A review by leahkarge
Already Home by Susan Mallery
5.0
I want to start out saying that this book is Women's Fiction, not Romance, which is generally what Susan Mallery writes and what I read. I don't read a lot of Women's Fiction so this was a new experience for me. However, I just had to read this because I've read almost everything Mallery has written and I knew it had to be wonderful.
That being said, it did take me a little while to get into the book. Because it was not what I was used to, it took me a while to adapt to Already Home. However, once I did get into, I really liked it. It's definitely a different style but the book dealt with a lot of great issues, most of which revolved around the issue of finding yourself and discovering where you belong in life. There were such issues as divorce, the potential for job failure, the appearance of birth parents that had never before been in your life, romantic relationships, domestic abuse, prostitution, friendship, illness, death, and most importantly, love.
I loved all the characters as I have in almost all of Mallery's books. I thought that they were very well developed, and I could see that Mallery put a lot of hard work into giving all the characters personalities that were real and relatable. As a result of that, I found myself able to get involved in the story and feel like I had a right to get involved in their lives. That, to me, is one of the signs of a great book.
The only thing I was a little disappointed with was that there wasn't as much development of Violet and Dragon's relationship as I would have liked because it came about right at the very end of the novel. And, while I really enjoyed the romantic relationship between Jenna and Ellington, I just wish that the interaction and relationship between Isaiah and Jenna, and even Isaiah and Ellington, could have been in the book a little bit more so that I could get a better feel for the relationships there.
However, like I said, I really, thoroughly enjoyed this book once I was able to get used to the different style of writing. Susan Mallery is one of my auto-buy authors and I'm so glad that I was able to get this book as an ARC from NetGalley.
4.5 stars
That being said, it did take me a little while to get into the book. Because it was not what I was used to, it took me a while to adapt to Already Home. However, once I did get into, I really liked it. It's definitely a different style but the book dealt with a lot of great issues, most of which revolved around the issue of finding yourself and discovering where you belong in life. There were such issues as divorce, the potential for job failure, the appearance of birth parents that had never before been in your life, romantic relationships, domestic abuse, prostitution, friendship, illness, death, and most importantly, love.
I loved all the characters as I have in almost all of Mallery's books. I thought that they were very well developed, and I could see that Mallery put a lot of hard work into giving all the characters personalities that were real and relatable. As a result of that, I found myself able to get involved in the story and feel like I had a right to get involved in their lives. That, to me, is one of the signs of a great book.
The only thing I was a little disappointed with was that there wasn't as much development of Violet and Dragon's relationship as I would have liked because it came about right at the very end of the novel. And, while I really enjoyed the romantic relationship between Jenna and Ellington, I just wish that the interaction and relationship between Isaiah and Jenna, and even Isaiah and Ellington, could have been in the book a little bit more so that I could get a better feel for the relationships there.
However, like I said, I really, thoroughly enjoyed this book once I was able to get used to the different style of writing. Susan Mallery is one of my auto-buy authors and I'm so glad that I was able to get this book as an ARC from NetGalley.
4.5 stars