Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Aly’s House by Leila Meacham
Re-release Date: October 4, 2016 (Original 1/1/85)
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 224
Source: book provided by publisher for review
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A tender, classic love story about the power of first love and the promise of a second chance . . .
Aly Kingston has only ever loved one man: Marshall Wayne. But she put all of those childish dreams behind her ages ago when the Waynes left town. Her father’s victory at foreclosing on the Wayne family farm, the betrayal written all over Marshall’s face-it all still lingers in her mind and in her heart. But now, years later, when he comes back home to Claiborne, Aly realizes so much has changed since Marshall’s been away . . . and so much remains the same.Seeing Aly again surprises Marshall Wayne. Gone is the gangly girl who followed him around. In her place is a beautiful woman with warmth and sensitivity, someone who makes him want to believe in love again. But Marshall is back home for one reason and one reason alone: to get revenge on the man who destroyed his family and to reclaim what rightfully belongs to him.
As the past and the present collide, will Aly lose her heart to the man who’s plotting to destroy her family? Or can she show Marshall that love runs deeper than vengeance?
Review: Aly’s House is the third book I’ve read by Ms. Meacham that has been republished without changes in 2016 but was originally published in the 1980’s. Most of the story is seamlessly transferred to the here and now except that Marshall is a smoker and smokes everywhere.
Aly and Marshall cross paths unexpectedly in an airport lounge in Texas while waiting for their flights. While she knows exactly who he is, he knows she looks familiar but can’t place her. When their cross paths back in their hometown he is shocked to see how she’s grown up since he’s been gone. She’s always carried a torch for him but so did a lot of girls. His family was poorer than hers and her dad, the bank president, held his family’s future in his hands along with those of many other residents of the town. Aly never fit the mold like her siblings did but she also spars with her dad better than anyone. She always has a plan and a back up plan to get what she wants out of life except concerning Marshall, or does she? He returns years later with an agenda and Aly doesn’t know what to think at times. She’s also getting advise from her father on what she should do and how she should do it, which doesn’t always sit well with her. Now, as always, Aly knows her own mind and how she wants things to pan out, but will it work out the way she wants?
The story had a nice flow and there was a depth to the characters along with lots of secrets. I like how the past is filled in as the story takes place. There are hard times, advantages taken, revenge threatened and plans to be made and remade. We learn the history of the two families and what has happened to them in the ensuing years. I like how Aly’s life has played out over the years since she was young and Marshall had left first to go to college and then to begin his banking career in New York City. I didn’t like the way her dad steamrolled over everyone and only did what was best for him. There were twists and turns to the story and some closure but the ending was too abrupt for me. I would have loved to have an epilogue.
Meacham is a new to me author only having read Ryan’s Hand, Crowning Design and now Aly’s House. There was an excerpt in the back of the book for Titans and it only whet my appetite for more. I’ve added a few of this author’s books to my always growing TBR pile!
Favorite Quote: It was Marshall Wayne. There was not the slightest doubt that it was he. Time had not changed him, merely polished and refined, strengthened and enhanced his figure – just as she had known it would. She would have known him anywhere, at any age. A whole gallery of his portraits, sketched mentally each year, still hung in her heart.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.