Reviewed by ALEX NDIRANGU for Readers' Favorite

Shayne Wright declines a marriage proposal and returns to Texas, where she was raised. She stays the night at the old farmhouse during her visit as a final farewell after attending a funeral she did not intend to attend. There she meets Ethan, a former military sharpshooter. Ethan doesn't think much about women or even romantic connections because of his broken marriage. Aside from being unwittingly implicated in a human trafficking situation, Shayne also goes through several horrifying incidents, including being shot in the shoulder by a trafficker. While traveling to the farm to spend the night, Shayne's brother stumbles across a woman being assaulted by the traffickers. He cannot stop this horrific situation, and his only hope is to secure help in freeing the assault victim. by Lori Altebaumer takes us through the tragedy that these three people go through, as well as the choices they make that shape their lives and provide them with inner peace.

A book should aim to evoke visual images in the reader. Lori Altebaumer achieves this by using well-chosen descriptive phrases that infuse the written narrative with life. Lori deserves praise for orchestrating her work so that it is not only beautiful but also easy to understand. Each chapter established the mood for the whole book and moved the reader closer to the story's end. This satisfied me and gave me the motivation I needed to finish reading. Lori's writing style accomplished her primary goal in creating this book, which was to encourage readers to empathize with the characters as much as possible. In other extreme circumstances, I could not refrain from crying since I could relate to their pain. These depressing thoughts, however, were always countered by the amazing progress they made in purging their unpleasant pasts. A Far Way to Run is a rare read that can motivate anyone who is bogged down in self-pity or who wants to view life from a different perspective.