The Homecoming

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but John was not a compelling character and his story felt like it wrapped itself up far too perfectly. I found him stiff and uninteresting, and his views on other people annoying. He idolized Emily and his ex girlfriend. The whole situation with his brother Ryan he did not handle appropriately and neither did his parents.

The story in itself is a good one to tell, and the writing was believable. It was just the characters I could not seem to relate to.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

This book would be a great book for high school students to read and discuss when talking about guilt. John had a pretty good life until one day changed everything. Taking responsibility for something he didn't do causes him to leave his family. He makes more bad choices over the years until he is forced to go back home, or go to juvie.

Going home isn't always easy, especially when you don't want to be there and when you are trying to forget yet another tragedy.

This book is from John's POV and I liked that. Throughout the book, you know that he is guarding his feelings and get little snippets of why. For most of the book I didn't like his parents (I will let you make up your own minds on this one) because I didn't understand why they would give up on one child. The answers become clear by the end of the book. John starts to let his guard down and begins to acclimate to life at home again when tragedy strikes again.

I can't say too much without giving away the heart of this book, but misunderstandings, misunderstandings, and guilt all play a huge part in this book.

The only complaint I had was that I felt the author wrapped the story up too quickly and I wished she would have written a little bit more about Pete, Emily, Taylor and Ryan.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and thought the story was very thought provoking. I thought a lot about what I would do and how I would handle a situation/tragedy like John's entire family had to.

What a fantastic read about a teenage boy, Joh, struggling to find his place within his family after his life has been full of challenges. John is returning home after time living with his uncle while dealing with the struggles in his home life. His older brother suffered terribly in an accident that John still blames himself for and his girlfriend recently committed suicide. Drinking and drugs are part of his life and after another bad choice, John is sent home. This story deals with his redemption within his family, the changes that are continuing to occur in his life, and the way Emily, his neighbor, helps him learn to let go and love himself and others again. Great read!

After reading the synopsis for this book I thought it would be a deep emotional read. However i found it hard to connect with the main character, John.While he had a very distinct voice, which I liked, I just found him to be a bit guarded as the reader. I would have loved more background on the other characters. The plot felt very rushed and the ending needed to be tidied up. It was like the author rushed to make a deadline. I still did love the central story idea but the other faults were too overwhelming. 3 stars from me. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.

John is angry. Angry at the accident that changed his brother. Angry at his mother who kicked him out. Angry at himself for not saving the one he loves. This anger inside of him has led him to make choices even he knows were a mistake. He had it good with his uncle. Now he gets to come home years later to a home and a place with only bad memories. At least he gets to play lacrosse, spend time with his little sister, Livy, who he loves so much, and the girl next door isn't too bad. The plan is to get in and get out. As soon as his parole is lifted he's out of there and on his way to California. Will he let people in or leave them behind?

The Homecoming is a companion book to The Sister Pact by the same author. John gives you glimpses of the past with him and Leah, his girlfriend who killed herself, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not reading the other story.

Reasonably, John is very intense and furious at the world. Not only is he dealing with the pain of losing the person he loves, he has to go home to the madness he created. His mother and him have a rocky relationship so he has to contend with that as well as his brother Ryan. Ryan was in an accident and he has to be taken care of by his mother. He's very aggressive as well. It took me a while to read and see that it's not his fault. He has more of a handicap that I could have imagined. Reading the flashbacks of him and John is making me tear up already because you get to see who he was. Even though he was a bit mean to his younger brother, I still felt their connection. I wish he could have gotten better, but that was just not possible...

The girl next door, Emily, seems like the perfect person at first. I really like her good girl personality and her ability to be able to joke around John while simultaneously be there for him. She can be tough on him but he needs it. I didn't really get the full affect of her "trouble" in the past. I felt like there should have been more elaboration on that.

All in all, I enjoyed John's personality; I felt for him. I enjoyed the cast of characters, the family dynamic being reshaped, and most of all what the story was all about - forgiving others and yourself after a tragedy.

Get tissues for this one, I got tired of crying my eyes out and needed to watch and read something happy because it could get intense!

This book was an interesting read but it was not memorable.. It had a lot more potential for growth. The beginning of the book was great and really explored the protagonist in depth. By the middle I had a full understanding of his struggles emotionally and his life. At the end, I was very confused as to what was going on and how he came to all of these conclusions and realizations. How did he resolve the issues in his life? This was not clearly gotten to. Also there was a lack of climax in this book. There were a bunch of little bumps to ride over, but no big hill and that took away from this novels potential. I would give this book a 2.5-3/5 due to this .

Everyone knows the feeling of coming home after a long time away or seeing people you haven't seen in a long time. Stacie Ramey wrote a great rendition The Homecoming of the struggles of coming home
and how they are magnified when there are complicated backgrounds and tense situations lining the reason for the return.

John is just a teenage boy trying to deal with adult sized problems, but keeping them at bay while he pretends all is okay is harder than it looks. Ramey gave us characters that struggle with issues just like we do as readers. It makes them more realistic, which in turn makes the book a better read. I loved how The Homecoming showed how even when you have a solid plan on how your life is going to go, life tends to throw a wrench in things to shake it up. In this case a cute, friendly neighbor with hidden secrets of her own, addiction, growing feelings and more. The Homecoming was a constant stream of intrigue and drama.

The Homecoming is a great fall read for anyone looking for a story that is going to drag you in, grip you, and hold you until the very end. I have never picked up a Stacey Ramie book before, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for her next one. Five out of five stars!