Coming Home...Seriously, is that it?

Title: Coming Home
Author: Patricia Scanlan
ISBN:
Rating: 6/10
Genre: Fiction, Christmas, Audiobook, Family
Book: Audiobook

I can only apologise for how long it has taken for me to write this review. I finished Coming Home on 12th Septemeber and I just have not had the time to write a successful review so I can only apologise. I have recently started a new job in a Secondary School and I am absolutely loving it! It is so different to the usual Primary School routines that I am used too that I have been so exhausted and tired when I have come home that I just chill. I am sure you can appreciate that.
Now, back to the book. Alison is a successful, independent and determined lady who lives in New York, she comes from a quiet town in Ireland. She has a close relationship with her parents and only

wants them to think the best of her. Her family always thought the best of Alison, she has a perfect life, the perfect job, apartment and boyfriend, or so they thought. Alison's life has changed and she does not know what to do with herself. She has found herself having a large amount of free time and away from her friends in New York.

In contrast, Olivia, Alison's sister, lives in their hometown in Ireland. She believes her sister has managed to get out of town and change her life for the better. Olivia has got married and raised three girls whilst her sister has been partying, working and making a name for herself in America. Olivia loves her sister but she feels there is a divide between them as Alison keeps on reminding Olivia of her success. 

I believe Patricia Scanlan has written an interesting and engaging book, however, I did feel like there were a number of sections missing from the story. The story jumped at times and did not always make sense. When I expected an informative part of the story Scanlan appeared to rush and push through to the next section. Alison returns home for Christmas to her parents' surprise but does not want her lifestyle change to be mentioned. Her parents or sister do not know. How can she come home for Christmas and not expect to talk about her own life?

The story engages Alison in sadness, love, realisation, reality and disappointment. All emotions which Scanlan expresses well. However, I would have liked to know more about Alison and her family and the new interest in her life J.J. the new person who has just moved into her building. I so wanted good for Alison. I wanted her to do well, she had gone through a lot in a short space of time and I wanted the best for her. I feel I wasn't given enough information and decisions were made very quickly for Alison.

Although I enjoyed parts of the story when the end of the book came the author jumped forwards a number of months and tried to tie up a number of loose ends. I just felt she had tried to answer a number of questions about progression and relationships for both Alison and Olivia, but she did not do this for me. She created more questions and queries for me about what would happen and how things could be resolved. What were the relationship status developments for J.J. and Alison? How are Alison and Olivia's parents? What happened to the girl's dear Uncle Leo? Amongst many other questions.

The book was only 5 hours and 20 minutes long which is one of the shorter lengths of books I have listened to. This is a nice length of time to listen to a book if going on a long journey. However, I don't think I would recommend this book. I would only recommend it if I knew there was a second book to follow up my questions then I may consider offering the book to another person until then I would not recommend it.

Rating: 6/10
10-word-review: An easy read for a journey but not a recommendation.

I have been reading Brown Owl's Guide to Life by Kate Harrison. As an extremely proud leader of a Brownie unit within Girlguiding, my mother-in-law thought it appropriate to buy this book for me. I have really enjoyed it so far and hope to write a review soon. Keep checking out my reading updates on Goodreads.

Only one more week to half term, teachers, teaching assistants, school cooks, caretakers and anyone else who does a fantastic job working in schools. Enjoy it and use it productively. Use your time off to have fun! Steph xx