3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Enjoyable Debut, June 17, 2011
This review is from: Called Home: Two Hearts Answer (Paperback)
Emma Benson has returned home to Wisconsin to help her mom with the family farm. Her father abandoned the family and her brother died as a child. She has real trust issues especially when it comes to men.
David Schlosser also returns to Wisconsin from New York as a well known author. No matter how hard Emma fights it, these two just seem to connect. Can they be happy or will David let her down like every other man in her life? With all the drama in their lives are their dreams too big? Will there be a happily ever after?
Being set in Wisconsin really drew me to this book and was pleasantly surprised the this was more than a romance story, it is filled with mystery and a little suspense as well.
I would have liked more history about the main characters and for some reason the event in story being continuously called a rodeo without ever mentioning a horse or horse like events nagged at me a little. I think the author really meant a fair, like a county fair held all around the U.S. in the summer months.
I had a hard time liking Emma at first but she grew on me and while the romance seems to overshadow the mystery, the mystery is well plotted and more complicated that I first suspected.
This is a really good debut from this author and the story is very enjoyable. Gloria Schumann is an author I will continue to watch.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jaw Clenching and Nail Biting, September 3, 2011
This review is from: Called Home: Two Hearts Answer (Paperback)
Called Home was hard for me to get interested in for the first couple of chapters but as I read on the story line unveiled a jaw clenching, nail biting novel I didn't want to put down.
The main character Emma is portrayed as a real pain in the buttocks. You will gradually learn why she is so rude and distant. I can't fault the novel because of this character. There are people like Emma in this world so why not write about them.
David enters the picture thinking he will be a knight in shining armour and seems to find her intriguing. He is persistent in making a connection with her whether she wants one are not. David sees through her masquerade. Gently he presses her to find out what happened in her past that causes her to distance herself from him.
Unexplained events began to happen and kept me as confused as Emma and David as to why all these suspicious events were happening to them. It definitely kept my eyes glued to the book wanting to find out what was going to happen next. I want to quote Emma's thoughts as she is reading a mystery book. "It was a section in which it is necessary for someone else to remove it from the readers' hand as he clung to every twist and turn in the plot, trying to ascertain its meaning."
That is how I felt about reading this book. When you read this book, all the way to the end, you might feel ashamed of yourself for having such a harsh opinion of Emma. Some people only see what is on the surface of a person.
I would recommend this book to my best friends.
I am rating this book 4 out of 5 only because I was tempted to stop reading the book all together at the very beginning. I am glad I kept reading because I would have missed out on a very good read.
Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by Gloria Schumann the author of this book for review. This review is my very own honest opinion.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
5 out of 10 stars, July 17, 2011
This review is from: Called Home: Two Hearts Answer (Paperback)
Called Home: Two Hearts Answer by Gloria Schumann
Release Date: May 8th, 2010
Publisher: Savant
Page Count: 333
Source: Directly from author for review
Emma Benson's view of life was crafted by the death of her brother as a child, abandonment by her father and later, the man she trusted she would marry, until...
David Schlosser -- back in town after years in New York writing best-selling novels -- threatens her neatly tended life. Romance blooms. Emma and David eventually persevere in the face of tragedy, refusing to leave their dreams behind.
What Stephanie Thinks: Sweet small town romances can turn out one of two ways: tragically emotional and heartbreaking, or undeniably corny. Called Home: Two Hearts Answer contains all the elements of the latter; the sequence of the story is predictable and bland. I don't feel the "chemistry" between Emma and David, but it's portrayed like it's strong and passionate (but to me, it isn't. At all). Their relationship seems rushed, forced, and fake, as if it was scripted for a clichéd romance novel.
The main reason I think I can't feel the love between Emma and David is because of their personalities. They're both highly dislikable; Emma acts stingily and as if she's eleven years old -- and god, she is SUCH a prude -- and David is too demanding and cocky. While I can bring myself up to ignore David (because most men are demanding and cocky anyway), I just want to slap Emma in the wherever-it-would-be-most-painful. That girl's got something shoved up her ass! And she's in denial for the majority of the book too; though she kisses David and fantasizes about him in a more-than-platonic way, she won't admit she even likes him til the very end. She can't not only admit her love, but her LIKE for him til the very end. Like I said before -- is she eleven years old? What does it take to act civilly towards a guy who hasn't touched a hair on her head?
Regardless, David seems stunned by her as a woman. I find nothing extraordinary about Emma, by the manner of her speech, attitude, and style, and yet David is still perplexed by her femininity, beauty, grace, and all that other crap. This is why I find their relationship unlikely; Schumann does a poor job of convincing me that they could really fall for each other. Another reason for this may be the chastity. No love scenes are consummated, and aside from heavy kissing, nothing happens. Nothing. While I appreciate this in a sweet contemporary romance, it also seems unlikely in a real-life relationship.
Aside from the nonexistent connection between the characters, another problem I have with this book is the unnecessarily detailed and superfluous writing style. Schumann expounds the exact descriptions of attire (and furniture, exteriors, cars, etc.), names of minor (and once-appearing) characters, and redundant facts (such as "The silence was not at all awkward. Emma found it very comfortable." Oh, really? Because I thought an unawkward silence would be totally uncomfortable).
One thing I will give props to, is the structure of the story. The plot is coherent and consistent, and therefore easy to follow. I don't find this an easy read persay, since the language tends to drag on and repeat itself, but the events happen in order and are reflected back upon, facilitating my understanding of the occurring action. The mystery, though easy to guess, is frightening and overall well-crafted. The pace doesn't pick up until the temperature starts heating (in a life-threatening way, not sexually) -- but that isn't until the last quarter or so of the book. I think lovers of a good, clean romance will find this one enjoyable, but I personally didn't like it that much.
Stephanie Loves: "She wanted to smack him with a cracking good blow across the cheek.
She wanted to drag him to her bed, and slide her hands beneath the well-tailored façade of civility he wore. Wanted to stroke and tempt and touch until his bare skin shivered beneath her fingers."
Radical Rating: 5 hearts-Doesn't particularly light any of my fires; I feel indifferent about this book.
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