Home Again (The Chesapeake Diaries)

Dallas goes to relive small town life in St. Dennis to get away from the scandal of her husband Emilio and reconnect with the people from her childhood town. She moves in with her Aunt Berry and begins settle into a quieter lifestyle. Her son Cody has some problems adjusting to his new situation, and Dallas realizes that her adult life choices are affecting her son. It begins to mar his confidence going forward, and Dallas struggles with her decisions for her family. Grant Wyler is the town vet and the former beau of Dallas. Dallas and Grant are drawn together like powerful magnets. They have an easy connection that they can't deny. But the timing may not be right for them to rekindle their romantic relationship. Emilio comes after her in St. Dennis. Speculation and assumptions are high and a potential disaster is avoided, bringing Dallas closer to Grant and solidifying their feelings for each other. Grand and Dallas work to put the pain of loss behind them, and work to find new love again. The reader will empathize with the characters and the story progresses at an even pace. The story foresees more on the romantic aspect of the character's lives, and it does include some moments of moderate suspense, but the story line resolves itself at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to an audience of any age.

I have enjoyed all of Mariah Stewart's novels, and while I prefer the suspense in her earlier novels, I found Home Again to be a very enjoyable read. I loved the interactions between the characters and the descriptions of small town life. I also enjoyed the diary inserts written by Grace, the newspaper editor, who gave a hint of what to expect in the next book in the series. This book provided an easy, thoroughly entertaining, and satifisfying experience.

First it is a pleasure to read a book that is the second in a series and have it also stand alone. You don't have to read the first in order to know and enjoy the story. Of course this is mainly a romance and pretty predictable, but don't let that stop you from reading it. It is enjoyable and does capture the feel of the Eastern shore, even if it takes place in a non-existent town. In many ways the town is reminiscent of St. Michaels, with the exception of saying that the primary love interests, Dallas and Grant are given crackers and a pick to `pick' crabs. No self respecting crab house would give you the tools to clean a lobster, they hand out knives and wooden mallets. Dallas and Grant do meet because of worms, not discussing them- as some other reviews have said, but he throws them at girls who are being nasty to her when she is crying over the death of her father, not her sister. She only has a brother, it was Grant's sister who died - they both had terrible losses in their family. Dallas' beloved aunt, who has raised her also has a lost love. Dallas has returned to her aunt's home after the tabloids and internet have shown very revealing pictures of her husband's love life - there are no half truths about what they are telling and she wants her child, Cody away from the glare of the publicity. A diary, inserted in spots, written by a local newspaper editor serves as a summing up of what is happening; however the italic printing can be hard to read. The characters are all too perfect, but that also makes for a romantic novel that is easy to read. It, like many books of this genre shows romance, and some problems, but then, alls well that ends well - it's how we get there that is the interesting part. The Eastern shore can be a bucolic refuge and is well and mostly accurately pictured in this book which those who enjoy a nice romantic book will have their time well spent reading this and will probably be inspired to pick up more of Mariah Stewart's works.

Dallas MacGregor knows she has come a long way since moving to St. Dennis on the Maryland side of Chesapeake Bay from New Jersey back in 1983. She hated the change until she met and debated worms with Grant as she lived with energetic Great Aunt Berry just after her four years old sister died. In 2010 she has become an award winning actress. However, her wonderful Hollywood lifestyle is nuked when her soon-to-be-former spouse, movie producer Emilio Baird is involved in a sex scandal that causes a nightmare for Dallas as the tabloids investigate and bombard her with innuendos and deliberate half-truths and lies. Sick of the unfair furor and wanting to keep her son Cody safe from the feeding frenzy of the media nasties, she flees from Southern California with her child to Aunt Berry's abode where she remembers spending her happiest childhood moments. There she and veterinarian Dr. Grant Wyler soon meet and both understand deja vu as they still are attracted to one another. However, his performance is sidetracked when Cody and his new best buddy Logan vanish and a frantic Dallas panics. Emilio followed by the media storm rushes to Maryland in order to salvage his career by performing as the doting husband and concerned father. However, while he acts for the cameras, Grant performs in the field for the woman and her son he loves. The latest Chesapeake Diaries family drama (see Coming Home) is an entertaining contemporary second chance at love romance. Dallas is the star as the link between Hollywood and St. Dennis while the rest of the cast play second and third banana support roles. Although the comparison between a shallow Hollywood and a profound Chesapeake Bay seems exaggerated on each coast, readers will enjoy Dallas' coming Home Again. Harriet Klausner