Coming Home To You

Coming Home to You is a beautifully written debut novel which tells a story of love, loss and learning to live again. It was a book which drew me in immediately and kept me riveted all the way through.

The main character is Zoe who we find out has lost her fiance Paul, who died suddenly, leaving Zoe totally bereft and lost in the world. She came across to me as someone, as you would expect, who has had her world turned upside down and is totally at a loss on how to carry on.

Zoe's best friend Kate is working away from home, and as much as others tried to be there for her, as a reader I got the feeling that she was stuck in her grief, and needed something to happen to bring her out of the depths of it all. Zoe goes to her local coffee shop every day where she can be around strangers, and no one knows her story. The owner, Ray, becomes a key character in the book. He overhears a conversation between Zoe and Kate where Kate suggests that Zoe should move away from the apartment she shared with Paul, and try to escape the memories that it has.

Ray has a friend called Neil that is in the armed forces and is currently positioned away for a few months. He suggests to Zoe that she housesit Neil's place for a while, until he comes home. Whilst living there Zoe starts to contact Neil and have chats via email, where she spills everything out to him.

The move to Neil's house changes Zoe's life, and I am dying to tell you how, but I dont want to spoil all the twists and turns that I enjoyed!

I thought I was quite the detective and that I had it all sussed out by a third of the way through the book. Infact I was probably a little bit smug about it. I was wrong!! There are twists in the plot that I never saw coming, and I loved that! It definitely had me muttering 'oh I didnt see that coming' a couple of times.

It is really a story of Zoe finding that life does go on, even when you think it will never happen, and you will never smile or be happy again. Her friends, particularly Ray play a key part in that, and I love books where there are strong friends supporting the main character so this appealed to me.

I loved the way it was written, and wouldnt have imagined it was a debut novel if I hadn't read that it was. The characters are written with such warmth and I loved the way that Zoe was portrayed. Whilst it was obvious at her heartbreak I didnt feel that she came across as a pitiful person. She was in many ways quite an inspiration, and a strong, ballsy woman. I thought it helped to show that when you hit rock bottom dont give up. You can pick yourself back up and achieve your goals if you set your mind to it, with a little support along the way.

I love Ray. He is the type of friend I would love to have in my life. He was there for Zoe no matter what, and I felt always looked out for her in whatever way he could. There is one scene where Zoe has had a bit of a turn. Ray turns up unexpectedly to find her in a mess with vomit in her hair, and like a lost soul. Rather than judge her he just cleaned her up and took charge. I loved his empathy and unconditional love, particularly as he hadnt know her that long. He was definitely a little guardian angel and I hope I can be a friend like that if I am ever needed (ok, cleaning vomit may be a bit too much for me!!). He has his own story and I just love him.

As you will see from the blurb, once she is living in Neil's place, Zoe starts to wonder about Neil and who he is. She is living amongst his stuff and it feels quite intimate to do so. She starts writing to him via email and he starts to write back. I loved the email exchanges. They were at times quite amusing, but it helped me build a real empathy for, and get to know Zoe better. For example, her foray into dating is debated with herself in one of the emails.

I am itching to reveal more about what happens, and some of the other characters, but to do so would be unfair in my opinion, as it would rob you of the beauty of the book. Just trust me, there are some gorgeous moments where we see what love and compassion is. The ending is magical for me. It had me up to the small hours of the night and I was totally engrossed. I had to find out what would happen. Whilst I found it really intense and moving I ended the book with a feeling of energy and calm, and felt quite inspired that life is for living. It was quite poignant for me at the moment, and I wonder if it could be quite a strong book for others struggling too.

Liesel is an author who, for me, has conjured up a great balance between sadness and all the emotions that go along with loss and grief, but also hope, and inspiration that life can go on and you can battle through. I found it beautiful and laughed, cried and felt strong and ready to face the world by the end of it.

The blurb is right in that it would appeal to fans of Cecilia Ahern, Jojo Moyes and I would add Rowan Coleman, Hannah Beckerman and Carmel Harrington to that list.

Right, I am off to make the most of today!

Thank you to Carina UK who provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Every now and then I throw a Chick-Lit book into my reading pile as a cleansing act after reading my crime, thrillers and horror favourites. It's usually a fairly safe bet you know? I was looking for some light reading that had a good plot and believable characters, I got some of that.

Zoe is 24 years old and trying desperately to move on from the tragic death of the love of her life Paul, she's not doing very well at the moving on part so her friend Ray (who is dating her BFF Jane) suggest she house sits the home of a friend of his (Neil) who is currently overseas. Feeling this does not mean a big move away from the home she has shared with Paul, littered with memories of him that hurt every single day, she grabs the opportunity.

Zoe begins to email and communicate with Neil about her caring for his house, feeling she needs to make a connection with this stranger, this man she has never met and is convinced he will want to know more about the woman who is house sitting his home. Zoe is a strange character, strong one minute and almost very naive the next, clever yet ditsy, confident yet gullible. I liked her overall but my feelings fluctuated.

There are some really funny moments in this book that are written really well and the author does a really good job of describing the grief and healing process that one might go through after such a devastating loss, we go through that with Zoe, as she tries to heal her sad and heavy heart.

Now then, I have some minor issues with the plot, there are aspects to it that are just not very believable, that stretches "creative liberty" to the extreme, I was kind of like...

Really? Not going to happen, you have got to be kidding me? Oh come on! This is just silly now..

There were a few eye rolls from me too, lots of moments that seemed way too coincidental to seem like the real thing. I could name them all but it will give away a lot of plot spoilers for you readers, but if you don't mind a book that stretches the believability stakes then this could be one for you. I still liked it, just knew it really was a work of fiction (funny enough!).

A feel good book, warm and fuzzy, bubble bath fragrant, choc full of girly delights whilst at the same time tackling quite emotive moments in the life of Zoe. Will she move on? Can her heart heal?

As for some of her friends, well frankly, I am glad they are not my friends after some of the things done and said. She's a heck of a lot more forgiving than I would be considering! She's a nice person. Super nice, did I mention somewhat naive earlier on? I did? Great, because sometimes she really, really is. I felt like ringing her up and letting her know what she was not seeing that was right in front of her face and to stop being so gullible, just stop already. But I had lost Zoe's number darn it.

I like where she ended up heading, I liked the ending a lot, I thought that was really well done and a very satisfying moment for me, the reader after going the whole journey with Zoe. So yes, the ending was good. 3 stars from me for Coming Home to You. Not the best chick-lit novel I have dived into this year, but certainly not the worst either. Very likeable book. Enjoy!

I kindly received Coming Home to You in exchange of an honest review by the publisher via NetGalley.

The beginning of an engagement is filled with joy, dreams and plans for the future, the last thing one thinks of is that anything could bring that future to a screeching halt. When Paul, Zoë's finace, dies so suddenly, her world is crashing down. Emotionally devastated, her heart shredded, Zoë Tent sinks into a despair, unable to cope with the day to day tasks one takes for granted. In this difficult time, Zoë needs her family and friends more than ever. They stand by her but after nine moths of griefing they think it's time to move on. This seems impossible for Zoë, how can she ever let go of Paul?
Zoë's best friends, Kate and Ray can convince her to move out of her flat and help out a friend with houssitting wile he is gone for a few months. From now on we follow Zoë's journey back to a normal life. It's filled with drama, tears, secrets, dating and second chances. When Paul died Zoë thought she will be forever alone but maybe there is room for love again?

From page one, I was drawn into the novel. This fantastic debut novel is about much more than the loss of a loved one. It is a story of finding oneself in the midst of great tragedy and the overcoming of that grief only to find a new person, a new you, waiting on the other side. Zoë's experience is made into your experience as you watch her story unfold with mystery, suspense, and unexpected love.

Coming Home to You, transported me right into the life of Zoë Trent. I felt the loss, joy, resentment, and excitement of every character in a story that will appeal to any reader. Coming Home to You deserves to be read by everyone. Its relatable story line and emotionally raw characters gave me a chance to escape from the busyness of everyday life and get lost in a great book with an outstanding style of writing. I would recommend this to any and everyone who appreciates a story that needs to be told.

I'm looking forward to more book releases of Liesel Schmidt in the future.

To be honest, I don’t know how to review this book. It was nothing like I thought it would be, nothing like it seemed in the beginning. And I can’t actually talk much about it in fear of spoiling it.

Anyways, I’ll start with the things I liked the best:

And the thing Liesel Schmidt really knows how to describe grief. Really!
You might not be familiar with the feeling (good for you though), but you will still experience it with her words. She might as well rip your heart out and stomp on it. There were some heartbreaking chapters in the beginning that I loved to pieces, even though my heart was such a mess while reading them.

The overall story is about new beginnings, about (I kid you not) very unexpected events, things that lead one to the other in wonderful ways, I’d define it as ‘the wonder of the universe and the mother of coincidences’, LOL. You will understand what I mean (maybe) after reading the story.

The thing is.. I do believe in the magic of tiny things leading to important ones, and this book shows just how that magic could work.

Zoë, the main character was absolutely great – though more in the first half then the last one, because at some point she really needed love and started to try too hard to make it come true in her life (or to believe that it will happen). It is a good thing, because the process of healing can do that to one, but I wish her life for was more about herself – about finding that she was a full person on her own, not necessarily that she needs another ‘half’ to be complete.
But I understand that losing Paul was hard, she lost the chance to a life she already imagined, and that’s the side of herself she couldn’t get back no matter what, so she wanted it replaced with a similar version.

I also appreciated the relationship she had with her best friend – Kate was there for Zoë, but she was not telling her whatever Zoë needed to hear; and that’s what friends should be for, to open your eyes to the opportunities and make you see things clearer. Kate wanted to help Zoë the right way.
Also, Ray was nice because he was full of good intentions and wanted to help her as much as he could. The thing that I can’t wrap my head around is the relationship between Ray and Neil. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it was still strange. And there were things that worked for the plot itself, but they left me wondering what kind of friendship did they even have.

Now the things that didn’t work that great:

I didn’t appreciate the fact that Zoë’s memories have been tainted by Sam (Paul’s best friend). She deserved to have the past the way she remembered it, exactly. I know the author wanted to make a point, that things turn out always for the better, but with that she took the authenticity out of the story, in my opinion.
Real life is messy and unfair and you can lose in one instant the very best thing you could ever have (it kills you, it breaks you, still it happens), but you will also be able to get the next best thing in line. It is not essential for it to actually be better than the first one, because it will feel like it anyways after everything that you’ve lost and you will make the best out of it. Life is not about pretending that what you had was not good enough after all, life is about looking forward and finding new things in life to make you feel whole again, as hard as it can be to move on.

Also, there were too many turnarounds (which is not bad per se), this poor girl could go crazy with everyone trying to protect her by hiding important things from her. The pacing was a bit slow, with a lot of introspection (which I only minded in the middle of a dialog to be honest – because Zoë would think so much around the problem that I would forget what she was saying or even doing at that point). And there was a moment when I wanted the letters to have more ‘soul’ in them, to be more funny, more flirty, but (yeah) I did get why that was not the case.. It worked with the story, believe me. I blame it on the synopsis for making them seem like a bigger deal.

CONCLUSION:

So you see, these things might not represent a problem for other people. It is not that the book is wrong for being how it was, just that I prefer some things to be different. And this makes it hard to rate the book, because if I give it a lower rating people might think that it is not a good story - which is not be the case – I liked the idea behind it, the prose and the characters.

Happy midnight reading!
Rating 3.5 (Rounded up to 4 here)

Readers will fall in love with Zoe! The endearing young heroine is at rock-bottom, having suddenly lost her fiancee and her hope for the future. Lucky for her, she has some great friends who will go to any length to help her recover and rediscover who she is and what she wants. A great, wholesome read.