Guest Review: Home Sweet Home – Bella Riley

Home Sweet Home by Bella Riley
Series:  Emerald Lake #1
Release Date:  October 1, 2011
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Page Count:  368
Source:  NetGalley
Buy the book at: Amazon 

What if you can go home again?
Ten years and two hundred miles. That’s what separates Andi Powell from quiet, secluded Emerald Lake-and that’s exactly how she likes it. But now her job brings her back to the hometown she’s tried so hard to forget . . . and to Nate Duncan, the man she’s never been able to. 
Nate once looked at Andi with love in his eyes. But that was before she left him in the dust to pursue her big-city dreams. Now he’s the town’s ruggedly handsome mayor with the power to break Andi’s career like she broke his heart. As the two clash over the future of Emerald Lake, the sparks that fly between them rekindle a passion neither of them can deny.
Andi may have left town looking for the life she thought she wanted. But could everything she needs have been in Emerald Lake all along?
Bella Riley, also known as Bella Andre (who knew? not me!) has written a lovely story about coming home again, back to the place that esentially, made you who you are.

Andi Powell returns home to submit her proposal to begin the building of several condos in her hometown of Emerald Lake.  Since her father’s death a year ago, Andi has been struggling to come to terms with her grief and fears her job may be at risk.  So, she, in a moment of panic, suggests Emerald Lake for the site of her client’s new development.  What better place for a new vacation/retirement spot that the beautiful shores of Emerald Lake.  The only challenge is returning home and convincing the town mayor to back her and her proposition.  The tricky part?  The town mayor is her high school love.  A love she’s never quite forgotten or gotten over.  It’s been 10 years since she left his life and his town, but has she left his heart?  


This story has many facets and is told from multiple points of view.  We hear from Andi, from Nate and Andi’s grandmother.  Her family’s yarn store plays an intergral part of the story as Andi is basically forced to take over as her grandmother becomes sick.  It is there that Andi realizes she’s missed the feelings of home and of female friendship as she’s lived a mostly solitary life in the city.  Throughout the story, Andi rallies for her project as she truly believes it would be beneficial to the city.  We watch as Andi fights her feelings for Nate and begins to forge friendships.  Nate, on the other hand, seems settled with his feelings for Andi, and, once everything in the past is all hashed out, they begin to move forward.  Although, they definately don’t agree on the future of the condos.


We also learn about Andi’s grandmother and her attachment to the town’s carousel.  The carousel that will be torn down in order for the condos to be built.  She begins to tell Andi the story of her first love and the part that played not only in her love for knitting but also her love of the carousel.


This story has many things going on.  There’s the love story between Andi and Nate, Andi’s own self discovery, the grief a family shares over losing a loved one, moving on and moving forward.  I loved that this book had an epilogue and I will most likely be reading the next book in this series.  And although this was a good story, it’s not quite 4 cocktails, more like 3.5.

and a Half

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