STEALING HOME

Author: Sherryl Woods ISBN: 0778323633 2/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: MIRA

There's nothing like a little serenity... Maddie Townsend might live in a town called Serenity, but there's been nothing calm or peaceful about her life since her marriage broke up. This stay-at-home mom has no job skills, an out-of-control sixteen-year-old son, a talkative fourteen-year-old who's suddenly gone silent, a six-year-old daughter whose heart is broken, an ex-husband whose younger girlfriend is expecting their baby and two best friends who think she's somehow qualified to help them open a fitness spa for women. But if Maddie is a tad on edge with all that on her plate, it's nothing compared to the chaos that ensues when she discovers that her son's baseball coach has feelings for her and the whole town disapproves. Maddie's faced a lot of challenges with strength and resolve, but Cal Maddox may be more than she can handle. Then again, he could just be the one man in all of South Carolina who can help her find serenity.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

STEALING HOME is the first book in a new trilogy by Sherryl Woods about three Southern women who grow up together in the small town of Serenity, South Carolina. Known then as The Sweet Magnolias, the forever friends trio is comprised of Helen, a single workaholic attorney; Dana Sue, who runs a restaurant and is divorced; and Maddie, a married stay-at-home mom whose marriage has lasted for twenty years. STEALING HOME is Maddie's story and told not just through Maddie's thoughts and emotional struggles, but also through those of her friends, her children, and even her soon-to-be ex and his girlfriend.

The scenario of a man selfishly leaving his wife for a much younger woman might be an often told story, and one that probably happens in real life all too often. But what Woods does in STEALING HOME is to look at how it touches upon the lives of all the people involved, as well as the devastation and void it brings to each one. How she writes this into the storyline is what keeps Maddie's story from being just any old run-of-the-mill romance book featuring this same subject. Ms. Woods makes the reader privy to the thoughts and, many times, the too-late regrets of everyone affected by Bill's act of walking out on Maddie and their family. And there's not just Maddie who's paying a price, going through a rough time trying to find her bearings. It's also their three children who have a heavy burden to bear. From Ty, their oldest son, who already has enough trouble suffering through the normal teenage years of rebellion and angst, to their young daughter Kate, who knows something's not right but can't quite grasp the reason why daddy doesn't live there anymore. Then there's Kyle, the middle child, whose jovial personality undergoes a radical change and who seems somehow caught in the middle of it all.

Through all this mess of divorce, adultery and small town living where the residents seem almost gleeful in condemning Maddie when she finds love again with the town's much younger baseball coach, Cal (double standard, anyone?), Maddie slowly regains her self-esteem and finds the strength she needs through a newfound relationship with her mother, and the unwavering support of Helen, Dana Sue, and the wise-beyond-his-years Cal. Even before the ending you know that Maddie and her brood will weather this storm and pick up the pieces of their shattered lives just fine.

This really is a very good story, with solid characters and a storyline that almost everyone can relate to. Next up, A SLICE OF HEAVEN, which will be Dana Sue's story and a book I'm just as eager to dive into and hope to enjoy as much as I did STEALING HOME.

Nancy Davis