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Home #1

by William Neale

Lucas Reed is a Cleveland advertising executive who returns to his southern hometown to deal with the sudden death of his estranged homophobic father. There, he unexpectedly encounters Rogan James, the former high school bully and now local deputy chief of police who had once made Lucas's life miserable.Reacquainted 12 years later, the two finally acknowledge a long held powerful physical attraction that quickly evolves into an even stronger emotional connectionBut all this becomes secondary when a local reporter's secret obsession for Rogan threatens not only the end of their newly found love, but their very lives.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Gay, Erotica, Family

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

William Neale lived in Cleveland, Ohio with his partner of over a decade. Relatively new to the world of contemporary m/m romance, he spent over thirty years as a successful corporate communications executive, ad man, and PR "spin doctor."

Knowing how to "make up the truth" prepared him well for his next career as an author. William made no apologies for the fact that his books and characters are often larger than life. A William Neale novel invites you to a fantasy - to a place where you can dream and hope that indeed, happily-ever-after can and does exist.

Those who seek brutally "real," gritty, and angst-ridden life stories probably won't find them in a William Neale book. "That's okay," said Neale. "Not everybody wants or appreciates a feel-good story. As for me, reading has always been a wonderful escape from reality. Even as a child, I loved the fantasy of becoming Peter Pan, Huck Finn, or one of the Hardy Boys."

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!!

[Darien · Rating 3 out of 5]

^^ONE OF THOSE!^^

Home is one of those books that I can’t tell if I really like it or I don’t like it at all. I found it interesting ad exciting, then it became predictable, it was sweet and then became corny. Everything you think is going to happen; does, and at times the dialogue became sort of robotic. All those things aside, it offers like-able qualities.

Lucas Reed is back in his hometown to bury his father who disowned him for being gay. It’s not a place he wants to be, to rehash memories he is trying very hard to forget. Being home is like walking into his teenage hell, where he was bullied and ridiculed and called gay before he even knew he was gay. Yet here he is smiling and trying to convey sadness when he feels none. So hoping to wrap everything up and leave town where he can deal with the grief of his father’s death in his own way, until he is approached by Rogan James the devil of his teenage hell.

Rogan knows approaching Lucas is not something he should do, but he cannot help himself the very man he has loved most of his life is back and he will not lose him again. There is the fact that he bullied Lucas through their entire school years, and that is not something easily forgotten. He makes his move anyways to a warmer reception than expected and strike up a friendship. Only thing this friendship is a little more complicated Rogan is wanting Lucas something fierce.

From the description this book sounds promising and you start hoping for angst and complications, at least on my part I was. Things just went overly smooth and I expected a lot more from the characters, especially Lucas. I am just a little surprised by how easily he forgives Rogan. I know forgive and all that, but being bullied is horrible no matter the reason. I guess I just wanted Rogan to fight more, and Lucas to be a bit harder. All I am saying, you would need to work to get in my pants after making my life hell.

Together they worked but don’t expect the pages to catch on fire, these two are lukewarm at best, and very predictable. I am also just a little confused by the villain in this book; I believe this part of the story should have been avoided or the author should have gone a bit deeper, too little at the surface. This book reminds of the Jock Dorm series without all the snowballing, robotic and happy happy.

Overall, not a horrible book just fell short for me in the terms of character development, and the tone of the story. One thing for sure this book is a true romance with a neat little HEA (happy ever after).

[Heather C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from a chat. I really enjoyed it even though it was over-the-top sappy. Rogan and Lucas made a lovely couple. The story involved their romance, a psycho stalker, and their hardships of living as a gay couple in a society that was not ready to accept. I really feel that their story is complete and I can't wait to see what characters will appear in the sequel.

[Deeze · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a sweet easy read if your looking for something light.



That said this book just didn't do it for me I'm sorry to say. The ideas were just what I like to read about, but the execution was lacking. Everything was just too neat and tidy. The characters were flat and predictable, the dialog was, as someone previously said, robotic. The sex was predictable and the pillow talk was sweet to the point of sickly. The drama was over before it even began. There were times it felt like I was reading the same thing over twice, due to explainations of feelings being repeated, which just made the book seem longer than it really was. A good idea that unfortunately never quite made it for me.

[J.P. Bowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent first novel from William Neale - a romantic story about two very disparate men who find love and forgiveness despite everything that's thrown at them, including a deranged character from their past. I enjoyed it very much.

[Elisa Rolle]

As the author himself says in the “about the author” section of this book, he is a strong believer in romance and as such he is presenting himself as a romance author. So, if the plot outside the romance was maybe overlooked, I think the reason is that William Neale was more aiming to the love story than anything else, and of course, you will never hear me saying that this is not a good thing, on the contrary, it’s very positive to me.

The romance in this story is so pushed, and the pink glasses perspective as well, that despite everything and everyone should be against them, the two main heroes manage to ignore it and enjoy their long-due love story. A lot of obstacles are in their path, but one by one they dodge them apparently without much effort. Sometime I wondered if that was even possible, if really it was that simple, or if instead the author was not planning for some big blow to strike… but nope, the romance flew smoothly, the men enjoyed their love story, and in the end, more or less the last 20 page, the author rushed for the time span of 13 months, letting the reader enjoying different moments of domestic bliss.

The starting point of the story is quite believable, and probably common: a gay man, Lucas, comes back home, in a small town in Tennessee, for his father’s funeral, a father who disowned his son when he came out. Among all the unexpected people who came to pay their homage there is Rogan, the high-school bully who harassed Lucas when they were in school. Of course to an external eye, the reason why Rogan was so fixated with Lucas was obvious, it was an unrequited love the guy was not able to admit. But now they are 30 years old, both financially independent, and so there is no reason why they cannot enjoy each other. Of course the author decided to write both of them like that to avoid any little problem to their happiness: they have not to worry to lose their job since they don’t really need it; living in two different, and far away States is no problem, since they can simply decided what suits them best an move in. Their only problem is to decide if they finally want to enjoy the romance they dreamt at school, and of course the answer to that question is simple: Yes, they do.

As I said, the romance overcomes anything else in the story, such as the unpleasant experience they have with a nasty reporter who made his point to outing Rogan, apparently for his personal agenda. But him, and the following scandal, are so minor occurrences, that they are soon forgotten. Actually everything seems to turning gay or gay friendly, and instead of being ostracized, Lucas and Rogan are almost invited to be the first couple of the small town. That is probably the point where I wondered if it was really possible, if it was believable that everything was so smooth for this duo, but then I thought, well, this is a romance after all!

I’m not sure, but after the rushing the reader experienced in the last few pages of the story, the ending was almost abrupt; that made me wonder if the author doesn’t have a plan to write a sequel for this story and these men.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608202127/?...

[Ebook Addict Reviews]

William Neal is definitely an author to be on the lookout for. Home, his first novel, is a must read. Home is a hot mix of mystery and romance. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I have always loved a story where the characters had crushes on each other in high school and find each other later on in life. I am a hopeless romantic, what can I say? And William Neal delivers on everything I want in a romance with Home. Mr. Neale gave me a romance that I could believe in, although there was an immediate attraction between Rogan and Lucas they didn’t jump into bed together right away there was a slow steady progression to that point that was comfortable and romantic, while jumping into bed isn’t a bad thing and some stories call for it Home didn’t, I really enjoy the progression of getting to know who each other – don’t get me wrong the sex is hot and plenty just not the focus of the story. While everything isn’t all romance and roses for Lucas and Rogan—they both have issues in their lives they have to work out plus a crazy stalker— William Neal delivers a truly believable romantic suspense that I think everyone should read.


Reviewed by Theresa

[SueM · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is a decent debut from author William Neale. While the plot and characters certainly have potential, the final result was a little bland for me. Some scenes had the potential to really wring an emotional response from me but left me unmoved. Others scenes had the potential to be dramatically suspenseful but instead fizzled out quietly. Some problems the characters encountered were too easily solved for my liking and others were skimmed over without any resolution. I also felt that some scenes (particularly the final scene) were added to make a political statement rather than being included to add depth or detail to the actual storyline. I suspect the author's novels will improve as he gains writing experience, but unfortunately this novel is just an average read for me.

[Francesco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read this book to unwind a little from all of the drama of other novels. The main characters and their relationship is sweet, but maybe a little too much: everything moves so fast and the dialogues are hardly believable. All in all the book is not badly written, but I have cringed so hard most of the time that I could not fully enjoy the story.
I give a 2.5 rounded up to 3

[Sadonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by William Neale. It's the story of two thirty yeur old guys, Lucas and Rogan - an Ad exec and a Deputy Police Chief, respectively, who have not seen each other since the night they graduated high school. Then Lucas's father dies suddenly and he has to return to his childhood home in TN from Cleveland to deal with that. Rogan, who tormented Lucas non-stop in high school, comes to pay his respects. He apologizes for being such a jerk in high school and ends up asking Lucas to his house for a drink after a very trying visitation at the funeral home and surprisingly Lucas accepts.

Lucas had not seen his father in five years since he told his father he was gay and was basically excommunicated from his father's house. Turns out Rogan tormented Lucas because he was in love with him and didn't know how to deal with it. In the meantime, Rogan has gone to college and grad school, married, had twins, divorced and become the deputy chief of police while Lucas had moved away from Morestown, TN and basically never looked back.

That first night at Rogan's house, the men end up talking until late into the night, having a number of drinks so Rogan asks Lucas to stay in his guest room so that he doesn't risk driving while impaired. Lucas accepts thinking it's a little bit odd, but basically shrugs it off as the guy trying to make up for being such an asshole when they were younger. Lucas has been completely honest with Rogan about being gay and Rogan seems to accept that without comment and continues to apologize.

After the funeral the next day, another high school classmate accosts Lucas in the parking lot of the church for a quote for a supposed article on his father for the local paper. Lucas of course is in no mood for this and when he doesn't leave, Rogan tells the guy to get lost. Rogan and Lucas once again leave and go to Rogan's house and then they decide to take out Rogan's boat on the lake since it's a gorgeous day and Lucas really doesn't want to deal with his family any more just then. They have a great day on the boat and Lucas stays at Rogan's house again. Eventually Rogan kisses Lucas and confesses that he's been in love with him since he was 15. Lucas is needless to say shocked, but he realizes that they have a definite connection and he wants to see where it goes.

During the next month Rogan and Lucas are outed by a picture published in the local paper surreptitiously taken when they thought they were alone. Photos are also sent to the Chief of Police, the mayor, a minister and the local councilmen. Then Rogan's ex-wife calls and Lucas takes the call thinking something might have happened to one of the kids. She threatens to keep Rogan's kids away as long as Lucas is there. Lucas panics and runs back to Cleveland while Rogan is meeting with the Chief. He does leave a note telling Rogan that he'll always love him, but he's not worth this mess. Of course Rogan doesn't take that lying down and needless to say pursues Lucas.

If you think that's the high drama of the story, you are wrong. So much more happens to Rogan and Lucas as they try to make their way together as a couple. There are death threats, police guards, B&Es, more pictures, crazy stalkers, fake friends and more still to come.

This story had a LOT in it, but that's part of what made it so good. I wanted to just keep reading to find out what happens to Lucas and Rogan and see how they work things out with each other. They are a really likable pair. Their story is left a little bit open-ended which I hope means there will be more to come.

[Tyra Berger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story starts with Rogan showing up at Lucas's fathers funeral, he has come to pay his respects but also wants to apologize to Lucas for the way that Rogan treated him through high school. Rogan invites Lucas back to his place for a drink and to try and explain why he treated him the way he did back then. Rogan has been in love with Lucas since the first time he saw him and like a lot of boys at that age doesn't know how to deal with those feelings and so he lashes out at Lucas, teasing him and calling him names. Lucas is skeptical of the apology at first but finally accepts that Rogan is being sincere.

Their relationship builds from there and the two together practically burn the pages up(seriously thought my computer was going to overheat)but they each have issues that they need to deal with. Rogan was married and has twins, he is also the deputy chief of police in a small southern town, will admitting his relationship with Lucas cost him his children and his job? Lucas is still not sure that Rogans feelings for him are real and isn't sure that Rogan could handle coming out. Well the coming out part is taken out of both of their hands when a reporter who is secretly in love with Rogan sends pictures of Rogan and Lucas together to Rogans boss and several high ranking public officials.

After the pictures are made public Rogans ex-wife calls and threatens to never let him see his children again, when Lucas hears this he leaves and goes back to Cleveland hoping that by leaving, Rogans life will go back to normal. Rogan gets support from his boss who tells him to take sometime off while he handles the fall out. When Rogan realizes that Lucas has left he goes after him. Rogan explains to Lucas that his wife can't take his kids away because of the custody agreement that he has and that his boss supports him and his job is safe. The two spend the next couple of weeks in Cleveland enjoying being "out" together.

When they return not only do they have to deal with Rogans family and friends ignoring him but Rogans house was broken into and Lucas's life has been threatened. The reporter who outed them wants Lucas out of Rogans life even if he has to take him out himself. While they know all along who is responsible for the pictures and the threats they don't have any proof and can't do anything until Randall actually tries something.

Now in most books, when Randall attemtps to kill Lucas would be the climax and end of the book, but not with this book and I think that's one of the reasons that I liked it so much. This author lets you continue to be a part of Rogan and Lucas's life. You get to see where they go from there. You get to be a part of their life and their love story. It also sets up the next book in the series beautifully....it made me want the next story NOW!!!

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice story. It was over the top in sappy. There is instant forgiveness for a character who made another one's life hell in high school. Then this former bully admits to having been in love with the other one during the bully days. There is a crazy stalker, a slew of homophobes, accepting and not-so-accepting coworkers, a couple of misunderstandings that are resolved quickly, quite a bit of going back and forth from one location to another and then more forgiveness thrown in.

I felt that it went on a bit too long but that was okay because it explained (and resolved) a few things. The sappyness got to be a bit much after the first few pages but I knew going in that it would be that way from reading other reviews. I will eventually read the other stories in the series..... when I'm in the mood for a major sugar rush. :)

Overall, a nice read.

[Briar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the idea of this novel: bully and bullied fall in love. However, i think they should have had more time discovering their feelings for each other. Especially the bullied guy Lucas. Once you come face to face with your old bully you don't immediately fall into bed with them! Thats my only fault with this book. The rest was pretty good. The stalker bit was a bit creepy though. Okay, very creepy which is why this book gets a 3. 1 star lost because of the unrealistic tone to it and another lost because of the creepy part at the end. If you've read this, you know what I'm talking about (the diary)!! YUCK!

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, what to say to this review...
The story is simple and doesn't really gives us something new, the plot is enjoyable and everthing is just to perfect. I couldn't really get into the feelings of main couple. But it was enjoyable but in long run it got boring because I just coudn't feel the written words of joy, love or even hurt.

If you like simple, easy going plots then this book is for you and I recommend it.

[Neet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hopelessly romantic story about Lucas Reed & Rogan James. Lucas was bullied ( not physically ) by Rogan while both were in high school. Lucas returns to the small town for his father's funeral and met by Lucas who not only apologizes for his bullying but admits a secret....he's gay and has been in love with Lucas all this time.Sit back and enjoy,this is a fantasy and just enjoyable to read.

[Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just re-read in 2014 ... still not a good read ...

This was pretty awful IMO ... these guys just wouldn't stop talking about their damn feelings ... it was gag-inducing sweet with corny to tip it over the edge into ack ... If you're in the mood for saccharine romance with touchy-feely chicks with dicks, this will satisfy your needs ... for me, I just gritted my teeth and endured it for the sake of m/m bingo.

[Suzette · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say I adore William's writing style, characterizations and heart warming feel good stories!

I smiled as I devoured this novel and laughed and got all misty eyed. The characters are so real to life you could.picture them vividly.

A wonderful read that I will not only recommend to friends but will read again and again!

[Cotilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why it is that in many novels when people talk they start with each other names every time? It really grits on my nerves.

Without the epilogue it would be a 4, with the epilogue a 3, there isn't 3.5 so a 4

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Major eye rolling going on in this one.

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I liked the main characters just fine, but I felt that they were overly dramatic. It was a sweet love story (though the 'obsessed stalker' part was a bit predictable).

[Gaa-chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[OkayKim · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
It was cute!
Did some giggling when Rogan went to his first gay bar, but this is a type of romance one has to be "in the mood" to enjoy it.
Especially if you're craving sugar!

[blub · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like I was viewing an LMN movie when reading this story. It was a sweet story and was also well detailed.

[Lamar54 · Rating 2 out of 5]

From bullied to friends to lovers in what... 5 days... not likely.

[Kittykills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love William Neale's stories... haven't read one yet that I didn't put in my keeper shelf.
sad that there will not be more. RIP Mr. Neale

[☀️*•*•*☀️CoNnOrBeLl☀️*•*•*☀️]

DNF

[Daric Wolkenhauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable, preachy, preposterous ...yet sweet.

[MsMiz (Tina) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Cerulean · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

[Ndulgent Bloggers · Rating 5 out of 5]

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