Homecoming

By: Marian Snowe, Ruby Grandin

Narrated by: Amy Deuchler

Scarlett McKennon’s life in the big city is a big flop.

Her cupcake bakery went under, her roommate at her expensive apartment left her high and dry, and her girlfriend just reacted to “I love you” with “No thanks.” Her sophisticated metropolitan dream has crumbled all around her, and the only thing left to do is pull up stakes and return to the small town where she grew up.

What could be worse than limping home in defeat? The minute she steps off the train, Scarlett finds out: her first love, Joan, is waiting there to drive her into town, looking like the picture of sexy confidence. Joan was once a scared, self-conscious girl; now she’s come into her own as a mechanic and soccer coach, and Scarlett can’t help but wonder what might have been.

Carrying on a secret high-school romance in a conservative town was brutal, and Joan hadn’t been able to take the pressure. She broke Scarlett’s heart in exchange for a “normal” life that was doomed from the beginning. Now that Joan’s divorced, fate keeps putting Scarlett in her path. They may have tried to forget each other, but their chemistry is still undeniable.

Both women start to wonder if they might be right for each other after all... But is the spark they both feel enough, or will their shared past prove too painful to overcome? Find out in this new lesbian romance by wife-and-wife authors Marian Snowe and Ruby Grandin!

©2018 Marian Snowe (P)2018 Marian Snowe

Fantastic narration; characters fought attraction

“Homecoming” is a very well-written and wonderfully-narrated story of two women who spent far too long working hard at not being in a relationship (again).

I really enjoyed the many very fun silly and often snarky observations and comments from both MC POVs.

”If I hadn’t been there to give her a ride, she probably would have ended up sitting on her suitcase on the side of the road. Maybe playing a lonely tune on a guitar, or making friends with cute forest animals” - Joan

MC Scarlett is likable, but her choices confused me, starting with her moving back to her hometown after her business and her relationship failed in NYC. Why? No…not why did she experience problems in NYC, but why return home? She doesn’t move back in with her parents; they’re not even in town as far as I could tell. She doesn’t seem to have a single friend in her hometown, except for her one-time friend and high school lover MC Joan, whom she doesn’t want to bump into, much less spend time with.

There is smoldering attraction between our MCs, but Joan continues to deny to herself and to Scarlett that she’s a lesbian. Joan constantly pushes Scarlett away, and doesn’t even want to be seen in public with her, for fear the community will label Joan as lesbian…or even as a pedophile. Really? Really?

Yes, MC Joan was difficult to identify with. Desperate to be “normal”, she spent high school being as girly, i.e. non-butch, as she could, and desperately hid her lesbian relationship with Scarlett from her peers, from her father…and as much as she could…from herself. She coldly dumped MC Joan when Joan went off to college, maintained her facade of “the ideal doe-eyed apple pie baking country girl image” for herself and everyone around her. She married Brad, who was attracted to her fake image as his own personal rebellion from his wealthy parents. They tried and failed to have children, and eventually he recognized that Joan didn’t really love him so he found another woman to marry moments after divorcing Joan. Joan spends nearly the entire book denying her obvious attraction to Scarlett. I can understand teenage angst and confusion over sexual identity, but it was frustrating spending so much time with someone hidden deep in the closet, and unaware of the acceptance of lesbians in her own small community.

Despite being pushed away by Joan, Scarlett continues to pine for her. Eventually, her gay best friend Timothy arrives from NYC to chastise her for pining for a long-ago high school girlfriend who doesn’t want to have a relationship with her. He drags Scarlett to a lesbian bar, where everyone wants to be Scarlett’s new best friend. Timothy is an enjoyable character, though he is rather an over-the-top portrayal of a gay man…dashing fashion etc.

Well, as the weeks pass, Joan finally questions whether she wants to live her life pretending to be happy, but finds that Scarlett is now dating someone else instead of waiting for her. I liked her girlfriend Alice very much, and actually wouldn’t have minded if Scarlett and Alice had found happiness together. But, this is Scarlett and Joan’s story, and our MCs finally realize that while they may or may not be soul mates, they stop fighting their mutual attraction and decide to take “baby steps” into a future together, and we have a HFN ending.

This is my tirst time listening to a book narrated by Amy Deuchler; I’m happy to report that she was terrific, and I very much look forward to listening to her narrate additional books in genres I enjoy! Her narrative voices and performance really enhanced “Homecoming”.

I rate the audio narration as 5*, the writing as 4.5*, but the story and the characters as 3*. Overall, I rate “Homecoming” as 4* - recommended.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

My rating and my review was not in anyway affected by my having been provided a review copy.

No cupcakes for you

Spoiler warning.

The narrator uses a softer voice for scarlet and a deeper voice for joan. The novel alternates between both love interests' perspectives, but the primary focus is on Scarlet.

Unfortunately, scarlet wasn't the character I could relate to. She's pretty self centered and somewhat spoiled. After losing the love of her life in college, she easily moves on. After her business adventure busts, she moves back to her hometown. (Not sure why since her parents don't live there and she repeatedly says she doesn't know anyone).

I like joan better. Unlike Scarlet, joan seems to be "going with the flow" of her life, working to support her father and marrying a man she doesn't love just so she won't be alone. She's always there to help even though she wants nothing to do with her. She agrees to be friends despite their past breakup. She also plays mentor/substitute-parents to one of the local girls she coaches. I enjoyed listening to her coping with her struggles and finally choosing to make her life her own. I did have two problems with joan. The first is that she ghosted scarlet in the first place. WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT? The second is that after scarlet drunk-calls joan, joan will later drunk-visit scarlet.

There are a few stereotypes like flannel, religion, and the gay best friend with fashion sense. They're used lightly in jest, and they're not *too* overdone. Honestly I'm surprised scarlet bought a toyota instead of a subaru. When scarlet gets into a car accident, I was worried someone was gonna die. But it all ends on a happy note.

I was hoping to have more time with the two together. It feels like a good chunk of the time they're either fighting or not together, right up until the end.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Time, struggle, tbh.

It was a good book to listen, very realistic to hear the struggle just slow.

Have Patience

Is the facts of love. Not your run of the mill girl goes home finds old flame and falls back into love again. I love the separate angst of how or will they or won't they get together.

potential

This is not the best book I've read. This not really even my type of book after getting through it.I was not a fan of the plot and the characters we're somewhat hard to like even the main character.

middle of the road read

Not bad, but also not a huge winner for me. I just never felt any spark between the characters. The whole thing kind of hinges on their past. But all we're really told from the past is about Joan insisting on staying hidden and then breaking up with Scarlet. You don't get any of the passion. Then, in the present, it's more of the same until Joan suddenly decides to change. I understood her fears and felt angst, but no passion at all.

None of this is helped by the writing being heavy on the exposition. We're told almost everything and shown very little. So, there is always a distance from the characters that keeps them feeling flat...and passionless.

The writing itself seems fine and Deuchler did a fine job with the narration. But I'd call this a solid middle-of-the-road read.

Note: I received an audio credit for review purposes. But I chose to listen and review it.

GOOD BOOK!

I enjoyed this book however, I would have probably gotten more enjoyment if this book gave me more on Scarlett and Joan being together. The narration was good and kept you entertained. This was my first book by this author but definitely will not be my last. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

High drama HFN.

I was disappointed with the ending. joan hasn't grown enough and i have no confidence that Scarlett's heart won't be squished, folded, spindled, and and mutilated.

I wanted more to be confident in even a HFN. I did not get a HEA vibe, even if that's what both characters wanted.

Homecoming

The story and the characters were enjoyable. The narrator did a fine job of differentiating between the characters. In my opinion, the only negative aspect was the dialogue of the gay male character. It was cliched and stereotypical. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book and would like to hear more from these authors and this narrator.

This audiobook was provided to me at no charge, and my review is given voluntarily.

Enjoyable

Wish we had seen more of them together without all the fighting, but it still was a pretty good book.