Review: His Ordinary Life by Linda Winfree

Reviewer: Holly
His Ordinary Life by Linda Winfree
Series: Hearts of the South #2
Also in this series: Truth and Consequences, What Mattered Most, Uncovered, Fall Into Me, Memories of Us (Hearts of the South #5), Hearts Awakened, Facing It, Hold On To Me, Gone From Me (Hearts of the South, #10), Memories of Us (Hearts of the South #5)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publication Date: September 11th 2007
Genres: Fiction, Suspense
Pages: 309
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

Reunited by their teenage son’s possible involvement in a murder...old passions and new needs are destined to explode.
Book Two of the Hearts of the South series.
Del Calvert has spent his life in quiet desperation, trying to meet everyone’s expectations and feeling like he never quite measured up. From his teens, Barb was everything he wanted and needed, but knowing he wasn’t enough for her drove him out of the marriage.
Barbara Calvert is afraid to need anyone—especially the soon-to-be ex-husband she still loves. She’s reluctant to fall under his seductive spell of love and security once more.
But when their son’s secrets threaten his life, everything changes. Del must help his son as unseen and threatening forces move ever closer, putting the entire family at risk. And along the way, he hopes to convince Barbara to give him one more chance to win back the wonderful, ordinary life he didn’t appreciate until it was gone.
Warning: This title contains the following: explicit sex.

 

This is book two in the Hearts of the South series by Linda Winfree. Although not a favorite plot device, if done well, the “married couple reunites” really works for me. This one definitely worked.

The story was filled with interesting characters and a good plot. There is a very fine line, in my not-so-humble opinion between a heroine being independent and just plain stupid. For a while, Barbara really skirted that line, but in the end, I empathized with her.

Have gotten married just out of high school because she was pregnant, she relied heavily on her husband. Too heavily. Instead of the two of them forming a partnership, she looked to him for everything. So when he decided he wanted to take a better job for himself, she balked, not wanting to leave the career she’d recently started and still resenting him somewhat – even as she loved him – for getting her pregnant and ruining the plans she had for her future.

The thing is, Linda Winfree did an excellent job of writing Barb’s character. Because in the beginning, I could see where she was coming from, and my loyalties lied with her. But then we saw things from Del’s point of view, and I started to wonder just what kind of an idiot she was to turn her back on a man like him. But as the story progressed, so did Barb’s character. And by the end, she was someone I respected and admired, and I was really pulling for her and Del. Not just one of them, but both of them, together, as a couple.

Del was an interesting character as well. Because of something that happened to him when he was a child, his sense of responsibility is magnified ten-fold. He’s always doing for other people, and never really considering the consequences for himself. But again, LW did an amazing job of writing his character, because though he did everything in his power to give the ones he loved what they needed most, he wasn’t a weak man, or one who would be taken advantage of.

The plot that revolved around their teenage son was an interesting one, and even though I figured out who the villains were before the main characters did (I almost always do) I still enjoyed watching them work through the puzzled of what happened to their son.

Oh, and I have to tell you, lately Daph and I have been on a Hot Dads kick. Del? Totally a hot dad. The way he was with his children was amazing and made him that more real to me.

Overall, a wonderfully written story of two people who are trying to find themselves and who they are together. The characters are real and three dimensional, the plot interesting and overall well written. Highly recommend.

4.0 out of 5
The series is as follows:

Truth and Consequences
His Ordinary Life
Hold On To Me
Anything But Mine

This book is available from Samhain Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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