Customer Reviews

The Homecoming: A Shelter Bay Novel

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The Homecoming by JoAnn Ross is another incredible story of love and the path to happiness.

Former Navy Seal Sax Douchett has returned home to Shelter Bay, Oregon. He is determined to put his war years behind him and start a much more simpler life. It seems everyone in town wants to honor the war hero at every turn, this is making things that much harder for Sax. His quiet life is disturbed when a long ago buried bone is found on his property. This brings the local law around, which is his high school crush Kara Conway.

Sheriff Kara Conway moved back home to take over as Sheriff after the sudden death of her father. She also is brought home her young son Trey. Both Trey and Kara are learning to rebuild their lives without Jared Conway. Jared was killed in the line of duty and Kara believes Shelter Bay will help them both heal.

Kara sees Sax as a great role model for her young son. He needs a positive male influence in his life. Spending time with Sax involving the bones found on his property has her seeing Sax as more then someone to influence her son.

Sax always had a soft spot for Kara during high school. But he always knew she was Jared's girl. Now he sees her as a strong woman and someone that he wants to get to know on a more personal level.

The Homecoming is stellar. The characters are complex and are dealing with real emotions. Their relationship isn't easy but the journey is well worth any stops along the way. The secondary romance of Kara's mother Faith and her deputy John O'Roarke is exceptional as it deals with love the second time around. You can't go wrong in picking up any JoAnn Ross novel.

The beach along the Oregon coastline is the homecoming destination for Navy SEAL Sax Douchett and former high school classmate and widow Kara Conway. Each is suffering recent losses that leave them vulnerable to one other, recalling unforgotten memories and exploring a chance for love.

Sax returns home to Shelter Bay to be with family and re-enter civilian life. He is the sole survivor of a deadly mission in the hills of Afghanistan that left his comrades and friends dead. The small town is honoring Sax with a hero's welcome parade, but he isn't feeling like a hero: "SEALs don't leave men behind." Sax is not alone, though, as New York Times bestselling author JoAnn Ross uniquely inserts the ghosts of Sax's fallen comrades on his shoulder as "angels on a mission," cheering, joshing and laughing with Sax, easing his guilt. The mission: watch over Sax. The message: the dead are never truly gone, and their memory helps pave the future.

The allure of coastal living saturates THE HOMECOMING, the first in Ross's Shelter Bay series, and invites readers to imagine and savor the vistas: "...looking out over the ocean, where the whitecaps were gilded with silver moonlight...;" "...gaze out the window, where a giant ball of sun was sinking beneath the sea, gilding the water a shimmering gold and bronze..." Ross ravishes her audience with imagery of "a pebbly starfish in a tide pool," "sea lions on the rocks of the sea stacks beyond the tide line" and "whitecapped waves," to the point that readers are like seagulls gliding over the characters.

Ross uses symbolism repeatedly to solidify the theme that Shelter Bay is a haven for the brokenhearted. The location of Sax's house on the cliff overlooking Shelter Bay seems to indicate that each character is on the precipice of something new in their lives. Sax reopens the restaurant his parents ran for years. He names it Bon Temps, meaning "good times," and sets about refurbishing it in time for his brother Cole's wedding. He also engages the help of Kara's young son, Trey, as two men seek to move forward and emerge from the shells of the past. The tide is ever-changing in THE HOMECOMING, bringing new shells from the sea to replace the broken ones on the shore. In the midst of tragedy, Shelter Bay offers renewed hope.

The rocky coast of Oregon draws readers into the grief-stricken lives of Sax and Kara and follows their footsteps in the sand as they reconnect and find a love that extends beyond summer. The pair are no strangers. They were best friends in high school, along with Jared Conroy, whom a pregnant Kara married right before Jared was deployed to Iraq for military service. Jared asked best friend and bad boy Sax to watch over Kara just in case he did not return. Two tours later, Jared did come back safely and became a policeman, only to be killed in a domestic violence call.

Kara's mother, Faith Blanchard, plays a strong role in her daughter's and grandson's lives amidst the recent loss of her sheriff husband's mysterious death. Faith is a successful surgeon, but confesses to Kara one evening that she is wondering "what if?" about her life. In a rare mother-daughter moment, she shares her fantasies with Kara, drawing the two closer.

Sax and Kara navigate the ebb and flow of emotions as Sax befriends Trey and takes him to the VFW hall where he learns more about his dad, the fallen all-American hero. The young boy's acceptance of Sax takes time, and the warmth of Sax's large family envelops him as he remembers his dad, but makes way for a relationship with Sax. Trey observes Sax as he takes care of Kara after a series of seemingly cold case-related physical attacks and comes to realize that the shelter of a father's love and legacy can come from unexpected places.

"Sometimes the best journeys aren't planned down to the nth degree." Sax and Kara could not have known what lay before them in Shelter Cove, but each returned to a place that held family and memories. Ross's series can be defined by the words she writes for Sax: "Besides, no place better to recuperate than on the coast, drinking in all that fresh salt air."

Sax is no longer a sniper spotter. He is still a wizard with flirtation and calls Kara "sugar," but his mission has changed, all because he listened to "...a pull of desire as strong as the tides pounding away at the cliff outside of the house..." and accepted the help of "angels on his shoulder." The Oregon coast has no better publicist than JoAnn Ross, and starting over can be as invigorating as a breeze coming off the ocean bringing the love of our life.

--- Reviewed by Hillary Wagy

I can't give this book more than three stars; Ross has certainly written better. As other reviewers have noted, as a police procedural or suspense novel the plot is very lacking. There is little police work, the bad guy practically walks around with a big black x on his back, and the action consists of one fight and one car chase--neither exciting.

Still its a pleasant read. Ross's writing is good enough to keep you going even when the plot hasn't hooked you. Sax Douchette, an ex-SEAL returning to his hometown after a traumatic final battle in Afghanistan, and Kara Conway, a widowed sheriff with an 8 year old son, are both appealing characters if very similar to many other lead characters in books of this genre.

The little extra that lifted this book above other mediocre novels for me (and for other women my age, I suspect)was Faith, Kara's mother. It seems like the characters in romance novels mostly have childhoods of one of two extremes. Either (like Sax) they come from extremely loving, supportive families with happily married parents or they come from the worst of families and suffer abuse. In contrast, Kara grows up in a solid two parent family, the only child of a sheriff and a doctor. She knows her parents love each other and her, but she can never shake the feeling that she doesn't measure up to her perfectionist mother's standards. At the same time, Faith considers her daughter the strongest woman she knows, but is frustrated by her inability to convey her love and approval to her daughter easily. This definitely struck a chord with me.

Also, Faith gets her own romance with her late husband's best friend. The two mature (sixtish, give or take) lovers actually get to go beyond the hand holding stage and go to bed. Its not the blow by blow description of sex common for younger romantic couples. Hand holding breast is about as explicit as it gets but at least we know they're having an actual, physical relationship they both enjoy.

Note to authors. Romantic suspense-lite is NOT romantic suspense. Writing a series involving Navy SEALs and then suddenly transforming it into boring small town women's fiction before it's over is irresponsible, unfair on your readers, and a complete waste of time. People who like little cosy stories full of conversations about homework and cooking and all that mundane day to day stuff are not the same kind of people who picked up those original books. If you want to change your genre, do it in another series.

This book is so unbelievably boring and occasionally worse - it moved into the realm of stupidity when the hero, Sax (and please don't name your hero something so close to `sex') , started talking to ghosts. The widowed heroine returns to her small hometown - thus continuing the literary trend of `cities = evil, small towns = perfect' - with her son. Of course she has issues with her mother; she has a son who wants to play with a dog; the place is populated by `sweet' meddling old biddies; and everyone spends most of the story reminiscing about home cooked meals of their pasts.

I couldn't even say this was any good as a quick, light read, as there was nothing in it to hold my interest.

Here are a few things that annoyed me:

#1 No heroes worshipping heroines' "perfect" stretch marks. Especially not the first time they make love! Just, no.

#2 NEVER tell us about how a sixtyish man can make his erection "deflate". NEVER.

#3 The heroine puts on a pair of sunglasses so the hero can't see the lust in her eyes. That is beyond silly. Unless this is the Black Dagger Brotherhood and someone's giving off a bonding scent, covering up your lust is more than a little over the top - especially in such a sedate story.

If there is a list of the least sexy things a military hero could say, JoAnn Ross has plenty of phrases to offer. Top of the list for me are : "do the horizontal get-down boogie," and "lookie loo".
Note to authors take #2. If you are `of a certain age', female, and on the conservative side and that's all you feel comfortable writing, then stick to it. If you are `of a certain age', female, and on the conservative side but still want to write about thirty-something military men, then make sure your characters aren't speaking with your voice.

So why did I dislike this books so intensely? Here's how the chapters go:

Chapter One
Sax walks his dog.

Chapter Two
The heroine - Kara - is the town sheriff. She's at the house of one of those small town cosy Interfering Old Biddies. The Interfering Old Biddy has had her letterbox damaged. She's so Interfering she's telling them how to run the investigation while also reminiscing about her days as a schoolteacher. You can tell this book isn't going to be romantic or suspenseful by this chapter alone. Things are not looking good.

Chapter Three
Sax and Kara check each other out and talk about dogs.

Chapter Four
Kara has a long and boring conversation with her mother, displaying some attitudes best left buried in a pre-feminist era. For a twenty-something heroine to say it's natural for mothers to prefer sons to daughters - or something to that effect - wasn't the most progressive of attitudes and thoroughly pissed me off.

Chapter Five
Sax spends the entire chapter speaking to ghosts. Yes, GHOSTS. In an unintentionally comical addition to this bizarre foray into the supernatural, the ghosts still carry their war injuries. I was left picturing all the Hollywood comedies where ghosts do just that. They tease Sax a bit about wanting to do the "horizontal get-down boogie", and then that's that.

Chapter Six
Kara's mother supervises breakfast and they talk about `show and tell' with Kara's son.

On and on it rambled. The murder mystery with a military hero we were promised kind of eventuated eventually, but by then I did not care one bit.

I read some comments by this author that took the attitude that with the `state of the world today' she felt compelled to give up suspense for this slow-moving women's fiction. There seems to be an attitude `better' people are now turning to `more appropriate' fiction. I'm sorry, but that excuse infuriates me. The `state of the world' is no different to any other decade. How about the Soviet Union or the Vietnam War? Or does `the state of the world' only matter when it's happening in the author's backyard? The bad stuff isn't going to go away simply because you put on a fake smile and only read sickeningly sweet small towns stories. If you plan on giving up romantic suspense for this stuff, then just do that. Just don't try to explain it by insulting more adventurous readers.

Rant over.

So I have enjoyed the previous books I have read by this author. This one fell short.

There will be some minor SPOILERS below:

This guy was an ex-SEAL. In this book that was a so what? kind of element. He might as well have been a dentist or a rodeo clown. If you're coming into this expecting romantic suspense, look elsewhere. There was a lame mystery in it. She was a sheriff but there wasn't much solving of the mystery shown. Pages and pages went by without a mention of the mystery. There were only two possible suspects for the killer so you had a 50/50 chance on guessing who done it. The whole book wandered aimlessly around. I found myself just not really caring. There was no suspense in the mystery plot and no heat in the romance. They admitted their love, although she didn't come right out and say it, the hero, heroine and reader knew it. Then the book meandered on for another 30 or 40 pages. With the author telling (not showing) you that they went to various tourist destinations and had a swell time falling in love.

Then there was a very surreal conversation that the heroine had with her mother where the mom tells the heroine about a fantasy that she used to keep herself calm in the hectic early days of her marriage. This scene went on and on telling every detail of how the mother imagined herself living June Cleaver's life. I could see absolutely no point in hearing this for 4 pages. Then suddenly in the middle of the book we shift into the mother's POV as she falls in love with her dead husband's best friend. So a couple of chapters of them bumping uglies. If you're going to have multiple storylines running, you need to start them all off pretty soon in the book so we don't go WTF? 2/3rds of the way through the book.

There was an obvious throw in of a character for a forthcoming book. He was introduced in a very heavy handed way. Not pertinent to the story at all. But then a whole lot of this book wasn't pertinent. I'm not real fond of series set in quaint little towns. There seem to be many, many on the market lately and this is sort of a ho hum addition to the crowd.

Finally, there were ghosts in the book. You weren't quite sure if they were real or part of the hero's PTSD. Since the dog could see them and the air got cold when they were there, I think they were meant to be real. I kind of liked them best of all the book. But the author kind of didn't do anything with them and they were wasted.

Well I might give the next in this series a try but if it isn't substantially better than this one I won't go further than that.

Former Navy SEAL Sax Douchett survived being wounded and alone presumed dead by his mates as the Taliban assassins went after him in the Hindu Kush region. He survived, but even more harrowing was his few weeks of "incarceration" at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Finally he is allowed to return home to Shelter Bay, physically healed but mentally questionable as he still suffers flashbacks.

While walking with his dog Velcro, the Irish Wolfhound mutt deposits a human bone at his feet. As he thinks of the fickle finger of fate, Widow Sheriff Kara Conway receives the dispatcher's excited call re his dog finding the bone. Kara is upset as she left the Oceanside PD to raise her eight years old son Trey in a safe environs following the death of his dad her beloved Jared in the line of duty as a cop handling a domestic dispute. As she works the case, someone wants the inquiry ended. At the same time Kara and Sax fall in love; he knows he loved her as a teen and never stopped while she has a list of reasons not to get involved with the middle Douchette sibling starting with Trey though Sax is so good with her son.

The Shelter Bay police procedural romantic suspense stars two likable lead characters and a strong support cast which obviously including Kara's son; but also SEALs, the memory of Jared, and the townsfolk. The investigative story line is character driven by Kara and Sax who have a myriad of reasons for not getting involved. This novel is JoAnn Ross at her very best!

Harriet Klausner

Everyone in the small coastal town of Shelter Bay, Oregon thinks of Sax Douchett as a hero. Everyone but Sax, that is. After surviving the death of his teammates followed by his capture and torture in Afghanistan, the ex-Navy SEAL just wants to return home and live a normal life, not be celebrated for doing his duty. But a local parade isn't the only thing the former town bad boy is surprised with. When his dog uncovers a human bone on his property, it brings Sax into contact with the girl he'd carried a torch for back in high school.

Kara Blanchard, now Sheriff Kara Conway, has also moved back to Shelter Bay. A widow with an eight-year-old son, Kara's first responsibility is her son and her second is her job. That leaves little time for romance. But as Sax, the man she'd always considered a friend, slowly winds his way into her heart, Kara discovers that perhaps there is such a thing as a second chance at love.

The Homecoming is a charming story of family, old friendships, and new love. Its characters leisurely made their way into my affections, making it easy to become invested in the story as it progressed. I liked Kara, Sax, and their loved ones, and it's the characters more than anything else that have stayed with me since I finished reading The Homecoming. JoAnn Ross beautifully handles not only the subject of soldiers dealing with the horrors of war they have lived through, but what their loved ones at home must cope with as well and for that I commend her.

The Homecoming is the first book in the Shelter Bay series, but fans of Ms. Ross (or those who check out her website as I did), will know that the series is a spinoff of Ms. Ross's High Risk series. Characters from Crossfire and Shattered appear or are mentioned, and I admit this made me want to go and read the High Risk series. Enjoying The Homecoming as I did, I will likely do that as I eagerly await the next Shelter Bay novel.

Shayna
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Widowed sheriff of small coastal OR town investigates the conundrum of human bones found by the dog of the town's former bad boy & ex-Navy SEAL Hero. Her investigation leads to her life being threatened. So heroine & her 8yo son temporarily move in Hero's house. To progress from old friends to lovers, Hero & heroine must deal with their past issues while ensuring their present safety.

Ross can write exciting & fast-paced books but this wasn't one. I was bored from the get-go & it didn't get better. I think it's due to the fact that this book fit more as a women's fiction than romance. Book's content was equally distributed between main character's romance, their interactions with heroine's son, main character's assessment of their past (work, r/s, family), heroine's mom & her new love, & the murder mystery. Hero & heroine seemed to have more dialogue about her r/s with her deceased husband than about their own r/s. Emotional involvement, sexual chemistry & sex scenes were tepid.

Boring romance. Might be an interesting read though if you like women's fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had everything, love, suspense, strong characters and some humor. I highly recommend it.

loved it! navy seal sax is wonderful. as a navy wife he is very accurate. good story.