Romance

The Way Home by Megan Chance

Karen Wheless

Since I haven’t found very many 2013 books that I want to buy, I’m trying to read some of the older books in my TBR.  I first read Megan Chance back in 1996, when I read The Portrait.  Since then I’ve bought her books, but only read one other (A Season in Eden).  I was glad to see that her books have been reissued as ebooks.

The Way Home by Megan Chance
(1997, Western)  5/30/13
Grade: 4

Eliza Beaudry is afraid she’ll spend the rest of her life as a sharecropper’s wife, never leaving the small shack where she grew up.  So she throws herself at Cole Wallace, a gambler who seems exciting.  But soon he’s gone – and Eliza is pregnant.  When her father tracks him down, Cole offers a trade – Eliza can marry his shy brother Aaron who lives on the family farm.  Aaron reluctantly agrees – but he has no idea what to do with a wife.

This was an intriguing book that suffered from some pacing problems.  The author starts with a traditional setup – the small town girl who wants more, and ends up pregnant – but then she twists the story in unexpected ways.  The hero of the love triangle is shy and awkward Aaron, instead of the more conventional hero Cole.  The heroine doesn’t instantly fall in love with Aaron, or magically solve all of his problems with love.  However, there were some issues with the way the book was structured.  The author spent a lot of time devoted to Cole, and not enough time devoted to Eliza and Aaron (particularly Aaron).  She withholds crucial information about Aaron until almost the end of the book, which makes Aaron a cipher for much of the book.  And once we begin to see the connection between Eliza and Aaron, we get a dramatic fire scene and then the book ends.  If the author had included just a few more scenes that explored Eliza and Aaron’s relationship, the book would have felt more complete.  Still, this book was well worth reading.  I’m glad I bought it – twice!  

I debated how to rate this book – the good parts were exceptionally good, but the book still felt incomplete.  Good, but not great.

Karen Wheless

I've been reading romance since I discovered Kathleen Woodiwiss at age 12. I love all kinds of romances, especially emotional and angsty stories. I finally cut back my TBR pile from 2000 books to only 400, but I still have lots of books left to read!

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