Long Way Home

After 2,555 days in prison, Duncan Malone must shake the smell, sounds, and other taints of prison life. The worst smell was of hopelessness, defeat, and anger. With no where else to go, Duncan returns to his farm in Wichita, Texas, although it now belongs to a stranger by the name of Virgil Lewis. As the truck driver pulls out, leaving Duncan in front of the small town restaurant Good Eats, everyone watches his entrance. Waitress Franki Taylor, seven months pregnant, can't help noting his good looks as he takes a seat with his back to the crowd. Too bad Ada, the lady at the cash register, publicly recognizes him before he can even order. She reminds everyone he spent eight years in prison for the death of bank president Robert Sims Senior. With her grandfather Virgil in the hospital with a lung infection, Franki must hire some help for the farm. Since the father of baby, Bobby Sims who's now married to another woman, is the president of the only bank in town, everyone listens when he says he doesn't want anyone to help Franki; in fact, he'd just as soon that she left town. Duncan wants to work for Franki so he can in Wichita near his mother who lies comatose in a nursing home. Despite Bobby's objections, Franki hires Duncan risking the mortgage as Bobby retaliates. Adversity brings Franki and Duncan together, and as love blossoms, they must both cope with the Sims family history to find peace and happiness. LONG WAY HOME is an engaging contemporary romance. The glimpses of small town life in which the "bad boy" returns from prison to make good takes on a almost poetic tone in Janis Reams Hudson's lyrical prose. The strong emotions are portrayed with compassion and understanding, creating a novel rich in nuance. Very highly recommended.

He counted every day, all 2555 of them, that he spent in prison for the accidental killing of Robert Simms, the Washita, Texas banker. Now free, Duncan Malone returns home knowing nothing will ever be the same. His mother lies in a catatonic state after wrapping a car into a tree not long after Duncan's conviction. Someone named Virgil Lewis owns the family farm. Finally, he needs to deal with the town's reaction of a murderer living amidst them.Duncan learns that Virgil's granddaughter, seven month pregnant Franki, is looking to hire someone to work the farm. No one will take the job because the town wimps all wait for Bobby Simms, Robert's son and current banker, to okay working at the Lewis place ever since he impregnated the lass. Franki hires Duncan over the objections of Bobby, who uses the mortgage as a weapon as he makes life miserable for Duncan and the Malones. In spite of Bobby's interference, Franki and Duncan fall in love, but both have a history involving the prominent Simms family to overcome.LONG WAY HOME is an enjoyable contemporary look at modern day, small town life when the "bad boy" returns home from prison to raise the Texas temperatures a few degrees. Although the story line has been used in movies and books, talented Janis Reams Hudson makes it seem fresh because her key characters contain traits that make their motives understandable. Fans of contemporary rural romances will relish this rousing tale of redemption.Harriet Klausner