Customer Reviews

Here With Me

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Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Holly Jacobs concludes her sweet and tender Perry Square series with yet another touching love story that shows us home is not a place, but a feeling.

The morning Mary Eileen Singer turned thirteen, she performed a ritual that was supposed to reveal her future husband. Unfortunately for her, the only person brought to her was one boy she felt she'd never love.

Fast forward several years. Lee Singer is recovering from a disastrous marriage and a heartbreaking loss. She's made a quiet life for herself on the shores of Lake Erie, designing and selling beach glass jewelry. When she leases out the neighboring cottage to Adam Benton, she never expects the change he brings.

Adam has changed a lot from the young boy who knew Lee as a child. Now he's all grown up and has some hard decisions to make. He's been appointed guardian to his year-old niece Jessie but has no idea what to do. He is taking a break from his busy New York life to determine if he is able to handle the split responsibilities of work and family when he walks back in to Lee's life.

Lee and Adam are just getting to know each other again, finding there is a spark of attraction between them. Just as they are adapting to their newly entwined lives, Lee's parents show up out of nowhere, on an extended vacation to start of their retirement as nomads in an RV. How will Lee even begin to accept all these new changes in her life? What happens when Adam returns to New York? As Adam and Lee, and little Jessie grow ever closer, they learn that home is not always a physical place... but is found within the heart.

Once again Holly Jacobs has given us a touching story of love lost, love found, and lives changed. Lee has a wounded spirit as a result of her broken marriage. She is afraid to give so much of herself ever again. Adam's life was going great when the death of his uncle and aunt brought Jessie in to his arms. Long repressed doubts from his childhood, and the pressures of his job make him doubt his abilities to balance work and family. He and Lee bring to one another all the things they are lacking. Yet they both carry a lot of emotional baggage to overcome if they should hope to be happy.

Home and family are key elements in all of the Perry Square novels, and this one is no exception. The arrival of Lee's parents brings to the forefront all her old bitter feelings about her relationship with them while she was growing up. It is hard for her to accept that two people who never seemed to make much effort to bond with her could suddenly long to be a part of her life. Holly Jacobs tackles this sensitive subject with ease in Here with Me, using her unique brand of humor to draw readers in to the story of so many different complicated relationships.

Readers will love a chance to revisit other beloved members of Perry Square. As always, Pearly Gates, my favorite secondary character of any books I've read, adds a touch of whimsy with her long winded stories about the zany members of her family. She really makes the story sparkle, giving lessons to Lee and Adam in her own individual way.

Though Here with Me brings an end to our visits to Perry Square, this cornerstone of the big city with a small town spirit, will continue to live on in the hearts and minds of all of Holly's loyal fans.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, June 2006. All rights reserved.

Lee Singer loves living in Presque Isle, Pennsylvania when her worrisome mom calls at the same time a hunk enters her store, Singer's Treasures. She hangs up quickly; the customer offers to pay rent for a month to live in a cottage she owns. The next day, New York businessman Adam Benton and his toddler cousin that he is guardian of, move into the cottage. Adam reflects how his parents died when he was young; he went into fostering until Uncle Paul rescued him. Now Paul and his wife Cathie just died and though mourning his loss, he needs to decide what to do with their daughter Jessie.

Adam remembers Lee as Mary Eileen Singer when they played together as children in Presque Isle. Lee recognizes that Adam Benton is her childhood pal Matty Benton. As the duo works together to raise a faster than a locomotive (not Amtrak) infant, they fall in love, but she is small town while he is urban. Even with her parents moving into the backyard and playing matchmaker, this pair seems destined to separate just as they did when they were children.

HERE WITH ME is an amusing contemporary romance starring a likable cast. Lee and Adam are an amiable pair with flaws and desires that may prove love is not strong enough to survive their needs. The secondary characters add humorous trouble to the mix as her parents arrive in town to find her a husband and the baby acts like a one year old (thankfully avoiding the common error of a precocious wise matchmaker belying her age). Fans of warm romances will want to read HERE WITH ME hoping to see a family of three.

Harriet Klausner