Homecoming

After eight weeks on the move from one business trip to the next, Frederica is overworked and exhausted when she ends up in Carson's Bluff. Frederica is supposed to be in Carson's Bluff to negotiate the sale of a building known as "Harry's Folly" to her uncle's hotel chain. However, once she finally arrives she's too sick to do anything and finds herself in the care of the sheriff and mayor of Carson's Bluff, Jack Sutter. It doesn't take long for Frederica to fall in love with Carson's Bluff and with Jack. But her uncle had taken her in when her parents died, and a good portion of Frederica's life has been dedicated to trying to please him in an effort to pay him back. Can she walk away from the responsibility she feels towards her uncle and walk towards the happiness Carson's Bluff and Jack are offering? Homecoming is just the sort of romance I look for when I'm in a funk. It's a heartwarming story with two main characters that you can't wait to see end up together. For her part Frederica has no real family, just a cantankerous old uncle who doesn't appreciate her and takes advantage of her. Finding Carson's Bluff and Jack is like a dream come true for her. Jack has been burned by a career woman. So although he's falling in love withFrederica,Jack is also worried that it's not going to turn out right. Frederica and Jackbegin a sweetromance that is put in danger by her uncle's plans for Harry's Folly. Homecomingis one of those romances that you want to read when you need a pick me up. I hope to thatElizabeth Jennings brings us back to Carson's Bluff in the future! Melissa reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Carson's Bluff is a small town in northern California that has become a hamlet for intellectuals, artists, and those who have lived the fast track with high power jobs and who sought a quieter, stress free life style. The residents of this quaint little town have managed to keep their little oasis just that, an oasis, without outside interference. But the serenity and laid back way of life the residents have is soon to be threatened by the buy out attempt of an old abandoned property in town by a major hotel conglomerate, which wants to restore the property for business seminars. Federica Mansion, niece of Frederick Mansion, the CEO and owner of the Mansion Hotel conglomerate, has been sent to negotiate the buying of the property from the town council. Frederick is a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants even if it involves ruining people lives and using dirty, and sometimes illegal, tactics. Federica has been working for her uncle for eight years and is burned out and exhausted. She is on the road non-stop, always in a different city and hotel. On top of that, she has to deal, on a constant level, with hostility from those that her uncle is treating badly as well as her uncle's berating attitude when she can't manage something immediately. She has no personal life, and certainly no time for dating. She ends up in Carson's Bluff late at night with a high fever that she's been nursing for days, forcing her to take a respite from the intense whirlwind that is her life for a few days. Jack Sutter is the town's mayor and sheriff, who's had a tough past. Along with his sister and brother, they make up the town council. And along with the rest of the town, they are none to happy at this new development. While they were prepared to be hostile, they are all shocked to find that the representative of this nasty conglomerate is a pretty, petite, and seemingly vulnerable, woman. As the days go by, Jack cares for Federica by protecting her from the outer word and its demands all the while nursing her back to health, and she finds herself relaxing and feeling things she's never had time to before. In the end she must decide whether or not to complete her duties and continue on with her life style, which she has begun to dread, or follow her heart. Elizabeth Jennings has a pleasing, flowing, and often amusing, way of writing and weaving a story that grabs you straight away and doesn't let go. It's easy to empathize with and root for her characters. While you do know how it will turn out in the end, it is a romance after all, you still feel compelled to read every word to the very end. I loved her use of fax and email (modern day necessities that interfere with actually living sometimes) through out the story as well as the whole intensity of the international big business world as a contrast for the quiet serenity of small town life. I also found it refreshing that the heroine is the one who saves the day, for a change. The heroine,Federica,