Customer Reviews

Come Home to Love

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

 

 

The description on the back of the book was very intriguing and led me to believe that it would be about life after marriage, what "happily ever after" entails. Not too many romance novels (contemporary or historical) focus on the "everyday drudgery" of just living together as husband and wife but rather on the "falling in love" stage of relationships whether that is before/after marriage. I thought that this novel would present Matthew's proposition to Katherine and quickly move to problems that they overcome individually and together. As it is, Matthew, who is initially presented as an interesting, somewhat mysterious character, is never fully developed and remains a remote, emotionless workaholic with occasional outbreaks of passion. Katherine, on the other hand, is as confused as a teenager even though she's a widow who has raised two children to adulthood by herself. Furthermore, the storyline focuses on Katherine constantly switching from her perspective to an omniscient narrative without any warning so that the plot is a mish-mash of past and present as confused/twisted as her thoughts. Also, it was unnecessary and even a little bit confusing to include the goings-on in the relationship of a mutual friend of both Matt and Katherine. While the premise was promising, the story did not quite live up to my expectations.

When I first picked up this book to read, there were two reviews posted and both of them were 1's. I so wanted to like this book! I like championing the under dog, but as my husband is fond of saying "this dog don't hunt". As previous reviewers have stated: the characters are not ones you can warm up to (I'm being kind here) and by the end of the book, you don't really care what happens to them. The ending was anticlimatic and while I'm glad they resolved their problems and aired their thoughts, it was just too little, too late. I gave this book a 2 because the writing is good, it's just the story could have been told so much better! They should have resolved their differences half way through the book and spent the remainder of the book battling and winning over the bad guys. I would have loved to see the sister and her buddies put in her place. I won't give up reading other books by Ms. Hohl (in fact I have another in my stash yet to read) but I would give this one a pass. It's depressing and not really a romance at all.

This is the story of a woman who is a widow, who raised 2 children on her own and later married a man that she had briefly known in highschool. It still is not clear why she married this man, stayed married to him or quite frankly why he stayed married to her. On their wedding night he tries to kiss her for the first time (not counting the quick wedding kiss) and she turns her face away from him, at which point he "forces" himself on her. After 2 or 3 such episodes she decides she's in love with this man she can't seem to stand and barely seems to tolerate his attentions. A more cold fish I've never read about. I take that back that would be her husband, maybe they did deserve each other but you don't. Save your money read something else!

In high school, Matthew Martin asked Katherine out, but she informed him that she was seeing Kevin Acker. He brusquely walked away from her. Katherine and Kevin eventually married while Matthew accrued wealth. Years later, Katherine becomes a widow. After allowing some time to pass Matthew offers her a marriage of convenience that seems so cold to Katherine, but is her only option from a bleak lonely life. She agrees to serve as his hostess at his business galas and to sleep with him though the latter frightens her even as a mature woman as she has not slept with any man except Kevin.

Her children detest the fact that their mom remarried; his sister Elizabeth "the queen" feels the same way reminding Matthew that this woman rejected him years ago. Soon Katherine falls in love with her spouse; Matthew has loved her since he was a star teenage baseball player. However, neither will step forward revealing their heart's desire as both fear ridicule and rejection; his sister fosters their lack of confidence towards one another flaunting her pal DeeDee at her brother while Matthew wonders whether his spouse will run off with his brother.

This interesting second chance at love tale is filled with secondary characters who, for the most part, want to weaken the shaky relationship between the lead couple until it implodes. Even his brother who worries about his sister-in-law tries to protect her by not encouraging her to work things out with Matthew. Though a little communication could have gone a long way to bringing love home, readers will appreciate this family drama pondering throughout whether the marriage is doomed even with a child and love to anchor it.

Harriet Klausner