Love Comes Home (Love Inspired)

Rating:
Summary: Could a man from her past be her future?
Review: Dr. Rachel Maguire left her hometown of Sonora twelve years ago to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She left part of her heart in Sonora with her high school love, Josh, but Rachel, fueled by the memory of her biological mother's tragic and needless death, was certain that God's will for her life was to become a doctor and help save lives. Rachel found herself returning to Sonora, though, when her adopted mother, Mom G, was diagnosed with a terminal tumor. Rachel hopes beyond hope that she can save Mom G, but her efforts fail, and she realizes just how alone she is in the world.

Josh Taylor dreads seeing Rachel again, but he tolerates Rachel's presence for the sake of his friend, Mom G. He makes a death bed promise to Mom G to take care of Rachel, but he doesn't know how well he'll be able to fulfill that promise. Rachel lives across the country in Chicago, and Josh's home is in Sonora with his eight-year-old son, Griff. As Rachel cares for Mom G's estate, though, Josh notices that Griff becomes enamored with Rachel - and although he doesn't want to admit it, Josh also realizes that he never stopped loving Rachel. Rachel's life is elsewhere, though, and Josh is determined to keep his heart from breaking again - is there any hope for them to become a family?

I gave this book three stars for the character of Rachel and the writing ability of the author. I loved Rachel - she was emotionally wounded, but she managed to triumph and work to improve others' lives. Some people would allow the horrible tragedy of losing their mother at a young age to completely overwhelm them, but Rachel persevered and made sure her mother's life wasn't lost in vain. The author, new to the Steeple Hill line, is also talented. I'd like to read more from her.

That said, I could not stand the character of Josh at all! That's why I only rated this book with three stars. If the hero had been rational and/or kind, the book would have easily earned four stars. Instead, Josh was usually quite cruel and bitter toward Rachel, I could count the number of times he actually had a nice thing to say to Rachel on one hand. You'd think that someone could show some kindness to a woman who had just lost her adoptive mother, but that just wasn't the case for Josh. Josh always prattled on about how Rachel had hurt him when he left, but he never took the time to consider how it must have hurt her to be put into a position where she had to choose between a career in medicine and marriage, or how much it had hurt her to learn that he had married someone else a mere six months after she left for college!

Instead, Rachel seemed to think that she deserved to be blamed for everything, and be the only one apologizing for atrocious behavior. Josh completely left me cold. If he had truly loved Rachel, he could have waited for her to finish college, or even moved to be closer to her, but those were never options in his mind. He made her choose between an education and marriage, which was completely wrong of him to do. He also presumed to know what God's will for Rachel's life was, and he wasn't afraid to tell her that he knew what God's plan was for her, either. He was so arrogant and insensitive, I had to wonder how Rachel could ever fall in love with him! She must like to be treated badly. The last 50 or so pages of the book were the worst. I just wanted to toss the book and say, 'Ick,' but I managed to stick it out and finish it. I definitely won't be reading this one again.

If you like romance books where the hero is a jerk most of the time and the heroine accepts being treated badly, this is the book for you. If you don't like books like that, you will probably want to skip this one. You may also want to skip this book if you don't like overtly religious books. Unlike most of the Steeple Hill books I have read, this one is less of a 'general clean-read romance' and more of a 'religious romance, with frequent mentions of Jesus and the Christian faith.' The book had promise, but I was really disappointed with it. Hopefully the author's next book (if she writes one) will be better.

Rating:
Summary: Could a man from her past be her future?
Review: Dr. Rachel Maguire left her hometown of Sonora twelve years ago to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She left part of her heart in Sonora with her high school love, Josh, but Rachel, fueled by the memory of her biological mother's tragic and needless death, was certain that God's will for her life was to become a doctor and help save lives. Rachel found herself returning to Sonora, though, when her adopted mother, Mom G, was diagnosed with a terminal tumor. Rachel hopes beyond hope that she can save Mom G, but her efforts fail, and she realizes just how alone she is in the world.

Josh Taylor dreads seeing Rachel again, but he tolerates Rachel's presence for the sake of his friend, Mom G. He makes a death bed promise to Mom G to take care of Rachel, but he doesn't know how well he'll be able to fulfill that promise. Rachel lives across the country in Chicago, and Josh's home is in Sonora with his eight-year-old son, Griff. As Rachel cares for Mom G's estate, though, Josh notices that Griff becomes enamored with Rachel - and although he doesn't want to admit it, Josh also realizes that he never stopped loving Rachel. Rachel's life is elsewhere, though, and Josh is determined to keep his heart from breaking again - is there any hope for them to become a family?

I gave this book three stars for the character of Rachel and the writing ability of the author. I loved Rachel - she was emotionally wounded, but she managed to triumph and work to improve others' lives. Some people would allow the horrible tragedy of losing their mother at a young age to completely overwhelm them, but Rachel persevered and made sure her mother's life wasn't lost in vain. The author, new to the Steeple Hill line, is also talented. I'd like to read more from her.

That said, I could not stand the character of Josh at all! That's why I only rated this book with three stars. If the hero had been rational and/or kind, the book would have easily earned four stars. Instead, Josh was usually quite cruel and bitter toward Rachel, I could count the number of times he actually had a nice thing to say to Rachel on one hand. You'd think that someone could show some kindness to a woman who had just lost her adoptive mother, but that just wasn't the case for Josh. Josh always prattled on about how Rachel had hurt him when he left, but he never took the time to consider how it must have hurt her to be put into a position where she had to choose between a career in medicine and marriage, or how much it had hurt her to learn that he had married someone else a mere six months after she left for college!

Instead, Rachel seemed to think that she deserved to be blamed for everything, and be the only one apologizing for atrocious behavior. Josh completely left me cold. If he had truly loved Rachel, he could have waited for her to finish college, or even moved to be closer to her, but those were never options in his mind. He made her choose between an education and marriage, which was completely wrong of him to do. He also presumed to know what God's will for Rachel's life was, and he wasn't afraid to tell her that he knew what God's plan was for her, either. He was so arrogant and insensitive, I had to wonder how Rachel could ever fall in love with him! She must like to be treated badly. The last 50 or so pages of the book were the worst. I just wanted to toss the book and say, "Ick," but I managed to stick it out and finish it. I definitely won't be reading this one again.

If you like romance books where the hero is a jerk most of the time and the heroine accepts being treated badly, this is the book for you. If you don't like books like that, you will probably want to skip this one. You may also want to skip this book if you don't like overtly religious books. Unlike most of the Steeple Hill books I have read, this one is less of a "general clean-read romance" and more of a "religious romance, with frequent mentions of Jesus and the Christian faith." The book had promise, but I was really disappointed with it. Hopefully the author's next book (if she writes one) will be better.