Reviewed by Casey B.
April 20, 2010
"...heat wasn't there to sustain their relationship..."
New York Times and USA Bestselling Author, Sherryl Woods continues her Sweet Magnolia series with Home in Carolina, which features the now grown up teens from a previous book entitled A Slice of Heaven. While I must admit Home in Carolina is the first book I've read in this series, I wasn't that impressed. Well, that's not entirely true, I did feel like the book is without a doubt well written and full of emotion. But it definitely lacked something in the romance area.
From the start, the story sparkles with small town charm and connections, and comes alive as it builds the anticipation of the bitter sweet reunions sprinkled throughout. And while I wouldn't give the book a five star rating by any means, the story is interesting enough to keep you invested until the end—if for no other reason than to see if the hero gives up trying to make amends...and how the heroine rationalizes how on earth she could ever really trust him again and get past the fact that he's raising a little boy that throws the betrayal in her face at every turn.
Honestly though, once I was able to look past the cheating hero [who had it in his head they were on a "break" while she was at college and he was heading off to start his professional baseball career] and the continually hostile/childish heroine [who contradicted herself where the hero was concerned at almost every turn], I got a feel for the couple and the history the two shared from almost birth. Which presented another problem for me. It almost felt more like the two should have ended up back as best friends rather than lovers with a future. The heat wasn't there to sustain their relationship for me. It was more like a shared past that put them in the category of being there for each other, being friendly and comfortable with each other, rather than the can't live without each other passion I expect when reading anything romance.
Then to add to my growing list of reasons why I should have stopped reading mid-book, and frankly, the biggest downside [which I felt could have given the hero/heroine more time to flesh themselves out and actually work past some of their issues]—though it might have been a plus side for the true lovers of this series of books out there—was the constant injection of the town lawyer, Helen, and her mother's side story. Helen wasn't a parent to either the hero or heroine, though she was a big part of their lives through her connection to their mothers, so why did she have so much space in this book? Was there a reason for us to see so much of her? Her mother? I don't see it unless Ms. Woods is just giving us some follow up time with Helen. Hence the reason I think the series lovers won't want to miss this book.
Though I want to add another truth here, their little side trip into reality was boring and not really all that endearing of either character. Of course, at least reading Helen's sections wasn't as bad as dealing with the hero's mom who was downright pushy and, in her not always so subtle way, kept telling the heroine on more than one occasion to get over herself because her son had been punished long enough [the very long three years he was taking care of the child that his string of cheating had produced].
To end the review with some positive comments, I really liked the Sweet Magnolias in general. The three older women (who each had their own book if I'm not mistaken) were real characters and their heroes were super--even more so than our twenty-something year old hero, Ty. And as the author wrote into the book more than once about the 'drama' of the situations, this book was filled with angst and drama. If you're into the whole 'baby momma drama' then you'll love this book. If you're into real-life situations instead of the fantasy laden happily-ever-after, you'll love this book. Now I'm not saying that I only love books with characters who have no baggage, that's not it. I just want issues that are easier to get over than lies and base betrayals. Overall the book was a southern charmer, and I would definitely be interested in reading the two upcoming books with Sarah and Raylene in them. While these two promise to have more drama and certainly more life situations, the hero and heroine won't have the long history of betrayal standing in the way and the heroes might just be able to swoop in and make their lives into the fairytale happy endings we all crave when reading romances.
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Book Description for Home in Carolina
There's no place like home, especially if it's Serenity, South Carolina. For Annie Sullivan, though, the homecoming is bittersweet. She'd always envisioned a life there with her childhood best friend, Tyler Townsend. But Ty's betrayal has cost her the family and the future they'd once planned.
For Ty, losing Annie was heartbreaking. Still, he can't imagine life without the three-year-old son whose mother left him for Ty to raise. Ty wants it all?Annie, his child and the future he'd dreamed about?and he's back home in Serenity to fight for it. But getting Annie to forgive and forget may be the hardest challenge he's ever faced. With the stakes so high, this is one game he can't afford to lose.