No Place Like Home – Maxine Morrey

When Ellie Laing goes out to Kansas to be bridesmaid to her best friend, Sandy, she’s absolutely sworn off men. Having suffered abuse at the hands of one boyfriend, and absolute boredom with another, she’s had it with men. She’s just going to enjoy three weeks of relaxation with her friend, Kate, house sitting at Sandy’s brother’s ranch doing nothing but swimming, reading and enjoying the open air. But what Sandy’s forgotten to tell her is that her brother’s plans have changed and Ben’s now going to be in town for the entire time. With suggestions of finding a hotel dismissed, Ellie agrees to stay at the ranch. As soon as Ben sees Ellie again, he knows the feelings he’d shut away after their past encounters were going to be harder to contain than he thought. But with one broken marriage behind him, he’s not about to let anyone else in and run the risk of another broken heart. But as their feelings begin to overwhelm them, will either of them be prepared to let down their guards or will their past prevent them from ever finding real love?

Welcome back everyone, after trying out a brand-new genre for me last week with Tom Stone: Day of the Dead, we’re back to the familiar today. Since I enjoyed Second Chance at the Ranch, I thought I should try out another of her books with Rach Random Resources when it became available.

Writing Style

The writing style is actually very similar to Second Chance at the Ranch, which I realised as I wrote that is pretty obvious. I mean it’s the same author, why did I expect anything different?

Anyway, the main thing I liked about her descriptions of the location was the way that she wrote about the Kansas landscape. I love those quiet country landscapes and just being able to sit back, relax and enjoy a glass of wine (or two…).

But really, you can totally lose yourself in your imagination of these places and the emotions going through the characters. It was mesmerising and I actually found myself for once wanting more descriptions of the landscape rather than what was happening between the characters.

But she also keeps you totally engaged and hooked on whats happening between the characters all the way through. And she even addresses the topic of domestic violence in what I feel to be a great way. It’s raw, it feels honest and it addresses the aftereffects that victims experience.

Initial Thoughts

Pretty much straight off the bat I was a bit concerned about the topic of domestic violence being perpetrated with no context or meaning. That didn’t really sit well with me because it’s a topic often portrayed in a way that glorifies it.

But we quickly progressed to her being saved by the cops and moving in with a friend. And then we fast forward through time a little bit.

Final Thoughts

Overall I really enjoyed this one. It was mostly calming, and when my mind is whirling with my projects at work and the assignments I need to get done. I really needed that balance.

The fact that this story was told over a period of a few years, with the characters not knowing how to move forwards from friendship. Or if they even should. Felt really real to me.

The speed at which they came together didn’t really feel real. But then again, I’m not really the type to jump so fully into something like that so maybe it’s just me.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review, next week I will be reviewing Summer of the Viking by Michelle Styles. Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.

Author Bio

Maxine has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember and wrote her first (very short) book for school when she was ten.

As time went by, she continued to write, but ‘normal’ work often got in the way. She has written articles on a variety of subjects, as well as a local history book on Brighton. However, novels are her first love.

In August 2015, she won Harper Collins/Carina UK’s ‘Write Christmas’ competition with her first romantic comedy, ‘Winter’s Fairytale’.

Maxine lives on the south coast of England, and when not wrangling with words loves to read, sew and listen to podcasts. Being a fan of tea and cake, she can (should!) also be found doing something vaguely physical at the gym.

Below are links to Maxine’s social media, including Pintrest.