Customer Reviews

Falling Home

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Cassie is returning home to Walton, Georgia after a 15-year self-imposed exile from her family, after her sister Harriet ran off and eloped with Cassie's beau. Harriet and Joe now have five children that Cassie has never met. Now a successful advertising executive, with a fiance of her own, she returns home in time to say goodbye to her dying father, who in a last ditch effort to patch things up between the two sisters, has willed his home and all its possessions to Cassie in hopes that she'll return for good.

Cassie is reticent to see her sister, and still has ambivalent feelings for Joe. But what she doesn't count on is her feelings for old pal, Sam, who once was the class geek, and is now the respected town doctor. Sam has always had a crush on Cassie, but never revealed his true feelings (and when he does, he packs an emotional wallop). She is hoping to sell the house quickly and return to her fiance and her life in Manhattan; Sam has other ideas, as he tries to create a preservationist group to keep developers from turning her home into commercial property.

This story is so well written, and packed with so much humor and emotion, that it easily garners 5 stars. White manages to make you feel for the characters, and really relate to them (though Andrew was a bit one dimensional). And just when you think you know what is going to happen, a twist comes in to throw you off (though the supposed mystery really is not a mystery - you see that coming a mile away). I finished the book in a single day - I just couldn't put it down. It is very rare that a novel can elicit tears from a reader. "Falling Home" does that and more. It'll make you laugh, and it'll make you cry, but most of all, it will make you want to reconcile with your siblings. The Walton saga continues with "After the Rain."

It's rare that I am moved to tears when reading a book. Movies can often make me cry but books, almost never. Falling Home managed to reduce me to tears but that is certainly not why I loved this story and it is not my criteria for what constitutes a great book. But when a book can elicit that kind of emotional response from me it's because the story is well written, it's real and it has heart.

Cassie Madison has spent 15 years in Manhattan building an enviable and powerful career in advertising. She hadn't spoken to her younger sister, Harriet, in those years since Harriet ran off and married the love of Cassie's life. During her absence Cassie kept in touch with her father and would meet him in Atlanta for a weekend once a year but refused to return to her hometown of Walton. Cassie believes she has outgrown the small town life and has become a big city snob. The story begins when Cassie must return to Walton after receiving a phone call from her sister with the news that their father is dying.

Cassie leaves Manhattan, her job and her fiancé, Andrew, to return to Walton to see her father for the last time. After arriving in Walton one of the first people Cassie meets is the town doctor, Dr. Sam Parker, one of her childhood friends. Sam is no longer the nerdy, goofy kid she knew but has morphed into an incredibly gorgeous hunk and one of the towns most loved and respected citizens. There are surprises, mysteries, and twists in this book that kept me reading until 4:30 a.m. on more then one night. I could not put this book down! There is hardly an emotion that isn't played on in this story about returning home, old hurts and heartbreak, growing up, letting go, learning what is really important in life and finding one's heart.

Karen White's first book, In the Shadow of the Moon, convinced me that she is an author whose books I will always look forward to reading and re-reading. Falling Home contains the excellent character development, story line, twists and turns and emotional depth that Ms. White consistently creates in her work. Those who read her work will not be disappointed and will ultimately become fans.

Cassie Madison had left her home of Walton, Georgia fifteen years earlier and had never looked back. Her heart had been broken by her younger sister Harriet's marriage to Cassie's long time love Joe. So she ran away to New York and made a new life for herself. But she can't refuse her dying father's wish to return home to Walton.

Returning to Walton is hard, but also a breath of fresh air. Old wounds have mended but new wounds are preparing to unleash themselves upon her soul. Her father is dying and secrets from his past are coming to light. And a childhood friend named Sam Parker is making her feel things that she had forgotten existed-even though she has a fiance in New York that she thought she was in love with.

FALLING HOME is one of those deep novels that I as a reader fall in love with. This is a book I refused to rush through, it was lyrical and beautiful, romantic and tragic. There were moments I laughed aloud, and times I pulled the Kleenex's closer. Cassie is a complex woman dealing with how the memories of her past are effecting her return home. This book should be shared with family and friends and a perfect book for a reader's group. I loved every page and look forward to many more books from Karen White.

Until now, Nora Robert's Montana Sky was the best book I have ever read. Now, Falling Home has replaced my former favorite. It is insightful, side-splitting funny, and hopeful.

Cassandra left Walton, Georgia, fifteen years ago after her sister (who she half raised) eloped with her boyfriend. Obviously, that left a mark. She spent those fifteen years in New York City, working her backside off in an advertising firm with a cold, sorry excuse of a boyfriend.

She does what she swore she would never do. She goes back to her hometown. Her father was dying, and it was his last wish. Love, responsibility, and the small-town life keeps beckoning her. However, she has accomplished so much in New York. She loves the city with all its glamour, sophistication, and opportunities.

For those who wrote the negative reviews on amazon.com, you can butter my butt and call me a biscuit. The south is full of oddities that those of us in the south laugh at and love. I do understand that being family is no excuse for being a doormat; however, when duty calls, you should answer. Cassie understood the south, and she ended up understanding family.

I cried through the last 50 pages. My husband thinks I have lost my mind, and my kids are still laughing about it. I read all 437 pages in 2 days. It is that good. I would just really like a sequel.

Falling Home is one of the few romance novels that I've read that reads in some ways more like women's fiction. This is really Cassie's story, not Cassie and Sam's story.

This is a story about a woman coming home to the small town she left after her sister married her boyfriend...(I know..a very icky premise!) She's come in response to her dying father's last wish.

I pretty much had to force my way through the first half..I would've given it 1 star...it was very slow, not much romance...lots of painful family dymnamics. The last half improved immensely. There are some scenes in the last part of the book that were some of the most poignant, powerful, emotion filled pages I've ever read. Reminiscent of the movies "Beaches" and "Steel Magnolias" I sat on my bed and sobbed. It is truly rare that a book can make me do that. In those moments I felt like I was reading a book that was worthy of a 5 star rating. In rating this book I decided to split the difference between my two experiences and give it a 3 star.

Now for my closing remark. There is a sequel..."After the Rain". I think you could categorize people well in to two groups...those who are interested in reading After the Rain and those who aren't. I loved Joe and Harriet to much to read it. I won't spoil it with any more details. If you read this book, you'll know exactly what I mean. I guess I'm one of those hopeless romantics that believes you get one TRUE love per lifetime.

Cassie Madison would rather forget her hometown. She has an envious high powered career in advertising in Manhattan, a fabulous apartment and clothes, and a rich successful fiancé. She has worked to get her Walton, Georgia accent to disappear, and hasn't been back to see her family in fifteen years. Not since her sister Harriett ran off and eloped with her Cassie's boyfriend. But when her ailing father is on his last breath, Cassie has no choice but head to down Walton to say goodbye. Cassie is reluctant to speak to Harriett, but as time passes and Cassie stays in Walton preparing for the funeral, she can't help but reconnect with her sister and her sister's children. She also unexpectedly develops feelings for Sam, the town doctor, who once was the class geek that Cassie ignored. But how can Cassie give up her high powered life and successful fiancé in New York?

I am a big fan of Karen White, but Falling Home just didn't do it for me. This was a re-released novel of earlier work, and it fell short with me. The plot was good and there were a few suspenseful parts to it, but the characters were a bit boring and slow moving. I found myself unenthusiastic about picking the book back up to read. The story will probably make you cry, I certainly did during the tear-jerker scenes, but the romance was too predictable and uneasy for me to get into. On Folly Beach is still my favorite novel from Karen White.

I loved, loved, loved this book. The characters were so well-drawn, the plot was so realistic (well, almost) and the Southern atmosphere so strong that the book just settles into every crevice of your soul. While there are other books on my keeper shelf, this one just cries out to be reread at least once a year. If I were willing to chance losing it, I'd be loaning it out to every reader I know.

p.s. To the reviewer who said it was stereotypical in its view of NYC, well, I'd agree - and I'm from NY originally - but that was the point, to create a lush non-citified view of life from a Southern porch rocker. And there's nothing wrong with that!

Karen White writes from the heart to bring you a story of love and forgiveness when a young woman returns to her small hometown and finds that what she really wants and values in life is there and not in New York's distant avenues. You will laugh and you will cry as Cassie discovers true love with an old friend and builds new bridges over old hurts with her sister. Cassie is a modern heorine who learns that for her, being "keeper of the hearts," is the most important job she can have.

Welcome to Walton,Georgia, with all it's quirky, flawed, but, oh so lovable residents.This book is a wonderful mix of southern fiction & romance, with a little mystery thrown in, to keep your fingers turning those pages.
Running away to New York many years ago, because of deep family hurt and betrayal, Cassie Madison now finds herself thrust back in Walton. She has to come to terms with her troubled past and deal with the new set of situations and people that are making it difficult for her to leave the place from which she once fled.
Number one reason making the choice so difficult, is Walton's town doctor,Sam Parker (think Josh Lucas from SWEET HOME ALABAMA).But, I can't tell you all about Sam, or the story. You need to run out right now and get this book, because you deserve this treat!
White, a gifted writer, has the ability to make the reader feel as if they're sipping sweet tea alongside Cassie on her front porch swing. The characters and storyline are plausible. Who hasn't experienced hurt and betrayal, from those we once considered closest?
Falling Home was a pure pleasure to read.I read it at every stop light, while on hold with the doctor's office, while having my eyebrows waxed, etc.. you get my point-couldn't put it down.The story ranges from side splitting hysterical("say sweet tea and fried chicken!")to sad, but, hope filled.
Lucky for us readers, we'll get to visit Walton again in White's next book, AFTER THE RAIN- see you there!

In the 2010 edition, the author writes in her note, "I wanted to enhance the book by challenging myself to write it better... And I think I've accomplished this..." Is the author deluding herself? This book is nothing more than a series of stereotypes and caricatures: the snobby north, the noble south, the doormat woman, the vengeful illegitimate child, etc. The most irritating stereotype is the doormat woman, whose role in life is to bear babies (even to the detriment of her own health) and please her man. Other than the sickening Cassie-Harriet-Joe love triangle, the relationship between Cassie and her best friend Mary Jane is similarly disgusting and unrealistic (where a woman politely accepts the relationship between her treasonous best friend and her long-term boyfriend because, "I just can't stand to see him suffer."). Finally, this version of the book is poorly written and poorly edited. For example, the author doesn't seem to know that Pennsylvania and Virginia do not share a border (pg. 9), and the illegitimate child was born on April 10, 1974 (pg. 134) but later mentioned as having been born in April of 1973 (pg. 140). Perhaps I'm nit-picking, but I hated this book. I wish I could get my money back.