A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

HOME SWEET HOME

Author: Bella Riley ISBN: 9780446584210 10/2011 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: GRAND CENTRAL

Home Sweet Home by Bella Riley
What if you can go home again?

Ten years and two hundred miles. That's what separates Andi Powell from quiet, secluded Emerald Lake-and that's exactly how she likes it. But now her job brings her back to the hometown she's tried so hard to forget . . . and to Nate Duncan, the man she's never been able to.

Nate once looked at Andi with love in his eyes. But that was before she left him in the dust to pursue her big-city dreams. Now he's the town's ruggedly handsome mayor with the power to break Andi's career like she broke his heart. As the two clash over the future of Emerald Lake, the sparks that fly between them rekindle a passion neither of them can deny.

Andi may have left town looking for the life she thought she wanted. But could everything she needs have been in Emerald Lake all along?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: 4 Rose Read

Ten years after leaving Emerald Lake for the big city, Andi Powell returns to bring modern condos to her small hometown.  To get the town’s approval, she has to convince Nate Duncan, her high school sweetheart turned town mayor.

I’ll start with the not so positive.  There were parts of this book that were quite cheesy to me.  The speeches from the grandmother about the meaning of knitting and even the flashbacks to her life, were too much and distracted from the story.  I also found the people in the town, aside from the knitting group, to be quite rude and mean.  I didn’t care for them at all.  Bella Riley’s writing is at its best here when she focuses on Andi and Nate.  There were a few times that I was irritated with them, but as they worked out their issues, it got better.  The love scenes were perfect for the story and the heart-wrenching moments were, well, heart-wrenching in the best way possible.  I love romances that make you feel. 

Take out Grandma Evelyn’s back story and the rude townsfolk, and HOME SWEET HOME would’ve been a Top Pick read for me.

Christina Baker

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