Nice to Come Home To [Hardcover]

Rebecca Flowers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2008

A funny, entertaining novel of love and family for our times: a single woman who fears she's lost her chance at a family of her own, begins to accumulate an ad hoc one around her.

In the tradition of Elinor Lipman or Marisa de los Santos (Love Walked In), Flowers delivers a smart, witty, appealing story of love, family, and community that breaks the mold of the conventional love story-and will have readers cheering.

Everyone around Prudence Whistler, thirty-six, seems to be settling down. Her once single girlfriends have married and had babies. Her gay best friend is discussing marriage with his partner. Even her irresponsible younger sister, Patsy, is the single mother of a two-year-old. But when Pru panics at losing her mediocre boyfriend of two years-and begins to see the door to her traditional family life closing-she accidentally finds something even better: a new definition of family and happiness. First, it's the crazy cat who moves into her apartment. Then come Pru's headstrong sister and two-year-old niece. Then the niece's dog, the sister's ex-boyfriend, and, ultimately, Patsy and Pru's widowed mother. With the strength of her modern new household, Pru musters the confidence to open the dress shop she's always wanted in town-and discovers an extended family of sorts in the community of shop owners and devoted customers. It's only then that she ends up with the man of her dreams. Endearing, romantic, and satisfying, Nice to Come Home To is a charming, crowd-pleasing debut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though she's methodically navigated 36 years by making lists and plans, D.C. resident Prudence Whistler's carefully constructed life is about to get shaken up. She's let go from the nonprofit job that never did much to fulfill her in the first place. Then Rudy—who she's finally decided will suffice as The One—condescendingly dumps her. But before she has too much time to stew, her loved ones rally 'round: catty, coupled college friends; her younger sister, Patsy, the unmarried mother of a two-year-old; and John Owen, the in-divorce-proceedings diner owner Pru first encounters while schlepping Rudy's television out to the curb. This crew's the catalyst for a series of adventures and lifestyle shakeups that has retail-addict Pru wondering whether her love for fashion could deliver more than the latest Marc Jacobs dress. And then there's the ongoing coffee klatch at John's diner that inspires the big question: is Pru in the market for getting-each-other-through-a-bad-time-love with John, or is it time to stick her neck out for real-love love? Readers may find Pru's early bad luck streak contrived, but as her lovable friends and neighbors spring into action, the well-written story rounds out and rolls toward a satisfying finish. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Flowers’ warm, winning debut, set in Washington, D.C., finds 36-year-old Pru Whistler down on her luck. She has been laid off her job, and her boyfriend, Rudy, whom she hoped was going to propose, unceremoniously dumps her. Lost and uncertain of her next step, Pru finds herself gravitating toward the local coffee shop and its handsome owner, John Owen, who is grappling with a divorce. Then Pru is stuck with her ex’s hellion of a cat and visits from her two-year-old niece after her sister Patsy, a single mother, meets her dream guy. Amid all the chaos, Pru takes a job as a salesgirl in a boutique clothing store and discovers her hidden affinity for fashion. Pru’s witty, funny observations and her attempts to pick up the pieces of her life and journey down a road she never expected to be on will have readers cheering her on in Flowers’ engaging, heartfelt, wise, and deftly written novel. --Kristine Huntley

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (April 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594489610
• ISBN-13: 978-1594489617
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,346,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great in so many ways, April 22, 2008

By 

Joseph M. (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nice to Come Home To (Hardcover)

When I read a book, I'm looking for a lot--a great sense of place, characters that I actually care about, and a story that feels like it's going somewhere. I like to feel that these characters mean something to me, going about their lives in an interesting place, doing interesting things, and that stuff is going on.

Pru and her sister seem real, seem like women I've known, have hopes and desperation and humor the likes of which I know, and their lives don't seem like programmed steps in a novel-writing formula of what-should-happen-next, but instead unfold with the real, gentle grace of real life ... only a bit wittier, a bit snappier, and with a bit more style. The writing is really smart, funny, and has such a great voice--if you don't know exactly what that means, read this book--you'll start to see and hear the world through Pru (and Flowers's) gimlet eye--sharp, whip smart, and with a tangy wit.

And the story goes on in two fully realized places, both DC and the beach ... I've read a lot of fiction with a great sense of place--from Marcus Sakey's Chicago to Elmore Leonard's Detroit and Miami, Lehane's Boston, and Pelecanos's DC ... and while Flowers isn't hard boiled like those guys, she creates a DC that is real and lived in and immediate, just like Pelecanos and the rest ... a really lovely, meaningful, and intelligent book, that stayed with me long after I put it down. Good stuff.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judging a Book by its Cover: Don't, April 13, 2008

By 

R. M. Ettinger "rme1963" (Cleveland Heights, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nice to Come Home To (Hardcover)

If it looks like chick-lit, it must be, huh? But that ain't necessarily so.

It's hard to deny that the marketing of 'Nice to Come Home To' is geared towards the female gender, but that would be selling it short. The story encompasses more than girl-stuff. It's life-stuff.

Flowers makes her characters real: situations, dialogue, development and flaws. The reader can relate to all - even the cat. The writing is smart and clever which is what is usually missing in most novels that get pigeon-holed into this market.

I'd encourage you to check the book out - regardless of age or gender. I believe 'Nice to Come Home To' would be something anyone who picked it up would enjoy.

I did.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts the "lit" back in "chick lit." And it's funny!, April 11, 2008

By 

P. Orloff (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nice to Come Home To (Hardcover)

I loved this book. As the other reviewer notes, it does draw on "Sense and Sensibility" for its plot, but the updating is so clever, and the characters so true, it completely stands on its own merits. Rebecca Flowers has the gift of making you chortle and sob in the same scene, and her prose is just beautiful. This is the story of a woman who initially cannot get out of her own way, but thanks to Flowers' compassion and genius, Prudence still manages to find her true self, and true love. This novel is fresh, smart and utterly relatable for any single (or formerly single) woman. I can't wait to read it again!