Kim Reviews Lisa M. Owens’ “Worth the Coming Home” – Narration by John Solo

“For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.” ― Stephanie Perkins

Title: Worth the Coming Home (Love’s Value: Book One)

Author: Lisa M. Owens

Narrator:: John Solo

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Run Time: 7 Hours, 31 Minutes

Rating: 4 Star

Blurb: For Josh Brooks, it’s a summer of wishes come true. First he gets his dream horse from a rival trainer. Then his brother’s Army Ranger buddy, Dane Keller, comes to work on the ranch and Josh meets his dream lover too. Dane is hot, competent, and fresh out of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Everything would be perfect-except nobody knows Josh and Dane are gay.

All Dane wants is a quiet life in a less claustrophobic closet and a ranch job where he can earn a living. But when his best friend’s little brother, the one who wrote the letters that kept their spirits up in Afghanistan, turns out to have grown up in all the right ways, Dane can’t help wanting more despite his fear of commitment.

While Dane and Josh are busy trying – and failing – to keep their hands to themselves, someone else is watching, biding his time. Then he strikes, first at Josh and then at the prized horse. When all of their secrets and fears are exposed, Dane is determined to protect Josh, even if it means leaving him behind.

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Review: I’ve been a little hesitant to try out new authors lately, but I’m really glad I gave Lisa M. Owens a try. It’s been awhile since I’ve been so captivated by just the author’s writing style. I found it difficult to put aside Worth the Coming Home when I needed to work or sleep, alternating between reading the book and listening to the audio until I finished the story.

I really enjoyed getting to know Josh. He’s sweet, sensitive, and very much in the closet. As Josh’s narrates his story in Worth the Coming Home, there’s parts of his life that have ended in tragedy, and you learn why he has developed certain fears and attitudes that make him who he is today. At 25, he still carries a certain amount of innocence about him, but there’s also this balance of common sense and wisdom that you find lacking in others his age.

Now along comes Dane, an ex-Army Ranger buddy of Josh’s older brother, Jesse. Unlike Josh, I had trouble liking Dane. Had a little trouble with him blowing hot, then cold. Yes, maybe I should have given him a little slack because of the PTSD, but I have problems with people who run from their problems rather than work on them.

And this is where I started to have some problems with parts of the storyline. PTSD does not “just go away” with time. The symptoms can calm down with some sort of treatment, or masks itself in other ways, but it never quite “just goes away” on its own. If Dane suffered from it as bad as described, then it should have been suggested strongly to seek some sort of counseling.

One other problem I had with the storyline was what Dane did after Josh was outed. I felt it was a bit over the top, credibility wise, when Dane went back into action. If the author had done more research on PTSD, and found some other angst causing separation between the two MC’s to bring about the point of the title, this would have been a 5 Star read, because the author has an incredible writing style that is very addicting.

As for the audio…

John Solo, from what I heard, is an excellent narrator. He gives each of his characters their own distinct voice and throws in the appropriate emotion when needed, but his voice just didn’t fit the character of my idea of Josh. In others words, Josh’s voice came through as older and rougher than what I would perceive a young 25 year old to sound like. Okay, call me picky when it comes to my audio’s, but it’s very important to me that the voice matches, or brings to life, the characters of my imagination when listening.

So with this in mind, both the print and audio version of Worth the Coming Home receives a 4 Star rating. One thing is for sure, I will be reading more from Lisa M. Owens. I absolutely love her writing style. It’s very addicting even when you don’t agree with what you’re reading.

You can buy Worth the Coming Home (Love’s Value: Book One) here: