Casee‘s review of His Ordinary Life (Hearts of the South, Book 2) by Linda Winfree.
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.
As I was reading this book, there were many times that I wondered if Barbara Calvert was going to be a TSTL heroine. She walked a fine line between being TSTL and being an independent woman.
Getting pregnant her last year in high school, all Barbara’s plans were changed. Instead of going to college like she wanted, she marries Del Calvert and has her baby, remaining in the town that she so desperately wanted to get away from. And while she loves her husband and their children, she is also resentful that she was never able to do what she wanted to do.
Del Calvert is living in Atlanta, without his family, and trying to figure out how he got there. I think that the blurb is deceptive, b/c I don’t think it’s Del that needs to ask for forgiveness, I think it’s Barbara.
When their teenage son starts acting out, Del comes home to help Barbara figure out what happened to their once happy son. Being back under the same roof with his family makes Del painfully aware of what he is missing. Barbara goes from being happy for Del’s help and resentful that she needs it. That got old for awhile. She was so quick to place all blame on Del’s shoulders. From the fact that he got her pregnant to the fact that she only recently got her college degree.
When Del’s sister, Tori, confronts Barbara, I thought that she was being harsh at first. Then I realized that Tori was the one that forced Barbara to realize how much Del sacrificed to keep his family (and especially his wife) happy.
Barbara was reluctant (with good reason) to just jump right back into the marriage. While she knows she loves Del, she also doesn’t want to go back to the woman she was before him. The woman that always looked to him to make decisions. She wasn’t a doormat by any means, but she also didn’t really stand on her own. Now she’s worried that Del may not like the woman she’s become.
If anything made the story good, it was Del’s persistence in getting his family back. The fact that he would do anything for Barbara and his children is so glaringly obvious that it’s like a spotlight shining throughout the whole book. He went along with Barbara’s request for a divorce b/c he thought it was what she truly wanted. Now he’s not so sure.
I think the whole book was one BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. Yet when the misunderstanding was resolved, there were only two people that love each other, but don’t know how to find their way back to each other.
Linda Winfree continues to impress me with her unforgettable and well written characters.
4 out of 5.
This book is available from Samhain Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
Other books in the series:
Ohhh, thank you Casee! This one line gave me goosebumps:
Yet when the misunderstanding was resolved, there were only two people that love each other, but don’t know how to find their way back to each other.
And I see you’re reading Burn 🙂