Wednesday, April 26, 2017

"Homestands" by Sally Bradley


Homestands is the last book I read in my whirlwind tour of Kindle Unlimited. I decided not to continue my subscription after the free trial because I already own hundreds of Kindle books that I haven't read ... but I certainly enjoyed KU while I had it.

(The other KU titles I read and reviewed are Beauty and Buying Love.)



When baseball star Mike Connor stumbles across his ex-wife six years after their divorce, he’s stunned to find that she's the mother of a kindergartner who wears his jersey. And shares his last name.


The last thing Meg Connor wants is to be around Mike. After all, he was the one who hurt and abandoned her. But she can’t deny him—or their son—time together to build a relationship, which means Mike is around too often, reminding her of why she fell in love with him so long ago. If only she could forget their past… The painful and the good.

Between their guilt and closely held hurts, Meg and Mike struggle against each other, their feelings, and God as they fight their own desires for the future, a future that might never happen when the past that tore them apart collides with their present.



Of all the Kindle Unlimited books I read, Homestands is definitely my favorite ... it includes baseball (with the fictional Wind presumably standing in for my beloved Cubs), romance, a cute kid, and suspense.

Homestands reunites interior designer Meg with pro baseball player Mike, the man who abruptly divorced her. But when they divorced, Meg had a secret—she was pregnant with their son, Terrell. When Mike crosses paths with Meg again and learns they have a son, he's at first livid, but he soon realizes he wants to be both a father to Terrell and a husband to Meg.

Homestands is both a second-chance-at-love story and a suspense novel. The suspense aspect definitely surprised me, but it was a welcome addition to the novel. The suspense revolves around Meg's assistant Dana and her fiancé, Ben, a former baseball player with an ax to grind. Then Mike's ex-girlfriend Brooke (the woman he left Meg for) gets involved, and the plot, while a bit convoluted at times, careens toward a very satisfying, touching resolution.

How's that for being vague? 😉 It's just that I don't want to explain too much about the plot (beyond the romance), as it's best discovered for yourself.

One other thing I should mention is that Homestands has a very strong faith thread ... without veering into "preachy" territory. When Meg and Mike were married, neither was a believer. Meg became a Christian shortly after their divorce, and she raised Terrell to know and love Jesus. Homestands traces Mike's faith journey from skeptic to believer, and it's done in a compelling, realistic way.

Homestands is the first of Sally Bradley's books I've read, and it makes me want to pick up her others. I already own Kept (I got it as a Kindle freebie a while back), and I'm thinking it should move its way up my TBR pile. 4 stars.

Buy the book.




Sally Bradley writes big-city fiction with real issues and real hope.

A Chicagoan since age five, Sally has been fascinated by all things Chicago (except for the crime, politics, and traffic) for almost as long. She now lives in the Kansas City area with her family, but they get back to Chicago from time to time for important things, like good pizza and a White Sox game.

A USA Today bestselling author, Sally has won a handful of awards for Homestands, Kept, and another work-in-progress.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I borrowed this book through Kindle Unlimited and chose to review it. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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