Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: Heart’s Home
Author: Eloise Barton
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory
ISBN: 0-7599-4829-1
Release Date: 2005
Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary with suspense mingled in
Year/Setting: Current/California
Overall rating: 4.75
Sexual content rating: Subtle
Language (profanity) content rating: None
Eloise's Website:
www.eloise-barton.com
Tracey Gordon had her life settled and worked out – to a point. Then along came Scotty (Steven Clay Tockterman but known as Scotty). He was impetuous and exhilarating and convinced her to marry him. On the day he finally convinced her, he was killed in an accident which would have labeled him a hero. Surprisingly, Tracey doesn’t find herself mourning as much as she thought she would. However, it does leave her questioning her life.
That questioning increases in urgency when a new man shows up on her doorstop claiming he is Steven Clay Tockterman and he demands to know what her game is. He wants to know if Tracey is after his money or something more. Tracey is left confused because all she had done was written to Scotty’s parents to share her condolences and tell them about the hero their son was. Tracey had no idea what that letter would lead to.
Tracey and Steven decide they need to work together in order to solve this mystery now lying before them. Not so much to work together but more to keep an eye on each other until the answers are made clear. All of the close quarters, however, lead them to come to know more about each other than they had anticipated.
Eloise Barton has written a very clever romantic mystery. She has taken a sweet girl who thought she had her life planned out and had her examine why that life was planned out and whether the plan was right. Tracey had moved all over as a child so when her grandmother left her the house she had owned her entire life along with the directorship of the nearby museum, Tracey leapt at the chance to settle down once and for all. She became the girl next door.
I enjoyed the male lead in Heart’s Home because he could have come in strong and overpowering especially since this fiasco had caused his father a heart attack. However, Eloise created a man with enough compassion that he could see Tracey was hurting and confused as well. With that compassion, however, is a great deal of male strength especially as they get closer to end of the mystery. The determination he shows to get to the end along with the patience he displays when Tracey has her momentary doubts about his being Steven were quite touching and sweet.
All in all, the two main characters were quite realistic and yet idealistic enough to make you smile and join the story. I enjoy the suspense plot line and twists it took in revealing the truth behind the "Scotty" persona.
Lori
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