Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Book Review: Home Again

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Today I am reviewing Home Again by Mariah Stewart for TLC Book Tours. While they have provided me with a free copy of the book, I am always encouraged to give an honest review.

From the publisher:

Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 27, 2010)

Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she’s an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas’s charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland—the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent. Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind. And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds he’s everything she remembers, and more—and that the spark is still there. But Dallas’s promising new life takes a troubling turn when the unimaginable happens and she finds herself living a mother’s worst nightmare—and Emilio storms into St. Dennis to save the day, along with his damaged career. Trapped in the unwanted glare of the limelight once again, Dallas discovers that it’s coolheaded Grant who is willing to risk everything to protect her and her son, and to secure the future they were always meant to share.

My review: This is one in a series of books about the fictional town of St. Dennis, Maryland. Ms. Stewart paints a lovely portrait of the town and of life on the Chesapeake Bay. For those of us unfamiliar with this area, Home Again provides us with a thoroughly delightful tour.

The story centers around the characters of Dallas, her son Cody, her great aunt who is also a former actress, and the two men in her life, Emilio and Grant. The characters are likeable, except for the obvious bad-guy character of Emilio, and each of them are looking for love and peace. The story follows them on their journey. This is definitely a contemporary romance that deals with the media, with YouTube, and life in the public eye. Mariah Stewart has many contemporary romances to her credit and she knows how to tell a story well.

I had one complaint: the occasional diary entry by the editor of the town newspaper turns up throughout the book and, though I didn’t read it, throughout the previous St. Dennis novel, Coming Home. They don’t really move the plot along and I found myself skipping them as the novel went on.

Home Again is deftly written with a well-plotted story line that should keep all you romance lovers engaged from beginning to end.

About the author:

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-seven novels of  contemporary romance and romantic suspense. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, their daughter and their dogs.

Some Thoughts

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Why is this photo here? Just because I like it. I like the grain of the tiger oak of our sideboard and the clock and its shadow. I wander the house at times, snapping pictures of things I see every day, just for fun.

My last little bit in the previous post generated some interesting comments. There are different viewpoints on this subject of commenting and visiting other blogs. As you know, my concerns were with big-big blogs. But a couple of my readers offered another opinion – that the blog post itself is the form of communication and that comments are a part of the conversation. Maybe we’ve strayed in our expectations, then? Maybe the whole idea of returning comments is not what was originally intended. I must admit, you’ve given me food for thought. Perhaps this whole idea of returning the visit and leaving a comment is an additional pressure that we’ve put on ourselves? I do know that I appreciate it when someone visits me in return and leaves a comment or email and I will keep doing the same. I can’t help it – it’s bred in my bones. Thank you for your  honest responses. I’m a person with strong opinions about all sorts of things (ask my husband) but I don’t usually air them here. I hope I haven’t stepped on anyone’s toes. I must admit, I’m not entirely comfortable in the role of opinionated blogger – at least here at Mockingbird Hill Cottage. So, I’m going to leave this subject.

What the ???? Suddenly leaves are falling everywhere on our property. The gosh-darned maple is shedding its leaves all over my garden. I see hours and hours of raking in my future. Not yet, though. I can’t quite go there.

We’ve just come through 3 days of humid, summer-like weather here. My sinuses are screaming in protest. The dogs and I took a walk and poor Riley was moving very slowly. The humidity is just too hard on his joints.

Do you find that a seasonal change can make you feel a bit blue? I’ve been blue of late. A bit of melancholy has taken over. Yes, I have some very real worries at the moment, but this is a bit different, this feeling. I get a little sad, for want of a better word. I suppose that saying goodbye to summer and knowing that winter and its shorter days is not far away is behind it all.

I must say Happy Birthday to my best friend, Laural. Love you.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

Embroidery, Fall & Just a Bit More on Blogging

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Isn’t embroidery floss pretty? Such an array of colors. I had to run to Michael’s yesterday to get some more shades of green for my sampler.  I’m glad these colors look right, since the one light that wasn’t working at Michael’s was directly above the embroidery floss. At 35¢ each, I threw in a few more colors. You can’t beat the price. Seriously – what can you buy for 35¢ nowadays?

I stitched quite a bit more last night. The wonderful thing about these samplers is the chance to learn new stitches. Last night, I learned the feather stitch, the bullion knot and the coral knot – all while watching baseball. (Try as I might, I can never get the colors right in these photos. They are much more vivid.)

I’ve also been in a major nesting phase – sorting, organizing and dumping. Does this happen to you in the fall? I feel compelled to get everything in order. I’m also getting the urge to paint some pieces of furniture – one or two dark pieces in the bedroom as well as the kitchen table. And, after several months of inactivity, the dollhouse is calling to me. As the days get shorter and colder, I will once more tackle the renovation of my dollhouse.

Leaves are changing color rather quickly around here. Every day I see big changes. Our sugar maple is always the first to change color and the first to drop its leaves. I wonder just how much color we will have this year. It has rained quite a bit in the last month or so, but the first part of the summer was incredibly dry and that can affect how much fall color there is.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about blogging and why we blog. I so enjoyed reading every comment. It sounds is if it struck a chord with many of you.

I’ve spoken about there being room for all types of bloggers out there. But I have one more thing to say about blogging that has to do with basic good manners. House/cottage, nesting, crafting, creative blogs are, by their nature, more cozy and welcoming than are political blogs, for example. I spoke of those bloggers who get hundreds of comments and never return the favor. I realize that keeping up with hundreds of comments on each post is impossible. We’re all busy and sometimes it takes a while before we can return the visit. But when several comments are made over a long period of time and no effort is made to respond, whether by email or a visit to the commenter’s blog, well, that sticks in my craw. It’s rude and there is no room for that.  I know it has happened to all of you. It certainly has happened to me. Those are the blogs I stop visiting.

So here’s my suggestion: If your blog has become so impossibly big that you can no longer take the time to communicate with your readers who are, after all, the reason you have become so popular, then perhaps you should rethink things. Because you might have lost the heart and soul of what made your blog so attractive to begin with.

Okay. That’s all on blogging, at least for a while. I will now descend from my soapbox.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

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