Monday, April 12, 2010

Review: Coming Home by Mariah Stewart


Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; Original edition (March 23, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345520335
ISBN-13: 978-0345520333
Vaness Keaton has been living in St. Dennis, a small town on the Chesapeake, for three years now since she escaped an abusive marriage. She owns her own home and dress boutique; two things she thought she would never have. Life is finally okay thanks to meeting her half brother Beck and his father Hal who takes Vanessa under his wing and helps her regain a sense of self- respect.

There is no one special in Vanessa's life and that's the way she plans to keep it. As she so well knows, there are no real fairy tale romances out there. She has the emotional and physical scars to prove it. But now when her half brother Beck is getting married, his fiancee asks her to show her brother Grady around town during the week of pre-wedding festivities. Grady himself is still recovering from the death of his wife, Melissa, and has been living in a remote part of Montana after quitting the FBI. Despite their bad feelings about past hurts and familial wrongs and with much trepidation, Vanessa and Grady hit it off. When part of Vanessa's past comes back to haunt her in a very dangerous way, Grady and Vanessa discover how much they really do mean to each other. As Vanessa tells Grady, "sometimes you have to let go of the past for the sake of the future."

This book is mostly a romance story, extremely predictable though it is, the little bit of suspense and danger element helps to make the story more interesting. Stewart manages to bring the small town atmosphere of St. Dennis to life and peoples it with likeable and believable characters. The secondary thread of Vanessa's and Beck's troubled relationship with their mother, Maggie, gives the plot a little more depth. All in all, an enjoyable , quick read perfect for romantic suspense fans who are just looking for something light. 3***

This is the first book in The Chesapeake Diaries series. The second book will be out in September. If you would like to read the first two chapters of Coming Home, please visit Mariah's website.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Ballantine Books through LibraryThing's early reviewer's program.

8 comments:

  1. Hm, 3 stars. Could be better, could be worse. Sounds like a good book to read between other genres!

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  2. It is always nice to have something light now and again

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  3. I am not that into romance books anymore. Too cynical perhaps?

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  4. I'm not a big romance fan, so I'll probably skip this one since you only rated it a 3.

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  5. I'm not really a big romance fan, but the characters sound kind of interesting, so I might check out this series beginning.

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  6. I don't read many romance books. I have heard of Stewart though and if I'm ever feeling burned out and just need a quick fun one this one would fill the bill for sure!

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  7. I have really got to quit coming to your blog lol. Every time I do I find another book I want to read;) I think I will risk it though, lol.

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  8. Haven't read this author, but the cover is lovely and sounds like a great summer series. Thanks Kaye

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