Welcome Home, Caroline Kline by Courtney Preiss (2024)After a bad breakup, Caroline has no job and no apartment in the city, so she's kind of forced to return home to New Jersey when her father asks for her help. She is to take his place on the local men's softball team, but coming home is more difficult than she imagined it to be. First off, I loved the NJ setting of this book - it's not one I see often and it was fun to know a lot of the local references. I liked Caroline's sarcasm and the growth in her relationship with her father; although always pretty close, she gets to see a different side of him and help him as she never could before. If you're looking for romance, I'd look elsewhere - although Caroline is reunited with her first crush, there are other elements at play that force a love match to the backburner. The pacing was extremely slow and there's a lot of plot points to keep track of. Caroline has to deal with some heavy topics, but because there's so much going on, there wasn't as much impact as I'd hoped for. 3 stars
A divorcing couple hide their secret from her family while they attend a vacation with them, but the close proximity stirs up old feelings and makes them question if they're doing the right thing. I just loved this book! I read a lot of romance, but not a lot about married couples, so that was a nice change and felt more relatable to me. Mostly we get romances about couples just starting their journey together, but Roslyn and Liam have been together for 9 years, married for 5. We get to see where they started from, but also the obstacles that can creep in over the years. Happily ever afters aren't guaranteed; Roslyn's mother's death put a serious strain on their marriage, and issues that they may have overlooked before, now became magnified. I loved watching them find their way back to each other, but also witness Roslyn's growth in regard to her family and never quite feeling like she fit in. 4.5 stars
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I have never been married but enjoy marriage-in-crisis romances. They are like the ultimate second chance romance for me. I liked this one (4/5), but was frustrated with Roslyn at times. Liam won me over because he seemed fully invested the whole time.
ReplyDeleteI related so much to these two, the way you can know someone so well and still not fully understand what they're feeling. I'm not always a huge fan of second chance romances, but once marriage is involved, I like to see people fight for it.
DeleteThe forced proximity trope with a divorcing couple in Sunk in Love is such a brilliant setup for a romance, especially since it is so rare to get a story exploring how a long-term marriage survives real-world grief rather than just focusing on the initial honeymoon phase. It is always a treat when an author captures those complex, heavy obstacles but still manages to make the journey back together feel entirely earned and relatable. On the flip side, it's a bummer that Welcome Home, Caroline Kline got too bogged down in slow pacing and scattered plots to really let those heavy topics hit the way they should have.
ReplyDeleteSo well-said, Melody!!
DeleteI'm not usually a fan of second chance romances, but Sunk in Love does sound good! I'm sorry that Welcome Home, Caroline Kline had too much going on, as it does sound nice otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lindsey!
DeleteI can't think of a romance novel I read with a married couple. I'm glad you enjoyed Sunk in Love. Sounds like a heartfelt one for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely was!
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