Customer Reviews

The Family Way - A Tabor Heights Novel

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When I read "The Family Way", the first Tabor Heights Ohio novel I've read, my reaction was Wow. I was literally glued to the computer screen until I finished it. This novel has a couple with real problems. Todd, the husband, is a complete jerk because of the way he was raised. Yet the author made him likable because even though he treated his wife horribly, he really did love her, but didn't have a clue how to show it. Lisa, the wife, at first, seems like a saint, the perfect wife who will accept mistreatment because she's so much in love. But when Todd goes one step too far and asks Lisa if the child she's carrying is his, she cracks. All the anger and resentment she held inside instead of communicating with Todd comes bubbling to the surface.

At times during this novel, I wasn't sure Todd and Lisa were going to stay married. Then I didn't want them to be together. I wasn't sure how the author was going to accomplish a satisfying ending to this without making it look trite, but she managed it with flying colors. I intend to read every Tabor Heights Ohio novel that has been published. Michelle Levigne is now on my list of favorite authors. I highly recommend this book.

Levigne has proven time and again that she knows how to captivate her audience. Her characters are strong, yet vulnerable. They are totally believable. The plot is strong and well developed. The more I read of her work, the more I love her. She has become a must-read for me. Anything with her name on it promises to be a strong, captivating her audience.

I highly recommend you read this book. It's a great book, part of her series, but this one could be read as a "stand-alone." Grab the book quickly. You will not be sorry. - Brenda Talley

I enjoyed this book a great deal. It reminded me of our early years of marriage when my husband and I were trying to forge our identity apart from our parents. Fortunately neither of us had to put up with any family members like Lisa's father-in-law, but I do recall a fight over whether or not it was considered bad taste to register multiple colors of bath towels -- a difference in how we were raised.

This book made me nervous at times, b/c I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. And sometimes I wasn't sure I wanted it to work out. Michelle kept me on the edge. She also did a great job in fully exploring human nature and the modes of behavior we often default to when we feel we've been wronged. The characters in this book were an excellent balance - no one too perfect, or too flawed -- which delivered a spiritual message that wasn't just truthful, but also touching. Sometimes these two don't go hand in hand, and I applaud her for this ability.

What I absolutely delighted in while reading this book was the interaction of the characters with those in Michelle's other Tabor Heights novels. It makes you feel like you're bumping into old friends. I definitely recommend The Family Way, as well as the other books in the Tabor Heights series.

And if you're curious, after 18 yrs of marriage we have quite the assortment of colored bath towels, and are happy just to have something to dry off with.