A Home of Her Own

I've read all of the books in Ms. Novak's Dundee, Idaho series, and love them all, but this one captured my heart. Lucky and Mike are perhaps the two most real, emotional and captivating characters I've read in a long time and the tension between them is so perfectly portrayed it lights this book on fire! Honestly, pick up this book and read it. You will not be disappointed.

This is a great romance - the heroine comes back to a town where she is hated and judged because of the character of her late mother - it is heart wrenching to read about how cruelly she is treated based on people's mistaken impressions of her. She's home to find out who her father is, but while she's there, she falls in love with the last person she should - the grandson of one of her mother's former husbands. Her mother destroyed his grandfather's marriage, so his mother and father hate her and her whole family. He tells her they can never have a relationship but keeps sneaking around to see her and only realizes how much he needs her when she walks away. This is a real tear jerker - get the kleenex - you'll need it!!

I have three words for you that best describe this book: Terrific Tear Jerker. Keep the box of tissues handy, you'll need them when you read A Home of Her Own. The time the author takes to challenge and develop the main characters allows you the chance to really understand them and feel for them. The relationship develops and ultimately heats a white hot fire that combusts and alters everything for both characters. The heroine is extraordinary, and she has you rooting for her on page one. The story is poignant, and engaging. The hero is the alpha who makes a series of changes as he evolves, and ultimately wins you over. The author masterfully introduces a wide cast of other characters without overwhelming the reader, overshadowing the Hero and Heroine, or drowning the story in confusion. The past is brought up without talking head back-story. The heroine has come back to a town that despised her family and treated her with unfounded malice and complete mean spiritedness. That hasn't changed, but she has. She's got a tougher exterior, and she's got a mission: find her real father. The hero is the son of the family that used to own her home, the family that broke to pieces when her mother stole his father away. The townsfolk, with few exceptions, take sides, and continue with the rotten treatment, but the hero, in the midst , is given a front row seat to that treatment and realizes how wrong and misplaced it is. He learns the true woman behind the gossip and falls head over heals. His own family will disown him, but he can't live without her. Her own evolution brings her full circle as well, in a moving and gripping manner that help her to finally heal. I can't say more without ruining this truly wonderful tale. All I can say is read it and weep!

Brenda Novak is a Superb Writer. I couldn't put this book down. She gets all your emotions running as you read this book. You get to know the characters and understand from their point of view about the situation. Not many writers can pull that off. When you can make the reader root for the underdog and also understand the suppossed villain's point of view, then you can write. That is precisely what Ms. Novak is able to do. I think anyone who buys this book will definately like Ms. Novak's style and story.

At least, that is what Lucky Caldwell's mother always said; but Lucky was neither rich nor lucky. Lucky had left Dundee, Idaho six years ago, ready to be free of her mother's bad reputation and the hatred the citizens of Dundee held for her entire family. She comes back to Dundee in an attempt to find her father, the father she has never known. It doesn't take long for her to run into Mike Hill, her teenage crush - and member of the family who hates her the most. She still has a crush on him, but it's hard to love someone who hates you because of who your mother was. Mike Hill hated Red Caldwell for marrying his grandfather, Morris. He hated it even more than Morris had left the Victorian house and a substantial amount of money to Lucky, Red's daughter. Now Lucky's all grown up, and he can't help but find himself attracted to her. With his parents hating Lucky with all they have, and most of the town backing up the Hills, Mike knows nothing can ever be allowed to develop between them. Now, if only he could convince his heart of that. I loved Brenda Novak's "A Family of Her Own," and I was hoping that I would love this book just as much. I wasn't disappointed. I really felt for Lucky - she'd been through so much, and she had enough courage to return to a town where nearly everyone hated her just because of who her mother was. I felt so bad for her sometimes, because behind the tough exterior she was a really nice girl - most people just didn't care to know that. I was just rooting for Lucky the entire book, because with all of the hurt she had been through in her short life, she needed a happy ending in the book. Mike was a pretty good character, too, and you definitely see the struggle he goes through, loving Lucky but loving his family as well. This book definitely doesn't do the typical "small towns are pieces of heaven" routine. This small town was vicious, people were hurtful and held on to grudges long after they should have been let go. The only thing that I didn't like was - you never find out who Lucky's father is! I suppose that is going to be revealed in the next book set in Dundee ("Stranger in Town," coming out in May 2005). With all of the emphasis placed upon Lucky's search for her father, I really think the author should have revealed who he was in this book. Other than that, this was a great emotional romance that really tugged at the heartstrings.