Home at Last (Signet Eclipse) [Paperback]

Jerri Corgiat (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet Eclipse | Publication Date: August 2, 2005

The youngest daughter of the O’Malley clan, Marigold (Mari), returns to Cordelia, Missouri after her big city career took a lurch in the wrong direction, propelled by an affair with a married man. At home, she is enlisted by her sisters to take care of their mother, recovering from a heart attack and subsequent surgery. Mari’s heart needs mending, too, though, and the tonic she finds is strong medicine--a relationship with a “bad boy” childhood friend. In HOME AT LAST, Ms. Corgiat tells the story of many journeys home--not just Mari’s, but that of the troubled children of Lilac and Jon, the focus of the first book in this moving series.

HOME AT LAST is part of the LOVE FINDS A HOME series. All five books, originally published by Penguin's Signet imprint to critical acclaim, are set in Cordelia, Missouri. Two were featured selections of Literary Guild, Doubleday and Rhapsody book clubs. Although the books do not need to be read in order, HOME AT LAST is the third in the series.

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ABOUT JERRI CORGIAT
Award-winning author, editor and former bookseller Jerri Corgiat lives in the Midwest with her husband, son, dog Rosie—and the true queen of the house, their cat, Princess Piggy-Britches. Their home is located in rolling woodlands reminiscent of the Ozarks, where she spent her childhood summers and where the Love Finds a Home series took root in her imagination. She is currently working on her sixth book.

Read an interview with Jerri Corgiat at the Istoria Books blog:
http://istoriabooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/abso-damn-lutely-romance-deserves.html


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WHAT CRITICS SAY ABOUT THE LOVE FINDS A HOME SERIES

-- "If a reader is very lucky, sometimes a new author will come on the scene and steals her heart... Jerri Corgiat is that kind of author, and Follow Me Home is that kind of incredible book." -- Affaire de Couer

-- "...a talented mix of plot, characters and emotional discovery. Fast-paced, with flowing phrases and realistic characters and situations..." Readers & Writers Ink Reviews

--"An intricate, well-written tale of family drama...a compelling story." -- Romantic Times Book Club

--"...a powerful tale. The pages turn quickly...a superb character study of human strength." -- Diana Risso, Romance Reviews Today

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BOOKS IN THIS SERIES, ALL BY JERRI CORGIAT:
Sing Me Home
Follow Me Home
Home at Last
Home by Starlight
Take Me Home

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Mari O'Malley is 30, broke, out of work, and still trying to achieve her dream life of becoming a prosperous resident of a big, bustling city. So when sisters Lil, featured in Sing Me Home (2004), and Alcea, from Follow Me Home (2004), insist that Mari take on the day-to-day postsurgical care of their mother, she reluctantly agrees to return home to the small town of Cordelia, Missouri, for the summer only to find herself embroiled in a tempestuous affair with a childhood friend while she considers a job offer from a prosperous former lover and worries about her nephew by marriage, Michael, now a troubled teen who has been sent to a psychologist-staffed summer camp to work out lingering issues from his wretched childhood with an abusive mother. Corgiat skillfully interweaves the lasting legacies of child abuse, alcoholism, and infidelity and adultery into this hard-hitting contemporary southern romance featuring a likable, if flawed, adult Dorothy trying to decide where she really belongs: Oz or Kansas. Lynne Welch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Signet (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451216210
• ISBN-13: 978-0451216212
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,345,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and engrossing, September 29, 2005

By 

A Lancaster, PA reader (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home at Last (Signet Eclipse) (Paperback)

This is much more than a romance. It is the story of a woman trying to find herself while she shakes free of the past. But while readers will enjoy reading of Marigold O'Malley's attempts to find herself and the true meaning of home, they'll also be touched by the sense of "forgiveness" that permeates this well-told tale. Mari's new love, Andy, has a great deal in his past that requires a forgiving heart, at the same time he has to discover what it means to forgive others. His struggle is all the more poignant given his choice of work -- in a camp for troubled boys. This latter setting deepens an already-rich story as the backgrounds of the troubled boys are revealed. It's no wonder the author dedicated the book to those who work with such kids. The author is a master of description. You will feel you are breathing the humid summer air of the Ozarks and hearing the voices of her lively characters. I highly recommend this novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars terrific O'Malley contemporary romance, August 3, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home at Last (Signet Eclipse) (Paperback)

Eight years ago, Marigold "Mari" O'Malley fled Cordelia, Missouri for Kansas City vowing to never return. However three strikes propel her to go home. First her career tanked; next her love life collapsed; finally and most critical her beloved mom suffered a heart attack and resides in the cardiac care unit of St. Luke's Hospital. Her mom's health accentuated by pressure from her siblings Lil and Alceca is the reason Mari rationalizes as to why she is in Cordelia.

Former troublemaker Andy Epplewaite has struggled but turned his life around. Now he works with troubled teens trying to help them straighten out their lives. He wants Mari, but she is reluctant as her last relationship was a disaster. As he gets her involved in his work, they fall in love, but she has a secret that she knows she must tell him though she expects once she reveals the truth he will send her away to Kansas City.

The third "Home" tale (see FOLLOW ME HOME and SING ME HOME) is a terrific O'Malley contemporary romance that stands alone because Jerri Corgiat cleverly intertwines the key elements from the previous novels into the fine story line. Andy is fabulous as a reformed bad boy while Mari is his ideal counterpart struggling between love and shame. Although a major but almost feeling like an implausible twist of fate propels the plot to its conclusion, fans will appreciate the final story in the O'Malley sisters' you can find love at home trilogy.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 stars, third in the series, December 12, 2008

By 

D. K. Stokes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home at Last (Signet Eclipse) (Paperback)

This one is the story of Mari, the youngest sister, who tried to derail the romance in the first book. She's a hard character to like--a typical youngest child: self-centered & spoiled, used to getting her own way.

An affair with a married man effectively derailed her career, and now she's out of a job, out of money, and pressured by her sisters to stay with her mother who's recovering after a heart attack.

She renews her acquaintance with a childhood best friend, Andy, who she remembers as an always-in-trouble drunk.

here's also a secondary plot thread about Jon's (from the first book) now-teenage son Michael who's having psychological problems and the effect it's having on Jon & Lil's marriage.

I docked this one a half star because Mari was so hard to like, but the writing is superb. The story's all about family and acceptance and blame, and though it has those women's fiction-y themes, its tone (and happy ending) is pure romance. Not a comfortable book to read, but very satisfying.