The Only Best Place (Holmes Crossing #1) by Carolyne Aarsen

The Only Best Place (Holmes Crossing #1) Reviews

• 
  Lu Bielefeld

  DNF!
  ====
  Our heroine resigns herself to a marriage that's no longer good. The husband besides cheating still loses all the money they were saving to buy a house. They end up moving to his family farm which is controlled by his mother with an iron fist. He keeps making the wrong decisions and making me more and more irritated by the passivity of the heroine who just keeps accepting everything quietly. The husband is useless and not worth so much sacrifice. I didn't finish reading.
  
  

  When her name showed up too often on our call display, I confronted Dan. He admitted he'd been spending time with her. Told me he was lonely. He also told me that he had made a mistake. That he was trying to break things off with her. He was adamant that they'd never been physically intimate.

  
  

  I pulled out another excuse, determined not to get railroaded by his crooked smile and soft voice, something I hadn't seen or heard since what’s-her-name.
• 
  Tmstprc

  Christian Women's Fiction
  
  I liked this more than I expected.
  
  This is one unhappy couple.
  
  She's a city girl with no understanding of farming, he's a transplanted farmer, living the city, that left home because of his step-father.
  
  The book opens with an angry, frustrated wife, who in an inner monologue doesn't trust that her husband didn't have a physical affair with an employee, at best he has been emotionally cheating. Bad business decisions on his part have left them in rough shape financially. They (he) decides they need to move home to his family farm for a year to help his mother and regroup; she reluctantly agrees. She gives up her career as an ER nurse, again reluctantly and they head to Alberta, Canada, and the family farm with their 2 children and the expectation of being there for a year and then going back to Vancouver to resume their lives and eventually be in a position to buy her dream home.
  
  She has a massive chip on her shoulder, not happy that she's going to spend a year dealing with a MIL and SIL that openly dislike her and a husband that doesn't even acknowledge or deal with this. The husband's family is very devout, he's not lived a Christian life since moving away, at best the wife is an agnostic, her sister is an outright atheist and has no issue telling the wife that basically religion is a crutch. The sisters had a horrible childhood with an alcoholic, single mother.
  
  Once back on the farm, the MIL controls the budget, which is slim at best and the husband starts to use their dream home savings to pay for farm expenses, without discussing this with her first. He's happy to be home and she continues to be angry and frustrated. He also goes back to church and brings their daughter with him. He sides with his family over her over and over, all of this adds to her anger and frustration and she eventually goes back to work in the ER of their local hospital, to replenish their dream house savings. No one in his family is happy about this, particularly when a new friend (instead of family) babysits the children while she's working.
  
  The new friend is good for her and helps her through the process of becoming a farmer's wife, convinces her to try and get along with the controlling in-laws and gets her to go to church. And the family seems to be muddling along. There's a doctor that's flirting with the wife and she enjoys the attention until one of her SILs witnesses it and even though the wife was kind and helpful to the SIL, she tells the husband about the doctor. This leads to a blow up between the couple where he again sides with his family and says very unkind things about her childhood, knowing fully well she had no control over her mother or how she was raised.
  
  The day after their blow up, the husband rushes their son to the ER while she's working. He has meningitis and is airlifted to Edmonton and with this everything clicks into place, reality check of reality checks. There's a wonderful scene between the couple where he apologizes for everything that he's done, admits that he's sided with his family over her, put the needs of the farm and family before her needs and regrets the relationship he had because he was lonely and she was working so hard to hold them together financially. And, after seeing her care for their son in the ER, he has a new appreciation for her job as a nurse, understanding that it's not just a job. It's heartfelt (I found it believable) and he promises to go back to Vancouver.
  
  Only she's not so sure she wants to go back to Vancouver. He and their children are happy on the farm, she likes working in the small local hospital, she puts her faith in God and their lives fall happily into place.
• 
  A.J. Flowers

  This book was amazing! Absolutely well-written in a way I haven't seen in a long time and was able to draw me into a genre I don't normally read. There are so many layers to this novel that I enjoyed exploring. This was a believable and heartwarming story that hit close to home. I related to the main character on many levels. There are some life lessons that any women would do well to take home after reading "The Only Best Place." And one of the things I loved most about this novel was that it focuses on an established and committed romance instead of a new and just-flourishing one. The event of finding Mr. Right doesn't equal a "happily-ever-after." There are struggles and realities to deal with, and Carolyne shows us how holding onto love and faith will get you through tough times.
  
  I highly recommend "The Only Best Place" for anyone looking for a well-written and heartwarming tale!
• 
  Lyn

  Carolyne is a long time acquaintance. We both started writing for love inspired romance about the same time. I have read her first love inspired romance but haven't read anything by her since. But when I saw this book on sale on bookbub, I decided it was time to sample Carolyne's more recent writing.
  
  What a delight! In the intervening years, Carolyne has only become an even better author. Her characters are lifelike, three-dimensional, and most of all interesting and likeable.
  She has set up an interesting conflict between a marriage couple and between the wife and her in-laws. All very believable. All very compelling.
  
  I now plan to read the rest of the series. Hope you'll take a chance. I rarely give 5 stars! You won't be disappointed!
• 
  Iola

  Excellent writing, but I had issues with the characters.
• 
  Tina

  This story was not what I expected. It started out kind of slow, but interesting. As the story goes on and you get to 'know' the people involved. It really pulls you in. This a great story with an interesting plot.
  This is about Leslie and Dan. Leslie has been a city girl her whole life and loves her crazy hour job as an ER nurse. They are already having a lot of marital problem but then Dan's business goes under. At this same time, Dan's stepfather leave his mother in a bind and they go back to the family farm to help her out. Even though Dan and their children love the country life, Leslie just wants to get back to the city. They agree to stay for one year to help then she wants to find a nice house in Vancouver and finally settle down. Dan and his family have other ideas....
  The characters were so fleshed out that I really got a feel of their personalities. I was once the city girl thrust into country living and I had to laugh a few times at the things she noticed that ONLY happen in the country. Going to an auction or church picnic and see the entire town attending. Not for the auction/picnic itself, but to visit with your neighbors and family. The huge family farms that have been around forever. The family ties that are almost impossible to wiggle your way into.
  This story is also strongly steeped in religion and what their Savior means to them. I personally am not a religious person, per se. I believe there is a Creator and higher power, I just never met them to get the correct name. LOL I'd hate to call the Creator by a name my whole life just to get to the ever-after and find out I was wrong and I've offended them. LOL So I can totally relate to Leslie having to deal with a community that is totally committed to their Savior and wants nothing more that to suck her in. I always felt like a heathen and hypocrite when I attended the church picnic but not the church. But I held my head up high and partied with the church folks. LOL
  This book made me laugh and cry harder than I have in awhile. It's nicely written and flow really nice. I think I read the last 10 chapters in one night because I couldn't put it down. It's also really hard to read through tears.
• 
  Adrienne

  Where do I even begin?
  
  This book was not good. The story idea had potential, but the characters were awful - I don't remember the last time I read a book in which I hated nearly every single character.
  
  Leslie and her husband, Dan are broke (the details on this are sort of given in the book, but not super-clearly). They decide to move back to Dan's hometown and live on the family farm. Before they arrive at the farm, they have solidly agreed that this will be for 1 year, no more, no less.
  
  Leslie, who comes off as a socially inept, spoiled princess is super-pouty about the whole thing and honestly, is kind of a spoil-sport bitch about it all. Things have gone downhill in their marriage and she has a right to be upset, abosolutely, but at the same time, she agreed to make the move, so maybe it's time to get over her dislike of all things country. If you say you want to rebuild your marriage, maybe you want to let go of the resentment. Otherwise, nothing will change, nothing will get better. Leslie and Dan don't seem to understand this.
  
  Dan isn't much of a husband. He's the type of guy to sit back at the breakfast table and watch his wife deal with their children's terrible behavior without lifting a finger. He also lied to his wife and brought her to the farm under false pretenses. It quickly becomes apparent that he agreed to a year to get Leslie out to the farm but had no intentions of ever leaving.
  
  In the end, Leslie gets worn down enough not to care anymore and they decide to stay. Seriously. That's pretty much it.
  
  One other note - this book could use some serious editing. At one point, the youngest child, Nicholas, is renamed Ben for about 3 pages. At another, a woman Leslie meets at the hospital also undergoes a name change. The writing throughout is repetitive and weak. With better characters and stronger writing/editing, this could have been a much better book.
• 
  Amy Shore

  Leslie moves to Montana thinking she is just here to help out her husband’s mother and then go home after a year. Oh and her relationship with her husband is on the rocks and maybe the country life will do their relationship some good. Surprise, surprise, it does. Oh and the mother is a control freak and Leslie’s husband is her favorite child. This story was unbelievably predictable.
  
  The author obviously knows nothing about any-other religion. She writes that Leslie is a Pagan. I guess she thinks that Pagan’s don’t believe in a higher power? I’m not sure. But for her to put that in there went against the character she built as Leslie. Leslie hates wide open spaces, animals and dirt… It would have been more believable if the author said Leslie was a city-built atheist. I guess she wasn’t expecting a diverse reading base.
  
  Also, a huge annoyance… there was a single page where Leslie’s son Nicolas became Ben (oops), and some of the names she thought up were quite odd to read.
  
  On a positive note, with the whole religion aspect aside, I did like a lot of attributes given to Leslie’s character. She often made reference to “if this were a movie the music would be like this…” It was cute. I also liked how Leslie never had a sense of family and she finally found that, not only in her in-laws, but also within the community.
  
• 
  Lillie

  I love that this is a romance of a married couple with kids facing major changes in their lives. Leslie has a hard time adjusting to life on the farm and to Dan's family; Dan doesn't seem to understand why she can't love their farm life as much as he does. Dan and his family are Christians, but Leslie doesn't have faith to sustain her. As she develops faith, she sees her circumstances in a new light. The Christians are portrayed as real people, with imperfections like all of us, but they are sincere in their beliefs.
• 
  Tracy

  Poorly written, predictable crappy Christian fiction. Need I say more?
• 
  Jennifer Lara

  A quick read but not very enjoyable. It was a hard book to enjoy as many of the characters were annoying and selfish with no real redemption or growth by the end. I do not recommend
• 
  Cindy Cooke

  I so identified with this book!
  
  Deciding to follow your heart instead of your head can be a very difficult thing, especially with more than one failure lurking in the background to remind you of exactly why you should NOT. With deep reservations Leslie follows her husband back to his roots, knowing that she will again struggle to find her own place in the small town and within his close-knit family. They have agreed to take a year in Holmes Crossing to help his mother with the family farm. The agreements she thought were so!id soon began wavering as Leslie watches her husband change into a dutiful son who appears to side with his mother against their plans on virtually every issue that comes up. When he strips money from their nest egg to buy a tractor without even discussing it beforehand, Leslie feels betrayed. Nothing she does is ever good enough to compare with his family, she knows nothing about farming, gardening, or raising cattle. She goes back to a place where she feels secure, a job in the local hospital as an ER nurse. It was apparently not the choice her husband and his family thought the right one, but Leslie was drowning, feeling lost in a country setting after growing up in the city. Even as she keeps telling herself that it will only be for a year, her husband lets her know that he has no.plans for leaving. She slowly begins to make a few friends, being ever mindful that she cannot really say anything tnat might get back to her husband's family, but her life seems to be a trainwreck. And then her youngest child gets deathly ill. That changes everything.....
  
  Great book, Ms Aarsen.! Because I couldn't put it down, wondering how the misery would be eliminated, given how many things were pulling at Leslie as she tried desperately to reconcile all the changes forced upon her as well as save her marriage. The 365 pieces of chocolate were lifesavers!!!
• 
  Heather Belleguelle

  This was the first book I had read by Carolyne Aarsen and I don’t anticipate it being the last. The Only Best Place is written with a depth to the characters and story that I enjoy and don’t often seem to be able to find. Leslie is a very real woman with real problems, hopes, and fears – things that are very easy to relate to. I felt that the author really drew me into Leslie’s head. The relationships between Leslie and her husband, Dan, and his various family members are particularly astutely written and very realistic. The faith element of the book is quite low-key, but central to the story at the same time. Leslie’s journey to finding that faith is very gentle and believable.
  
  The only negative thing that I can find to say about the book is that if I were writing this as a professional reviewer, I would knock half a star off the rating due to the fact that a little proofreading is needed. There are also two or three persistent grammar issues that could be improved on. However, unless one is quite a grammar nerd (like me), these things might not even be noticed, and, even for me, they did little to detract from my enjoyment of the story.
  
  One thing that I really enjoyed about the book is its location. Although my husband and I are British we spent a year in the Alberta area, and I felt that the author really managed to portray not just what the place looks like but also how it feels. I could sense and relate to Leslie’s feelings as a city girl moving to the wide open spaces and tightly knit small town community.
  
  In conclusion, I highly recommend The Only Best Place and am looking forward to reading further books in the series.
• 
  Megan

  I was actually surprised by how much I liked this book because this is not the type of book I usually read. I'm so glad I read it though! I found Leslie and the other characters to be so realistic and relatable! She could easily be a friend telling me her story over coffee. Many of the issues she faced and the emotions she felt are the same that many women experience, myself included. I do feel that I missed something with it being in 1st person. I really wanted to get into Dan's head to see if he really was sorry for his mistakes. Because I was seeing him through Leslie's eyes it was hard to like him at first, although Leslie made some mistakes too like with Dr. John. But that shows just how easily affairs can happen. I'm so glad Leslie stopped it before it went too far! That being said, I was happy with the ending. I mostly read books with couples falling in love then getting married so I enjoyed reading about a married couple and seeing them work through their struggles to build their marriage up again.
  There were a couple of mistakes in the kindle version that I read. Missing words and names changing. However, that didn't take a way from the story for me.
• 
  Susan

  Dan just goes along making decisions, MAJOR decisions, without consulting his wife. Leslie, naturally, resents this. They have issues in their marriage that need working on, and that's one of the reasons why they move from the city to a farm. Leslie is NOT a farmer's wife. Dan and his family just DON'T get that. Wilma doesn't like her from the minute she set eyes on her. Gloria is just like Wilma. Everyone is condescending towards Leslie. I liked Kathy, at first, but when she suggested that Leslie go to church because it's a place of reconciliation and that's a place to start to reconcile with Dan's family, she angered me. Leslie should WANT to go on her own, not because it might heal the rift between her and Dan's family.
  
  She doesn't necessarily believe in God, but she doesn't totally disbelieve, either. It's amazing how her son getting deathly ill magically brings her to God and also helps their marriage.
  
  It was too.....much. Poor Leslie. I really felt for her.
• 
  Rosalyn

  Down to earth. I didn't get pulled in to this story immediately, but I liked it. I especially found Leslie the main character, very easy to identify with.
  She's a city girl, not a farmer's wife. Now they've moved 'home' to her husband's family. On the farm. She's left out because she has no idea what they expect of her. And feels like they don't even like her. Her mother-in-law is controlling. And so on...
  Then, she finds a part time job she enjoys. She starts making friends...and she begins to ponder the possibility of staying in this farm country.
  Leslie & her husband Dan have struggles in their marriage, like all marriages do. They work to understand each other and overcome their hard times.
  I found myself crying as I neared the end of the book. Yes, I said earlier I wasn't pulled in right away...but it happened--sometime around the middle of the book!
  This is a nice, heart-warming story about love, marriage, sacrifices, and more.
• 
  Timothy Hendricks

  I enjoyed this book very much. It was very well written and there were so many different layers to this book. I like seeing it from the Woman's side and the Man's side of things. I like how God, faith, and scriptures were used in this book without being too preachy. At no time did this book feel rushed and it ended well. I got the next book in the series based on reading this one. I look forward to reading it. This book left a lot for one to think about. Also, it shows how anyone can be tempted to go to far. One must work at a marriage. Too many people once they are married begin to take it for granted; but for successful marriage it must be worked at. This book shows that clearly. It also shows that it takes two to have a marriage and it usually takes two to make it crumble.
  
  This book was definitely worth the read. I liked it very much. I look forward to reading more from this author.
• 
  Judy

  The Only Best Place by Carolyne Aarsen
  Holmes Crossing Series Book One
  Dan and Leslie Vandekeere have moved to Holmes Crossing so Dan can run the family farm.
  And so they can hopefully repair their marriage. Then, in one year, they can return to Vancouver and build their dream home. That was the plan.
  
  This is told from Leslie's point of view only. Leslie and her older sister, Terra, had grown up with an alcoholic mother. Dan on the other hand, has family...a lot of family. Leslie is overwhelmed at the acres of nothing but sky and land—and not in a good way. What's worse, Dan seems so at home on the ranch with his controlling mother and his sisters and their families.
  
  Things go from bad to worse for Leslie. Family, church, open land, and her own guilt. Wonderful story. If you cry easily, you may want tissues nearby. I went through plenty of them. Terra's story is in book two; All in One Place.
  
  https://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com...
• 
  Kati

  This book came to me as a library discard; an oldie, but a goodie (published in 2006).
  
  If I could give every chapter five stars, I would.
  
  The story is told by Leslie VandeKeere, a mother, wife, nurse, and a thorough city gal with a complicated past. Circumstances force the VandeKeeres to move from Seattle to a struggling family farm in Montana, and straight into the arms of a large, meddling VandeKeere clan. There has never been much love lost between Leslie and, especially, her mother-in-law. So, from the get-go things are spicy, but very realistic.
  
  Leslie struggles with every relationship she has, including her husband and her small kids. And God. As Leslie gets to know her husband's large family and the local community, and they learn more about her, things start changing. Surrendering her control on life to God brings Leslie peace and also, finally, a sense of belonging.
  
  This book may have been a discard, but it is staying in my home library. ❤️
• 
  Linda Thomas

  Leslie and Dan move back to his home town, Holmes Crossing, to start over.
  
  Leslie and Dan with their two children moved back to his home town to help his mother. Holmes Crossing is a farming community and Leslie isn’t aware of how much Dan falls back in love with the life style and the large christian family he belongs to. She is a city girl a nurse trying to fit. It is a true christian story as no one is perfect and nothing is solved easily. I loved it for those reasons. You must read to find how they solve their problems and if they find God. Well written, interesting, and warm.
• 
  June

  Can a all out city girl figure out how to become a farmer's wife? I love how the author works through the struggles of Leslie as she figures out how to fit into being a transplant in a farming community and family. It's a struggle I understand. I also really enjoyed that this could easily be the community I live in with everything Dutch and every one related to your neighbors or in Leslie case her extended family. I loved how she learned to figure out how God and family fit together in her new world.
• 
  Irene S

  This is a book that I couldn't put down. Leslie, an emergency nurse, has a mixture of emotions when her family has to move to her husband's family farm. This book is told from Leslie's point of view. I really feel her frustrations and emotions about being landed in just a different environment. I also like how their outlook at life, family and each other changes over time. My favorite part of the book is the faith that underlies the family to keeps them connected. I love this book and look forward to reading the next book in the series.