Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Guest Review - - Somewhere Along the Way

Somewhere Along the Way
By Jodi Thomas
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: November 2, 2010








Somewhere Along the Way is the second book in Jodi Thomas’s Harmony, Texas series. Reagan Truman, the teen runaway who found a home in the small town in Welcome to Harmony, is now eighteen and finding life growing more complicated as the number of people she connects with grows larger. When an accident threatens her life, she discovers an unlikely guardian angel in the mysterious Gabe Leary.

Liz Matheson, younger sister of fire chief Hank Matheson, finds Gabe anything but angelic. Her struggles to prove to her family that she is an adult who can care for herself and establish a law practice in her hometown where she’s still the baby of the Matheson family are challenges enough for any woman, but Gabe Leary’s claim on her heart may be the challenge that matters most. I fell hard for Gabe. I’m not usually susceptible to loner heroes, but his reactions as his safe isolation is breached gradually by his protective feelings for Reagan, by the arrival of an old friend, by his overwhelming love for Liz, and eventually by the people of Harmony left me smiling and teary-eyed at the same time.

Liz and Gabe’s relationship is the central romance of this book, but Hank’s relationship with Sheriff Alex McAllen, the central romance in the first book, has yet to reach a conventional HEA. Alex is reluctant to name a wedding day. Meanwhile, Claire, the middle Matheson sibling who chews men up and spits them out onto canvasses, is winning attention in the art world for her bizarre paintings and unsettling attention from a stranger in Harmony. And lonely Tyler Wright is faithfully sending email messages to the elusive Major Katherine Cummings.

Small-town settings seem to be proliferating in romance and women’s fiction these days. Thomas’s Harmony is one of the standouts. It is a distinctive place with an unusual history and a cast of interesting characters, home grown and transplants, whose lives twist and tangle in myriad ways. However, Somewhere Along the Way was not as pitch perfect a read for me as was Welcome to Harmony. Claire is not a character whom I find sympathetic. I thought her sudden rapprochement with Denver incredible, and I remained unconvinced that she deserves that lovable charmer. I was also bothered by all the loose ends, even though I’m sure Thomas will weave them all satisfactorily into the overarching story in subsequent books. Denying the reader a conclusion to Jeremiah’s plight particularly smacked of the kind of soap opera cliff hanger ending I deplore.

Despite these concerns, Thomas’s storytelling continues to charm me, and I care about her characters, especially young Reagan, who I suspect has a romance triangle in her future. I’m definitely planning a return trip to Harmony when the next book is released sometime in fall 2011.

~Janga

17 comments:

  1. Great review Janga

    I have Welcome To Harmony on the TBR pile and have heard great things about it I must move it up and get this one as well

    Have Fun
    Helen

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  2. Thanks, Helen. I think you'll enjoy them. I really like Jodi Thomas's voice, and I've become invested in these characters. I'm eager for the third book, but based on what I've been able to find, I may have a considerable wait for the next Harmony book.

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  3. Another terrific review, Janga! Like Helen, I also have Welcome to Harmony on my tbr pile and plan to get Somewhere Along the Way. Must find time to indulge! I've always liked Jodi Thomas and this series sounds like one I would enjoy.

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  4. Btw, Jodi Thomas will be blogging with us tomorrow and she's giving away two copies of Somewhere Along the Way!

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  5. Great review, Janga! I need to read this series as I really enjoy stories set in small towns. You really get to know the people so well.

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  6. Great review!
    Andrea said: I need to read this series as I really enjoy stories set in small towns. You really get to know the people so well.
    I completely agree! I love reading stories set in small towns. They are usually some of the best.

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  7. Great review, Janga! I have added this series to my TBB list. Small town settings are a particular favorite of mine.

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  8. I loved Welcome to Harmony and am really looking forward to reading this one. Thanks for the review.

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  9. Thanks, PJ. I think you're going to fall in love with Harmony and its characters.

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  10. Andrea, there are some true originals among the Harmony characters, the kind that stay in your mind after you close the book.

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  11. Trisha, I like small town settings too, but I've read so many recently that a lot of them blend into one another. I find Harmony distinctive.

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  12. Thanks, Gannon. I have a feeling that you'll love Gabe particularly. I did!

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  13. LSUReader, wasn't Welcome to Harmony great? I really like the collection of characters, each with his or her own story in this series. It's like romance plus comminity, a winning combination for me.

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  14. Janga, thanks for reviewing Jodi Thomas's upcoming book. Ever since you introduced me to one of hers, I've read every book I've been able to find, which is most of them, except her earliest ones. There's something about her storytelling style and her characters, I fall in love with every single book.

    PJ, I definitely plan on visiting tomorrow. It's so rare to have any time with Jodi Thomas, that this is a treat not to be missed.

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  15. Keira, I'm always pleased to learn that a book or author I recommended resonates with another reader. One of the joys of reading good books for me is sharing them with people I think will like them as much as I do.

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  16. Thanks for another great review, Janga! I really enjoy Jodi's books, but I haven't started this series. Guess I need to :-)

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  17. It is unfortunate that the book doesn't do well as a stand alone novel. Jodi Thomas writes good stories with memorable characters. A series like this is the reason I wait until all the books in a series come out then read the together. I don't do well waiting months to find out what happens next.

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