Customer Reviews

The Coming Home Place (Monogram)

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

 

 

....in an episode about husbands with narcissistic personality disorders and the wimpy women who love them.

There will be spoilers here, so if you don't want to know, look away...

I am at a loss as to how this book has received such great reviews. First, I can't abide a doormat heroine, especially when you never see any growth in the character as the story progresses. Beth starts out as a very resilient, capable, domestically talented young girl who has survived the worst possible circumstances, knows and clearly expresses her expectations of her husband in this marriage of convenience. But as soon as she falls in love, she goes stupid. She forgives categorically unforgivable actions by her spouse....over and over and over again. Half way through the book I was praying, please don't take this jerk back, please don't listen to him, please don't let this be one of those stories........
...and she takes him back. Not only takes him back, but goes out to dinner with the mistress?

Secondly, this is one of the worse heroes I have ever encountered. He commits unthinkably cruel acts against his sweet young (17 year-old) bride, beginning with a much too angry, forceful consummation of their marriage. He then calls his wife by his dead fiancé's name while having sex with her...no wait, while raping her. He tells his newborn son that he wishes his dead fiancée was the child's mother. Then he leaves his wife sitting on a bench outside the hotel where he is having sex with another woman.......just walks away from his wife leaving her there stunned for hours until a sympathetic friend takes her home.
The most disturbing characteristic of this hero though is his motivations for this horrible behavior. He is either angry, out of his head, drunk, or he forgot where he was. This guy is written with a complete lack of control of himself and his emotions. Even during his groveling, he lacks any insight into what he has done or why. He only seems sorry that he got caught and the apologies come just to get back in the h's good graces.

Worst of all, I don't like authors who write characters like this hero, and then give them an unbelievable "happy epilogue" at the end. If you are going to write a character this bad, you need to have some REAL accountability at the end or else you have cheated your readers.

I read a lot. I've read hundreds and hundreds of romance novels, and there definitely have been some keepers, some unforgettable reads, some very forgettable reads, and some books that are just plain bad. This is DEFINITELY not one of the "bad" books that I've read, but it is DEFINITELY not a keeper and is one that I would hesitate to even recommend.

James is not a good guy. I spent the entire book, except for the last 2 chapters (when he finally wises up) really not liking him. It's hard to recommend a romance novel when you don't care for the "main guy". James is grieving for his fiance who died in a train crash. He then decides that he needs a wife, so he opportunistically weds Elizabeth (who is in dire straits and very vulnerable). He tells her that he'll never love her, but he wants her to sleep with him and give him children....nice! Although he appreciates her cooking and cleaning, he NEVER treats her as anything else than a hired hand, and thus she ACTS that way. If you throw in some verbal abuse, a rape scene, and an adultery scene...you have all you need to know about this "hero".

His best friend Nate is another story. I loved him and was hoping he'd end up with Beth because he deserved her a lot more and loved her a lot more than Jim did! I especially loved the scenes with Nate and Beth together which were much more romantic and touching...the gifts he brings her, the way he wants her opinion on his house. Nate was the better man...FOR SURE! Unfortunately, I wanted him for Beth so I don't know if I care enough to read the next book Fire and Water (his brother Matt's book) to see if Nate find love himself.

Very disappointed in Beth for choosing wrong and Jim for being a really big jerk!

I guess it's a "to each his own" situation, but this book doesn't seem to deserve a 5 star rating. The "hero" rapes Beth while they're out on a picnic, is overheard telling his son on the day of his birth that another woman (his first love) should have been his mother, treats her like a hired hand their entire marriage, leaves her waiting on a bench while he is "reunited" with his one true love... it goes on and on. No amount of groveling could redeem this man in my eyes.

Then when I see a glimmer of hope for this book in the form of Nathan, our "hero" comes back and manages to win this girl back. Nathan is the only character in this book who deserved a Happily Ever After. I even went and bought the sequel hoping that Nathan would find someone who deserves him. No such luck. To this day, he hasn't gotten his own story or any closure. It's really sad.

For all that this book made me angry, I couldn't put it down. Probably in hopes of something changing. Not a chance.

Nathan deserves his own book.

Ms Spencer, at least write a little novella and put it on your website. Something, anything. It breaks my heart.

This novel was one of the saddest and most emotional romance novel I've ever read. I truly felt every emotional pain the heroine went through and the hero definitely put her through alot. The first of her pain that I felt was when he had sex with her and turned her face away so he wouldn't have to look at her as he called his dead fiancee's name. The second pain I felt for her was when he talked to the baby and told him that he should have been born to his dead fiancee and not to the heroine. The third pain I felt for her was when he abandoned her on the street to go to his ex-fiancee and they started to kiss and he took the fiancee into the hotel with everyone watching. I thought NO WAY! That scene was soooo wrong in soooo many ways. Most cheating spouses at least did it discretely but this guy did it in front of his wife and the entire town. By this point in the story I was pretty sure the author could not redeem this so call hero. I felt so sad for the heroine. Her pain felt so real to me that I had to remind myeself that these were fictional characters. I must admit that I was wrong when I thought that the author could not redeem the hero. It took the hero a long time to redeem himself but in the end he did and it was a very sweet ending.

I had heard from so many other readers about this book. What they told me was true, this was a wonderful gem of a book. A story full of angst and sorrow but redemption at the end. The heroine was complex and had a lot of depth. One of the books I will keep on my re-read shelf.

Young Elizabeth had lost everything moving west.....James had lost his childhood sweetheart in a train wreck. James talks Elizabeth into marrying him and building a home and family together. This books is a heart wrencher!!!!!! Some chapters I had to read twice to be sure what I read really happened. It is wonderful, Mary Spencer never fails to give her readers tears and smiles!!! I loved her writing under Susan Spencer Paul for Harlequin Historicals now I am trilled to find she writes under Mary Spencer also!

What an amazing book. If you are an avid reader and crave those books that are hard to put down, this one's for you. There was not one part of this book that was lacking. James Kagen, who lost the love of his life in a train wreck before they married, vowed that he would never love another. Elizabeth Beck is a young 17 year old girl who has lost each member of her family on a wagon trip from TN. They come together and James convinces her to marry him, and makes sure that she understands that love will never be involved. Both main and secondary characters in this book were well developed and a pleasure to read. The heroine has many insecurites, but in no way is she a weakling, and is actually the strongest character. Suprises and storytwist have you loving the hero one minute, and wanting to shake him the next. A most memorable book and definately one for the keeper shelf.

i'm speechless... i've just finished reading this novel and had to come on right away to see what else mary spencer has written. this book was just amazing, one of the best i've read all year. (and trust me, i've read alot!) the plot was original, and the characters incredibly realistic. this book was a real tear jerker i'll warn you, i think i used up half a box of kleenex reading it. but that tells u how u just get drawn into the story, until u feel everything the heroine and hero do. i don't want to give anything away, so i'll end this now. this is a must read book!

Yes James did go off with Maggie. (and yeah it created some angst) He did completely forget about Elizabeth, but he felt horrible about that. He didn't do it maliciously. For some reason he really believed he was in love with Maggie and because he believed that he didn't realize that he loved Elizabeth that she had somehow crawled inside his heart and resided there. Elizabeth loved James enough to let him go with Maggie. She knew that he loved Maggie, or at least thought he did. It was hard to even dislike Maggie in this story even though what she did to James was selfish. She was still nice to Elizabeth. The characters of James and Elizabeth really did seem to grow and evolve through the story. It was really a great book!

I enjoyed the book. Both the hero and the heroine had lots of problems
and the book had lots of twists and turns in it.But it holds your interest
and you keep hoping for the two of them.It interested me enough that I bought
the book about his brother matthew Fire and water