's, named Alix, from her Blossom Street series. Alix having been one of my favorite characters in that series, I was curious to see what would be made of Shay's journey.

Reflecting back on the story and considering what I remember of Macomber's previous character Alix, I do have some doubts about her fleshing out of Shay. There were a few tweaks to backstory, and Shay was not as bristly as Alix, but they share a lot of similarities, including that they both fall in love and end up with men of the church (Alix's is a youth pastor, Shay's a primary one). I think some characterization work could have been done, but Shay wasn't a terrible one, just a slightly bland person since I've read so many of Macomber's books at this point.

I liked that, while I knew where the relationship would go the whole time (there's not much mystery in a Debbie Macomber book), it wasn't as overbearing as some romance books can be. The relationship between Shay, Drew, and even Drew's children Sarah and Mark felt more naturally cultivated than forced for the sake of plot.

The first 15-20% of the book went by very quickly, not just in terms of the writing style, but in terms of the time that passed in the story. There's not one scene in which we see Shay in prison (3 years gone), 4 months go by in a flash after she's released and gets into the Hope program, and then suddenly an entire year is gone since Shay was released. I would have appreciated a bit more time spent on two crucial time periods for our primary character: her stay in prison and people she may have met or communicated with there, and the classes and lessons she learned at the Hope center. We hear tidbits about the Hope center, but these little scraps of information didn't really feel like enough.

The summary is slightly misleading in two ways. First, it says that Caden has only abandons Shay after her release, something he did long before when he left her to face the consequences of taking the money to save him alone. Also, after not hearing from him for three years, she wasn't expecting anything from him, so I wouldn't say it's a fair assessment to have that air of hope there. Second, not once in the entire book is Pastor Drew referred to as Andrew, a little thing from summary to book that irked me.

For frequent readers of Macomber books, this book will feel quite familiar in terms of character (Shay like Alix) and storyline (every Macomber book I've read so far), but in terms of relationship pacing it does have a bit of freshness which in this type of book I appreciated. For a new to Macomber reader, this book is a standalone and therefore wouldn't necessitate any background reading, plus the familiarity wouldn't be there for them. All in all, it was a nice book, if not a very special one.

Sweet, but missing a real connection between reader and characters. The story moved so fast at first that I couldn't connect with either Shay or Drew. Maybe it would have been betterment in one point of view rather than alternating.