A Hero's Homecoming

Readers who loved Kate Huntington's bestselling The General's Daughter will be delighted to know the sequel, A Hero's Homecoming picks up the story a few years later with the runaway eloping beauty Isabella and her mysterious "nephew" she now has in tow. Besides his "Aunt Isabella" adorable Jamie seems to have too many parents!! And why is the suspected daddy accused of being a complete rotter, when at the same time he's a national hero all Engand hails? Kate Huntington delivers more fun in this sweet, sweet Regency romance made for a rainy day's escape reading.

A follow up to "The General's Daughter," "A Hero's Homecoming" focuses on Isabella Grimsby and Philip Lyonsbridge, the couple whose elopement ended badly in "The General's Daughter," and Philip's attempts to woo Isabella and to prove to her that he is changed man. Two years ago, Isabella Grimsby was contracted to marry war hero, Adam Lyonsbridge. But Isabella, the daughter of a much decorated and much admired general, had decided that she had no desire to marry a man just like her father -- also, she had fallen violently in love with her fiance's older brother, the rakish Philip Lyonsbridge. The couple eloped, only to have their elopement thwarted when Adam caught up with the couple on the London Road, and shamed Philip into abandoning Isabella and joining the army in order to prove his mettle. Now, 2 years later, Philip has returned, a war hero, in order to face Isabella, and to dazzle her with his heroism. Except that the flirtatious, fashionable young lady he left behind has changed: older, wiser and much more mature, Isabella greets her erstwhile love with bitterness and derision. Taken aback, Philip decides to woo Isabella to the best of his abilities anyway, for he is still very much in love with her and cannot imagine a life without her at his side. What Philip doesn't know is that Isabella has a secret, one that could change his life forever... For starters, "A Hero's Homecoming" cannot, in anyway be classified as a "light" romance novel -- the tone is just a bit too dark and poignant for that. Both Isabella and Philip suffer from having had parents who seemed to have spent their entire lives disapproving of them, and as such, have had their characters and needs shaped by this. And I thought that the author did a good job of conveying this. However, I was a little disappointed that the author never went into why Philip's father behaved the way he did. I was also disappointed that somehow the subplot involving General and Lady Grimsby seemed to overshadow Isabella's story, esp since I had been looking forward to reading Isabella's story ever since I read "The General's Daughter." But those were truly minor quibbles; my main gripe was that this should have been a much longer novel. The author obviously had a lot of ground to cover, and the usual almost 300-odd pages novel length was just not enough! All in all though, "A Hero's Homecoming" made for a satisfying read. The newly matured Isabella and Philip, both deserve a happily ever-after ending, and it was nice to read of them achieving this. (As for the period details that the previous reviewer mentions, I thought that when the author wrote of Philip's a passage for Vienna being booked, she might have meant the crossing of the Channel by ship and then the journey by coach onto Vienna; and as for Viennese pastry shops, well Viennese coffee shops date back to the 1700s, presumably some cakes were served in them by 1814? I didn't spot any other historical gaffes, but then, I'll admit,