cover image Come Home to Love/Easier-To-Read Print

Come Home to Love/Easier-To-Read Print

Jane Bierce, J. Bierce. Zebra, $4.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8217-3930-3

Bierce ( Black Tie Affair ) does a decent job in her first foray into romance for mature readers, which is most intriguing for being firmly situated in troublesome, everyday life--not the venue diehard romance fans are accustomed to. When Julia Dulaine left her husband, Phillip, it wasn't just because of his affair: for years he had overlooked Julia's needs while he built up his company. Fortunately she is good at her job as a director in the news department of a local television station and she supports herself and their two college-aged daughters, Sandra and Yvonne. Lately, though, Julia's lifelong vision problem is worsening and this makes it difficult for her to perform even simple tasks. Alerted to this problem by the daughters (who want their parents to reconcile), Phillip reappears, determined to help Julia cope and even more determined to win her back. The reader sees ample evidence that Phillip can be annoying and manipulative but has only his word that, given a second chance, he can make a loving, devoted husband. Moreover, Julia's eyesight problem bestows on her decision to give him that chance an air of expediency. In all, it gives this ``happy'' ending an element of real-life ambiguity that isn't typical for the genre. (Oct.)