Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Making It Home by Teddy Jones (Review and Giveaway)

“Making It Home could not be a more timely book… We live in an imperfect world, but it is still possible to think, imagine and make things better. The cast of characters in this strong family affirms this through their hope, decency, and tenacity!” —Eleanor Morse, author of Margreete’s Harbor

“Jones’ talent for creating indelible characters endures, as does her way with a compelling plot. … This is a timely page-turner.”  Robin Lippincott, author of Blue Territory: A Meditation on the Life and Art of Joan Mitchell

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“Life is full of trouble. The difference is that when it arrives, a good family turns toward one another to help instead of turning away.”

In Making It Home, Teddy Jones uses the power of fiction to highlight the hot-button topics of racism and the unfortunate continued prevalence of white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. Fiction is an excellent platform for this because it shows the hostility and violence and how good can triumph over evil when friends and families come together and form a united front. This work of fiction wraps all this up in a comprehensive story that refuses to whitewash the unsavory aspects and offers a healing overall view of the positive behaviors and actions that people can take to combat the unacceptable.

Family is at the heart of Making It Home and the entire Jackson’s Pond, Texas, series. In this book, two types of families are presented side by side: the loving and inclusive Jackson family and the hate-filled, racist Reese family, specifically Junior Reese and his son, Justin. Willa is the matriarch of the Jackson family and is as feisty as ever, painting masterpieces and guiding her family as best she can. While Making It Home can definitely stand alone, the characters are interesting enough that adding the full series to your to-read list is highly recommended. Getting to know the entire Jackson family from the start will be worth your while and a lot of fun to boot.

Justin Reese learned early on at his daddy’s knee how to hate others who are different and thus a threat to their idea of what America should look like – white and heterosexual only. This bigotry and intolerance rear up and demand the reader’s attention, sparking conversation about what to do when this hatred is unleashed. No one should live in fear in their own community or even in their own home, but that is exactly what is happening in Jackson’s Pond and Calverton, Texas. Through vandalism, animosity, violence, and pure evil, these communities are under attack, and all of it must stop before more than just graffiti appears and a few animals are killed. Willa and her family and close friends need all the courage and backbone they can muster to halt this violence before it goes any further. What’s it going to take?

The overall pace and tone of Making It Home is steady and compelling, with a layer of sorrow and a corresponding ray of hope throughout. In the 1920s, a young African-American man was murdered, and his body was covertly buried somewhere on the Jackson ranch. Decades later, when Willa’s daughter, Melanie, discovers details about this despicable crime in her grandmother’s diary and newspaper clippings, she feels compelled to unearth the truth and give Lincoln Berryhill a proper memorial. All this cannot erase any guilt or the past, but atonement is sometimes the only recourse to do the right thing. Nothing will never be enough, of course, but according to Melanie, “…we will do something, not nothing.”

Making It Home shows the importance of raising children to be respectful; industrious; and proud of home, family, friends, and community. The opposite breeds hate and violence, poisoning the mind, body, and soul and destroying families from the inside out. The author presents Making It Home, both the good and bad, with stellar characterization, a dynamic plot, and the clear declination toward the importance and value of honor, love, trust, and gentle acceptance and tolerance.

Making It Home may project a doleful tone at times because of the racism that seems to bleed from one generation to the next, but the good people definitely outshine the bad, providing hope that future generations can and will rise above the malevolence.

Enter the giveaway below on or before August 6, 2021, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes!

I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.

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1^st: Set of all three novels in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas Series;

2^nd: $25 Gift Card + Copy of Nowhere Near

(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 8/6/2021)