Monday, July 26, 2021

A Place Like Home - Short Story Collection Review

Goodreads:   A Place Like Home: Short Stories by Rosamunde Pilcher

Rating:  Really Liked It
Source:  Publisher

Description:  A Place Like Home is a spellbinding collection of short stories by internationally bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, never before published in book form. The collection contains fifteen stories, which range from The Holiday, in which a wife surprises her husband of twenty-five years with a holiday full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children; The Eye of Love, which takes the reader to a village by the sea where old flames meet again; and A Place Like Home, where a lonely young woman goes to recuperate in the Scottish countryside after a brief illness. The fruit orchards and fresh sea air offer much needed respite--but not as much as the handsome, mysterious farmer she meets.

Each unforgettable story is the perfect slice of romance written with warmth and passion featuring wonderfully memorable, smart, and feisty female characters that will transport the reader to another time and place.

Genre: Fiction - Short Story

Why I Picked This Book:  Rosamunde Pilcher is one of my all time favorite authors so there was no way I couldn't pick up this newest collection.  

My Impression:  I'm not sure I can really write a fair review on this book.  I love Rosamunde Pilcher.  I read The Shell Seekers so many times that I had two paperbacks literally fall apart in my hands.  I adore her previous two short story collections and read them when I need serious comfort.  

These short stories were dated, trite and predictable.  Most of her heroines are too thin with lots of straight hair, good bone structure and can look either beautiful or very plain depending on various factors.  However, Pilcher's writing is magic.  Her settings come alive and instantly pull me into the book.  I love her characters and somehow she gives a different face to all the straight haired plain/dazzling girls she writes.  It's essentially the book equivalent of a hot cup of tea, a warm blanket, and piece of very good shortbread on a very rainy day.  

I think Flowers in the Rain or The Blue Bedroom are both stronger short story collections but to have this book be published several years after Pilcher's death is such a special gift and this is a book I will revisit.    

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Of course!  Pilcher is on my regular reread list.

Would I Recommend this Book?  Honestly, if you aren't a Pilcher fan or have never read her this probably isn't the book I'd recommend starting with.  However, if like me, you are a longtime fan then of course you need to pick this up!

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

3 comments:

  1. Well nothing wrong with a hot cup of tea, a warm blanket and a piece of shortbread. I like her books too, although short stories are my least favourite.

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  2. I wasn't aware she wrote short stories until you blogged about it. I read The Shell Seekers years ago and liked it. And even though I have terrible luck with short story collections I'd give this a try. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I enjoyed this book too. You are so correct about The Shell Seekers, I read it again a few months ago. Did you read September? It’s kinda a follow up featuring Noel. I know he was an odious person but it’s a good and different view of him in September.

    My other all time favorite of Pilcher’s is Coming Home. Epic!

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