Customer Reviews

Home Again (The Chesapeake Diaries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This move by romantic suspense authors into boring small town women's fiction almost completely devoid of romance is not a trend I appreciate.

Mariah Stewart's first book in this series was a very good mix of small town contemporary and suspense, but it seems with her second (and, presumably, third) book she's moved away from suspense entirely. That leaves not very much at all. There's a lot of time discussing flavours in the ice cream shop; lots of great aunt to niece discussions about `the good old days'; lots of child rearing; too much time talking about dogs.

Apart from a brief childhood conversation in the prologue, the hero and heroine aren't even in the same scene until about a hundred and twenty pages in. This is book isn't a romance.
The problem is, I have absolutely no idea what this book is.

Dallas spent childhood summers in St. Dennis, where Grant grew up. They had a teenage romance that Grant thought would last forever. Dallas upped and dumped him one day, went to Hollywood, became a movie star, and never looked back.
That's about where the heroine lost me. I expected there was more to her story than that, but there wasn't. She just didn't care enough.
When Dallas' failed marriage starts making news headlines she rushes `home' with her son. Then they all sit around living a perfect existence in the perfect town. Grant is a veterinarian now, and they bond over dog rescuing. Everyone spends hundreds of pages walking by the water, and that's about it.

There's a side story involving Dallas writing a screenplay the studio wants her and her great aunt (who is, naturally, also a movie star) for. The reason I mention this is that Dallas' character in the movie is supposed to be a middle aged woman. Dallas is thirty-eight. I wasn't aware women in their thirties with sons in kindergarten were already at a point where they had to think about menopause and retirement.

Maybe in sixty years I'll be old enough and set enough in my routine that this story might appeal more (but I certainly hope not!). However - coming from a writer who used to be able to create exciting stories - this one bored me beyond belief. I was skim reading half the time simply because I couldn't stand any more descriptions of the flowers, the crabs, the local cuisine, the ice cream store. The main character of the story seemed to be the sickeningly-perfect small town, and that just wasn't a decent source of entertainment to make this a good book.

Dallas MacGregor knows she has come a long way since moving to St. Dennis on the Maryland side of Chesapeake Bay from New Jersey back in 1983. She hated the change until she met and debated worms with Grant as she lived with energetic Great Aunt Berry just after her four years old sister died. In 2010 she has become an award winning actress.

However, her wonderful Hollywood lifestyle is nuked when her soon-to-be-former spouse, movie producer Emilio Baird is involved in a sex scandal that causes a nightmare for Dallas as the tabloids investigate and bombard her with innuendos and deliberate half-truths and lies. Sick of the unfair furor and wanting to keep her son Cody safe from the feeding frenzy of the media nasties, she flees from Southern California with her child to Aunt Berry's abode where she remembers spending her happiest childhood moments. There she and veterinarian Dr. Grant Wyler soon meet and both understand deja vu as they still are attracted to one another. However, his performance is sidetracked when Cody and his new best buddy Logan vanish and a frantic Dallas panics. Emilio followed by the media storm rushes to Maryland in order to salvage his career by performing as the doting husband and concerned father. However, while he acts for the cameras, Grant performs in the field for the woman and her son he loves.

The latest Chesapeake Diaries family drama (see Coming Home) is an entertaining contemporary second chance at love romance. Dallas is the star as the link between Hollywood and St. Dennis while the rest of the cast play second and third banana support roles. Although the comparison between a shallow Hollywood and a profound Chesapeake Bay seems exaggerated on each coast, readers will enjoy Dallas' coming Home Again.

Harriet Klausner

I absolutely LOVE Mariah Stewart! She has been a favorite author of mine for some time, when I read some of her previous works, including book 1 in The Chesapeake Diaries Series, Coming Home. Her work is emotional yet humorous at times, complex yet enlightening and her characters become your family. Her writing style is tender and filled with her passion to create novels that her readers will love.

In Home Again, the reader is taken back to the Chesapeake area of Maryland (which I love because I was born in Maryland!). The reader gets a first hand look at Dallas' life. Sweet, sweet Dallas, bless her heart. She went through so much turmoil, both as a young girl, and later, as an adult actress in Hollywood. When things turn sour with her producer hubby, she seeks solace once again in the heart of the Bay in Maryland, with her great aunt. But, once there, she is reunited with her once best friend and sweetheart, Grant.

I loved reading Dallas and Grant's stories. They are both written with so much personality and love and they flow perfectly with the plot line. I really loved them both! And, not to mention, Dallas' sweet son, Cody. Bless his heart, I really felt a motherly pull to him, too!

I highly recommend this book to everyone. If you are looking for a good summer read this summer, then grab a copy of Mariah Stewart's 5 star book! It is part of a series, but it keeps the reader up to date so it's not overly confusing and could be read as a stand alone. I don't recommend it though, because books in a series are always best read in order, so the reader can savor each moment! I also had the pleasure to read book 3, Almost Home.....look for my review tomorrow!

First it is a pleasure to read a book that is the second in a series and have it also stand alone. You don't have to read the first in order to know and enjoy the story. Of course this is mainly a romance and pretty predictable, but don't let that stop you from reading it. It is enjoyable and does capture the feel of the Eastern shore, even if it takes place in a non-existent town. In many ways the town is reminiscent of St. Michaels, with the exception of saying that the primary love interests, Dallas and Grant are given crackers and a pick to `pick' crabs. No self respecting crab house would give you the tools to clean a lobster, they hand out knives and wooden mallets.
Dallas and Grant do meet because of worms, not discussing them- as some other reviews have said, but he throws them at girls who are being nasty to her when she is crying over the death of her father, not her sister. She only has a brother, it was Grant's sister who died - they both had terrible losses in their family. Dallas' beloved aunt, who has raised her also has a lost love. Dallas has returned to her aunt's home after the tabloids and internet have shown very revealing pictures of her husband's love life - there are no half truths about what they are telling and she wants her child, Cody away from the glare of the publicity.

A diary, inserted in spots, written by a local newspaper editor serves as a summing up of what is happening; however the italic printing can be hard to read. The characters are all too perfect, but that also makes for a romantic novel that is easy to read. It, like many books of this genre shows romance, and some problems, but then, alls well that ends well - it's how we get there that is the interesting part.

The Eastern shore can be a bucolic refuge and is well and mostly accurately pictured in this book which those who enjoy a nice romantic book will have their time well spent reading this and will probably be inspired to pick up more of Mariah Stewart's works.

home again chesapeake diaries book 2 by mariah stewart
woman returns to her childhood home as her ex husband is caught online-something to do with nudity.
child really suffers a lot through this as mom hopes a different location where nobody knows them will
help.

Received in excellent condition in a timely manner.
Haven't read yet but ALL Mariah Stewart books are excellent reads.

I liked the story. This is the first time I have read this author and her writing style reminds me of Susan Wiggs and Nora Roberts.

Dallas goes to relive small town life in St. Dennis to get away from the scandal of her husband Emilio and reconnect with the people from her childhood town. She moves in with her Aunt Berry and begins settle into a quieter lifestyle. Her son Cody has some problems adjusting to his new situation, and Dallas realizes that her adult life choices are affecting her son. It begins to mar his confidence going forward, and Dallas struggles with her decisions for her family.

Grant Wyler is the town vet and the former beau of Dallas. Dallas and Grant are drawn together like powerful magnets. They have an easy connection that they can't deny. But the timing may not be right for them to rekindle their romantic relationship. Emilio comes after her in St. Dennis. Speculation and assumptions are high and a potential disaster is avoided, bringing Dallas closer to Grant and solidifying their feelings for each other.

Grand and Dallas work to put the pain of loss behind them, and work to find new love again. The reader will empathize with the characters and the story progresses at an even pace. The story foresees more on the romantic aspect of the character's lives, and it does include some moments of moderate suspense, but the story line resolves itself at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to an audience of any age.

I have enjoyed all of Mariah Stewart's novels, and while I prefer the suspense in her earlier novels, I found Home Again to be a very enjoyable read. I loved the interactions between the characters and the descriptions of small town life. I also enjoyed the diary inserts written by Grace, the newspaper editor, who gave a hint of what to expect in the next book in the series. This book provided an easy, thoroughly entertaining, and satifisfying experience.

I'm a sucker for small town romances, and love reading about the small cutesy businesses and the home town heroes. The problem with Home Again, is that the romance probably took up 100 pages, and even so I didn't know if I even cared about the hero/heroine.

In the first place, I really thought the heroine Steffie was unlikeable. I mean she was okay- but she wasn't written as romance heroine material. She was in love with Wade since she was a girl, and if the author didn't mention that fact I wouldn't have noticed. Wade and Steffie have zero chemistry.

From the onset Steffie is a bit irritating. She's mad that Wade 'left' her to start a business in TX after college, even though they weren't dating. She was mad when he left her at a wedding due to an emergency back in TX even though they weren't an item and all they did was hang out at said wedding. Later on in the book, he comes back into town he explains what went on that night when he left and what's going on in his life. Things are good for 10 minutes till she gets mad at him for not telling her about his job offer in another state. Mind you they aren't exclusively dating and haven't spoken about the future. Then she gets mad at him some more for saying that he didn't want to hurt her which was why he tried to stay away. You can't win for losing with these dumg heroines!

Now having an unlikeable heroine is par for the course when one reads romance novels. The problem is this book is so mind numbingly boring that there is no saving it. Wade was extremely...bleh. The fact that he was a brewer was the only interesting thing about him. He came across like a history teacher to me.
The town drama was mildly interesting.

Please borrow this from the library if you must read it.

I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 because I liked reading about the ice cream flavors, and also I enjoyed reading about the organics and Clay not wanting to grow GMO corn. Maybe if just one person gets interested in organic/local food and going non GMO then this travesty of a romance would be worth it.