Discovering Home (Serenity Landing Second Chances #1) by Carol Moncado

Discovering Home (Serenity Landing Second Chances #1) Reviews

• 
  Dee/ bookworm

  This was a great story, but it wish some of the back stories, like the dancing at the wedding or the marriage would have been included as a prolog. Also, you were told the two bonded and talked but you weren't included so the relationship didn't seem very deep.
• 
  Elaine

  The characters were interesting: a single mother, her child, and Jonathan, a super rich and famous person who was too good to be true. Lots of info about dying wool and wool fairs.
  A few story surprises but basically a simple plot. Well-written but just a bit too long.
• 
  Katy Cater

  First of all....this is FINALLY Jonathan's story! For long time readers of Carol Moncado this is super exciting because Jonathan first showed up in her second book, Finally Mr. Write and becomes a major player in Good Enough for a Princess (free on Amazon!).
  Discovering Home is a great standalone, but all of Carol's books are connected, so I'd recommend starting with Finding Mr. Write (free on Amazon!) and reading your way through the various series (see Carol's website for help with book order -
  http://www.carolmoncado.com/books/tim...)
  
  All of that being said, I feel like Jonathan's story was worth the wait! Jonathan has been through a lot (see most of the previous books as mentioned above) and it's so satisfying for him to finally get his happily ever after.
  
  Note: I read all of Carol's new releases, so when offered a free copy of Discovering Home in exchange for my honest review I jumped at the chance!
• 
  Jack Vasen

  This first book of the series tells a complete story and can stand alone. Other books are related by common characters.
  
  Meh. Barely 3 stars.
  
  The story has many unique elements once you get past the poor desperate single mother in debt past any hope of digging herself out. She meets a young, handsome, nice guy who is also richer the anyone has any right to be. There are at least a couple of interesting twists. Despite all that, the story never excited me and it felt forced or contrived.
  
  Kenzie is sweet and courageous, but somehow wasn't that extraordinary. I guess another reviewer captures some of it by saying that she is mostly take with little give. Jonathan was a nice guy who had grown past the wild drunken rich kid to be able to recognize the cares of people around him, but he didn't excite me either. Lorelai was a cut kid OK, but she didn't steal my heart. I guess I'm trying to say that the characters lacked something, maybe they lacked being fully developed.
  
  Maybe I was nonplussed by the almost casual way Kenzie went from having faced the choice between feeding either her daughter or herself to having dresses and jewels that might never be worn twice. A huge section was spent on her yarn business. Jonathan poured money into it like water and then all that seemed to be forgotten perhaps gathering dust in the workshop. I thought it would be picked up toward the end, probably with Kenzie getting to take a class from her idol and using that to spring her to a fabulous career. But nothing. Not that the book needed to be longer. During much of that I kept hoping something interesting would happen.
  
  This is a Christian book, but there is almost no preaching. There is some prayer and trust in God, but sporadic - not like it was part of the fabric of their lives, but like seasoning.
  
  Mature themes: Not really. Sex between a married couple is completely described by He kissed her again and the two became one in a dance as old as time itself. There is no real violence. There is reference to alcoholics realizing how much trouble that cause and then having successful rehab.
• 
  Aimee (Getting Your Read On)

  I am a Carol Moncado fan. I've loved reading her books and I'm always on the lookout for more. I'm so glad that Jonathan finally got his own story. He's been showing up in books for awhile now but has never found his happily ever after. Until now.
  
  I felt like this book had a lopsided relationship. I didn't really love MacKenzie and I felt like she sort of ruined the story for me. Jonathan was all give and no take. MacKenzie was all take and very little give. She had some reasons, but still. I just didn't love this relationship. I did love Jonathan though. His kind and generous heart was a beacon of light. It's what kept me reading and invested. I wanted all good things for him.
  
  My dislikes in this book will not deter me from reading more by Carol Moncado. I've loved so many of her books and I will surely be coming back for more.
• 
  Jennifer

  This is the book that wouldn’t end. Every time I thought it was being resolved something else would happen and the characters would go back to questioning their relationship. I found it hard to keep pressing the ‘I believe button’ which also brought down my rating. Someone with Jonathan’s wealth and status likely wouldn’t have a friends and family circle that overlapped with the circle of a single mom struggling to put food on the table. I like the thought of a rags to riches romance but it needs to be believable and this just didn’t work, in my opinion.
  
  It’s an easy read and has a great theme of people leading lives away from Christ being transformed because of Him, very much a Christian version of a Hallmark movie. Unfortunately, though, this book was too unbelievable for me.
• 
  SK

  Love Moncado – But This Book “Not So Much.”
  This book was just hard for me to finish, it had too many twists and turns. The female lead at times was not likeable, although her daughter was very cute. Mackenzie rarely looked to God for guidance and it seemed to me there was just too many secrets and lack of honesty. Yes, Moncado’s other books follow a somewhat predictable pattern, but the ones I’ve read to date were enjoyable and I even appreciated their predictableness. So I’ve appreciated Moncado’s work, but this book was tedious and like picking petals off of a daisy, I found myself saying, “I’ll finish this book, I’ll finish it not!” I cannot imagine I would ever re-read this book, but even so, it may be the type of book that appeals to others.
• 
  Cynthia

  A Beautiful Story
  
  Kenzie was a single mom trying to make it through each day. She & her daughter run into a gentleman she met a couple of years before. Jonathan found a little lost dog by her gate at home and decided to rescue it. After giving it a bath & taking him to the vet the run by Wal-Mart to get supplies and he meets Kenzie & her daughter. He ends up rescuing her later, but sends with so much more.
• 
  Ellise Weaver

  Interesting love story
  
  Clean and no language which are both important to me. The story was long which I like but I have to say the 1/4 of the book that concentrated on the yarn was a little too much. But I endured. The getting together was pretty quick for believability for me but not a real issue in the long run. I liked the characters. Fun to revisit old characters from other books too. Good job.
• 
  Andrea Byers

  Another great read from Carol. Jonathan finally gets his story and I'm hoping he and his family will continue popping up from time to time in other books. Carol writes about struggles most will be able to relate to on some level. I enjoy her books and always look forward to what she has coming up.
• 
  Birgit

  A sort of Cinderella story (single poor Mom meets oh-so-good-hearted rich guy), and in parts quite unrealistic - and not because of it being a Christian story, on the contrary.
  However, the good narration style makes up for a sometimes weak plot.
  On the whole, though, it is a sweet and very likeable romance, something to enjoy on a summer holiday perhaps.
• 
  MaryRhonda

  Heartwarming story
  
  Kenzie and Jonathan are from two completely different worlds, but they manage to discover love and family together. Interesting twist near the end. Sorry I won't tell, read the book.
• 
  Stephanie

  Cute
  
  For getting together so quickly the author had them work through things that came up and showed how little they knew each other. There were a couple of good plot twists and I fully enjoyed reading this book.
• 
  Carolyn Horn

  And they lived happily ever after
  
  This was a book filled a lifestyle you could only dream off written in a way that makes you believe it! You don’t want to put it down. Such a sweet love formed from basic circumstance. A must read!
• 
  Lillie

  The marriage of convenience trope combined with the billionaire trope in a nominally Christian story. The faith element wasn't strong, and I felt the emphasis on wealth and materialism was stronger than it should be in a Christian story.
• 
  Courtney Lyman

  I love romance novels, and had high hopes for this one but I had a really hard time with it. The suspension of disbelief was off the charts and the amount of crises which were miraculously fixed in a short amount of time made me want to roll my eyes.
• 
  Brandy Hatchel

  Love Carol’s books! I can not get enough of them! I was so excited to finally read Jonathan’s story.