I enjoyed this. I wanted a lighter book to counterweight the emotional ride from a couple of heavy ones, and this was a good choice. It wasn’t so ‘fluffy’ that it felt like it wasn’t real enough to carry you along with the story, but wasn’t too taxing either. Also it had some real to life issues in it. ( )

This book is something I believe most mothers would agree with but maybe not out loud. You have a husband working all the time, dealing with a female teenager and then a young 5 year old that seems to do nothing but scream. Becca has gained weight over the years and has a horrible imagine of herself so she doesn’t want sex with her husband even when he tellls her how beautliful she really is. This sounds like many mothers I have known over the years. At one point, Becca, decided the hell with it, didn’t pick up her daughter and just started to drive. She tells her husband, Jon, she needs to get away, a break to start thinking what she really wanted and who she really is. The story is so wonderful when she finds out her father had a cabin at Rainbow Valley so that is where Becca ended up. The town is full of hippies and very laid back. She meets a woman, Sheena, who seems a little odd but over the next few days she comes to like her. She also meets Jason who is the handy man around town. He brings back feelings she hasn’t felt in many years. A man just taking care of her, listening and making love. Eventually, Becca has to go home but will she be able to save her marriage especially after her affair with Jason. I believe more women than we think feel the same way. Great read that should let all of us women who are mothers be reminded we need to find ourselves as well as being a mother, wife and everything else. ( )

Our main character Becca struggled to become true to herself. She had to self-discover before she could heal but also face some difficult truths. Even through it all she is dedicated to her family.

Becca desperately needed an escape from her life that was starting to suffocate her. Unknown to her, she takes off to the same place her mother did, when her life became to much for her, this is where she attempts to find herself. She is helped by store owner Sheena and her helper Jason whom try to teach her that she needs to let go of the expectations and find a balance in her life.

The main lessons taught in this book were taking care of yourself, balance your wants with your responsibilities, to be careful of what expectations you put upon yourself, and never stop being true to yourself. ( )

Wow! What an emotional journey! This book managed to grab my emotions from the very beginning. You could sense that she is drowning & is suffering from depression. I was so upset with her husband being blind to what was going on & continually allowing her to force him to back off. The journey to self discovery had ups & downs that affected the entire family but it seemed to work as a wake up call. Readers will see themselves in several of the situations. The writing is so realistic that you feel it's all happening to someone you know. There are twists that I didn't see coming & some I did. All I can say is to make sure you have the time to sit & read the entire book in one sitting. And keep the tissues handy! I needed several of them!! ( )

Whew. What a story. Drawing Free is not a book for the light of heart, this book is a serious look at an all too real life for many women. What mother and/or wife has not felt undervalued, underappreciated, and overwhelmed all at once? What woman hasn’t taken a look at an opportunity to get the heck out of dodge without the glimmer of “what if…?” Most of us don’t act on it, most of us don’t even give it more than a very quick passing thought. But there are certainly many women who sit and fantasize about turning back that clock, taking a break from life.

This was quite the emotional book. I spent a large part of it loving the story, loving the writing, but being so angry at Becca that if she had been in front of me, I’m not sure I could have been polite. But yet at the same time, I understand. Becca is a stay at home mom, which is easily more difficult than any job the rest of us who work outside the home have. Her own mother died when she was a child, she married and had children at a young age and gave up on her own dreams and aspirations to become Mrs. Thompson, mother and wife. Her dad is having Alzheimer type memory issues and often mistakes her for her late mother. Her kids are real gems, taking her for granted and playing on her love, exhaustion, and a mother’s need to see her children happy. Her best friend is radiant with news of a European adventure when she is trapped at home in a lifestyle that has suddenly caught up with her. And yes, she feels trapped.

One day Becca is stuck in traffic on the way to pick up her daughter. A quick call to her husband and a quick U-turn and she is off in another direction to disappear to Rainbow Valley where she hopes to discover who she is again.

Easy task, right? A lot of people spend their whole lives and never figure out who they are. And Becca has put her children, her husband, and her reality all on the line to figure it out. As much as I initially didn’t like Becca, as much as some of her actions downright angered me…the woman needed a change. She was clearly depressed and something needed to change. Life ran away and left her with kids, chores, and a workaholic husband. And she sought change. She knew part of her was missing in the equation of her life, and she went to change it. That takes courage. Great big, brass courage. Some people accused her of running away, and maybe part of it was.

But she made some friends in her brief journey to the cabin. Positive or negative, they helped her get to the place she needed to be to be ok with herself. And I can’t go much further than that without giving away secrets of the book. We should all be so lucky to have a break, to retune our soul and remember who we are, who we want to be. So if you read this book, take a moment and realize that while it is fiction, this can easily be about any number of women. Get over the anger you feel at Becca and enjoy the story. Maybe even live vicariously for a bit. I’ll say it again, this is definitely an emotional story. Be prepared to open your heart and your mind and go along for the ride. ( )