Book Review: Home Again

Author: Mariah Stewart
Title: Home Again (The Chesapeake Diaries Book 2)
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Publish Date: July 27, 2010
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provide By: TLC Book Tours and the publisher
Book Blurb: Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she’s an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas’s charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland—the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent.

Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind. And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds he’s everything she remembers, and more—and that the spark is still there. But Dallas’s promising new life takes a troubling turn when the unimaginable happens and she finds herself living a mother’s worst nightmare—and Emilio storms into St. Dennis to save the day, along with his damaged career. Trapped in the unwanted glare of the limelight once again, Dallas discovers that it’s coolheaded Grant who is willing to risk everything to protect her and her son, and to secure the future they were always meant to share.

Review: I didn't think it was possible to create a better story than Coming Home, the first book in The Chesapeake Bay series, but with Home Again, Mariah Stewart did just that. This book is more relationship oriented than the first, and for me that was a good thing.

There is some drama in the last 40 pages, but it really isn't anything that affects the story much.

I loved the character's in this story...I think it is possible that Dallas, and Beryl and Cody are some of my favorites. Both Dallas and Beryl are actresses, though Beryl hasn't done much work in recent years, but you can't take the actress out of her.

She really brings excitement to the story. She's a doting aunt and she spoils the dickens out of Cody, who is one of the cutest kids in any book I've read recently.

The love affair between Dallas and Grant is one of second chances. They were high school sweethearts that parted because of Dallas' desire to act. But their's isn't the only second chance in this story.

This series reads like a small town soap opera, only with less sex. These books are very light on the romance, and high on the relationships. Once you meet the cast of characters, you really feel like you know them. In this story you get to know Dallas and Grant and their families, which means you also get to know a bit more about Steffie, the owner of One Scoop Or Two.

I devoured this book in one day, and since it was well over 400 pages, I'd have to say that was because it was such a great read!

Rating: 5 flowers