Well. I've gotta say, notwithstanding its pleasant and lovely book covers, the Harmony series isn't just some sweet little bundle of small-town quirks and cuddles. The series is thoughtful, ironic, and sharp, even with the author's easy writing style and the way he tempers his critical material with comedy.

I've gotten so used to the town that this novel was a comfortable read for me, even with a good number of the townsfolk getting on my nerves, including Sam for a while. But it was great seeing that the reckoning he came to a few books ago wouldn't go to waste, plot wise.

I'll admit it felt a little strange to see brand new blood arrive on the scene in the last book of the series. Still, the town could use the shake-up, and I'd rather a series close with a shake-up instead of merely coasting to a weak stop, as if its run out of ideas.

While I'm a little sad to be bidding fairly homey, sometimes aggravating, and often hilarious Harmony adieu for now, it'd be nice to revisit the books sometime. And I peeked and saw that Sam's adventures continue in an additional series, so it looks like I'll be reading three more books that feature him. ( )

I love Gulley's books! They are a delight to read.You will laugh,chuckle and giggle.Some of the happenings are absurd to the point of reality.If you are looking for a quick and delightful read,try one of his books.I am never disappointed! ( )

3.5 stars

I love Gulley's style. His writing simply calms and inspires me; and he makes me laugh out loud. ( )

I got this from the bargain table. It is part of the Harmony series, and I haven't read any of the others, but I was able to follow this one just fine. Sam Gardner is the Pastor of Harmony Friends Meeting in the small town of Harmony, Indiana. He is surrounded by an interesting cast of characters including family, friends, and members of the church community. In this book, Sam's father has a heart attack. When Sam requests a leave to care for him, a female pastor is brought in to replace him for three months. Some of the congregation can't say enough good things about her, while others want her gone. All of this makes Sam question his value as a pastor in the small town.

This was a quick, easy read. I like comfort reads like this one occasionally. They can serve as palette cleansers after a more serious read, or an easy read when life is too stressful to handle anything else. I didn't think that Almost Friends was quite as good as my favorite comfort reads - Jan Karon's Mitford series. The characters were a little stereotypical, and the plot was pretty thin. But I can see myself reading more of this series when the need for a comfort read arises. ( )

Sam Gardner, pastor of the Harmony Friends Meeting, returns for the sixth novel in Philip Gulley's well-regarded Harmony series. In this book -- rumored to be the last in the series -- Sam copes with an unexpected threat to his ministry, a leave of absence to care for his father after heart surgery. During this time, the Quaker meeting calls a student pastor to fill in, a woman.

The opportunities and challenges of a new pastor are told in Gulley's patient and humorous way, though there is obviously a lot of real sadness underlying this story. Worn down by Dale Hinshaw's latest off-the-wall evangelism technique -- one so bad that it infuriates the whole town -- Sam is not in the best frame of mind to deal with a very real pastoral crisis that occurs to the student pastor during his leave.

One senses that Gulley's own personal frustration with the church as a whole is at the root of this story. He has been challenged for his theological views, and he has been forced to defend himself publicly several times. In "Almost Friends" he implies that too often, faithful people in the church are silent in the face of overbearing troublemakers. The frustration is evident in the title, which is an indictment of the Harmony "Almost Friends" Meeting.

Despite the very real hurt in this story, it is still told with a delicate hope that the better angels will somehow carry the day. Unlike previous books, the novel ends in an ambiguous way: hopeful, but a little unsure of the future. ( )