A review by ncrabb
Almost Home by Mariah Stewart

4.0

This is book three in the Chesapeake Diary series, and it was great fun to read. I’m discovering the magic of revisiting characters doing a series from beginning to end. I never thought I’d say that, but I'm coming around slowly. I’ve learned that if I read things between visits to a series, the magic is preserved and the burnout doesn’t happen.

So we met Steffie Wyler in book one. She is a close friend to Vanessa, the owner of a clothing and jewelry boutique, who was the central character of book one. Even in book one, you learn that Steffie has had a lifelong thing for Wade MacGregor, but he has been rather elusive, to say the least, in the first two books of the series. It is here in book three that the two come together—uh—all too literally. 

Steffie is a delightful character. Her brother is the town vet, and she is the owner of One Scoop Or Two, the local ice cream shop. There’s just nothing about her not to like. She’s well grounded; she works hard, and she’s pretty creative when it comes to designing those ice cream flavors.

She and Wade were getting pretty cuddly at her friend Vanessa’s wedding, then his phone went off, he took a quick call, and literally left her standing alone the apparent victim of unfulfilled desire, to say the least. As this book opens, Wade is back in town, and he has a little boy with him. The mystery behind the sudden appearance of the little boy is one Steffie will have to come to grips with if the romance is to flourish.

Here’s the thing: If you dislike romance-genre books, you probably want to avoid this. It’s everything you dislike; it’s predictable, the sexual descriptions are prevalent, all of that. But if you are charmed by fictional small towns where good people deal with bad times and come through them stronger because members of the community have bonded, pooled their resources, and helped one another. This series is a kind of a feel-good schmaltzy read. There are two more books in this series of which I’m aware, and I’ll read them—not because the romance appeals to me; I’m getting to a point with that genre where I can take it or leave it; but because I’ve come to care about the residents of this small Maryland town.