Sing Me Home

Love Finds a Home #1

by Jerri Corgiat

BOOK ONE in the LOVE FINDS A HOME series

Country music star Jonathan Van Castle is intent on two things--reviving his career and regaining custody of his children. At a stop in picturesque Cordelia, Missouri, he meets Lily (Lilac O'Malley Ryan), a young widow trying desperately to hold onto her livelihood and rebuild her own life after the tragic loss of her husband. Singularly unimpressed with the famous Mr. Van Castle, Lily instead falls for his two children. They, and not their sought-after dad, steal her heart, so she lets herself be convinced to join him in a marriage of convenience as he fights his custody battle. The widow and the singer eventually discover their liaison means more to them both than they'd originally planned.

Romance fans will be swept away by Ms. Corgiat's dazzling descriptions of the Missouri Ozarks and her keen insight into the landscape of the yearning heart.

SING ME HOME is part of the LOVE FINDS A HOME series. All five books, originally published by Penguin's Signet imprint to critical acclaim, are set in Cordelia, Missouri. Two were featured selections of Literary Guild, Doubleday and Rhapsody book clubs. Although the books do not need to be read in order, SING ME HOME is the first in the series.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Ebooks

388 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 3, 2004

Reviews

[Lynette Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the story --a music star trying to get custody of his two young Children from his ex-wife-- who all but ruined his career and is abusive to the children and a widow who is still getting over the death3 years ago of her husband -- a lovely tale of finding new love

[Rosemarie Liberi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read

Enjoyable read. A new author to me and I enjoyed her writing style. Very easy to read and light. I look forward to looking into others.

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The last 10% of the book was WILD. I enjoyed this.

[ShyAnn64 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lilac O'Malley Ryan doesn't even recognize country music star Jonathan Van Castle when he bursts into her store. And she's bewildered by what seem like tongue-tied attempts at charm. She just wants to make a sale-and get him out the door. But it turns out to be a lot harder getting that to-die-for smile out of her mind...

And once they put their rocky start behind them, Jon and Lil will discover what happens when two unlikely lovers hit the perfect note...

[Germaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had its moments, but basically it's a real stinker with a soap opera ending. A large part of the plot revolves around a custody fight between the hero and his ex. He marries the heroine to bolster his case for gaining sole custody of the children, but the heroine turns out to be perfect mother material and falls in love with the children. When the evil ex pulls some shenanigans before the custody hearing, the heroine hires her own lawyer and files her own motion for custody. At this point the plot goes completely off the rails as the heroine's trump card is a confidential letter she has written to the judge which is going to show him what's really going on. The courts have rules against ex parte communications, and the author needs to get a family law lawyer to review her manuscript before it's published. The whole legal finale is too far fetched for words.

Unfortunately, the heroine has three or four sisters, and it looks as if there is going to be a book for each of them. I won't be reading them.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very sweet, if sometimes a little predictable, romance. I thought the characters of Lil and Jon were a lot of fun, but it sometimes seemed as if the supporting cast were a bit too much of a caricature. For me, excepting the main characters, the best one (and one I vote for a book on) is Zeke. I'm pretty sure that the author pursued the other sisters' lives but I'd love to know more about Zeke. The set-up for the action seemed a little draggy in the middle of the novel and I think that this novel could have had about 50 pages edited with little loss. However, with all its flaws, I did like this story and you are rooting for the HEA.

[Stephanie Grohol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and hated for it to end. It tells the story about Lilac "Lil" O'Malley Ryan, a widow who meets country music star, Jonathan Van Castle. It is not love at first sight but sparks do fly. What starts out as a marriage of convenience, quickly changes to something else. Also involved is a family, his children, an evil ex-wife, and life itself. Highly recommend.

[Luckngrace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sing Me Home started out like gangbusters, then got bogged down in it's overlong length. The plot just moved too slowly, causing my mind to drift (and that's never good). It does, however, make a good beach read.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay novel, with pretty much nothing to recommend it except that there's nothing explicitly wrong with it. Corgiat does an okay job with basic storytelling, but neither the characters nor the plot are particularly compelling.

[Marleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a huge Country Music fan, I expected a little more of this story. It wasn't all bad, but not really to my liking.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hero is a Country Music star with kids, divorced from his wild wife. Heroine marries him in a marriage of convenience to help him gain custody of his kids. Good.

[Donnajo · Rating 5 out of 5]

NL's book crawl 2011
1st in series. NTM author.
2012 NL's New author challenge.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two-haiku review:

He wants custody
She falls hard for his children
Marriage in name only

Started nice romance
Turned into melodrama
Still enjoyable

[Susannah Carleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific story of love and family,

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very predictable

[Ronda Blanke Geiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I loved the plot twists and turns and the storyline. I will probably read the other 4 books in this series as well.