Nice to Come Home To

by Rebecca Flowers

Book Overview

A funny, entertaining novel of love and family for our times: a single woman who fears she's lost her chance at a family of her own, begins to accumulate an ad hoc one around her. In the tradition of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594483566
• ISBN13: 9781594483561
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Great Read!

This wonderful novel kept me engaged from the first line and drew me in throughout. The characters come to life with all the comedic lumps, twisted flaws and sincere beauty we find in our own lives. Rebecca Flowers' unique voice as a storyteller, her clever, witty phrasing and insights left me very satisfied as a reader. You know you have read a great book when you don't want the story to end because you will dearly miss the characters. Might we hear more from these characters in the future? I hope so. I will definitely follow this author and I anxiously await her next novel. I recommend Nice to Come Home To to anyone looking to read a thoughtful, intelligent novel from an aspiring new author. A great read!

Great in so many ways

When I read a book, I'm looking for a lot--a great sense of place, characters that I actually care about, and a story that feels like it's going somewhere. I like to feel that these characters mean something to me, going about their lives in an interesting place, doing interesting things, and that stuff is going on. Pru and her sister seem real, seem like women I've known, have hopes and desperation and humor the likes of which I know, and their lives don't seem like programmed steps in a novel-writing formula of what-should-happen-next, but instead unfold with the real, gentle grace of real life ... only a bit wittier, a bit snappier, and with a bit more style. The writing is really smart, funny, and has such a great voice--if you don't know exactly what that means, read this book--you'll start to see and hear the world through Pru (and Flowers's) gimlet eye--sharp, whip smart, and with a tangy wit. And the story goes on in two fully realized places, both DC and the beach ... I've read a lot of fiction with a great sense of place--from Marcus Sakey's Chicago to Elmore Leonard's Detroit and Miami, Lehane's Boston, and Pelecanos's DC ... and while Flowers isn't hard boiled like those guys, she creates a DC that is real and lived in and immediate, just like Pelecanos and the rest ... a really lovely, meaningful, and intelligent book, that stayed with me long after I put it down. Good stuff.

Judging a Book by its Cover: Don't

If it looks like chick-lit, it must be, huh? But that ain't necessarily so. It's hard to deny that the marketing of 'Nice to Come Home To' is geared towards the female gender, but that would be selling it short. The story encompasses more than girl-stuff. It's life-stuff. Flowers makes her characters real: situations, dialogue, development and flaws. The reader can relate to all - even the cat. The writing is smart and clever which is what is usually missing in most novels that get pigeon-holed into this market. I'd encourage you to check the book out - regardless of age or gender. I believe 'Nice to Come Home To' would be something anyone who picked it up would enjoy. I did.

Puts the "lit" back in "chick lit." And it's funny!

I loved this book. As the other reviewer notes, it does draw on "Sense and Sensibility" for its plot, but the updating is so clever, and the characters so true, it completely stands on its own merits. Rebecca Flowers has the gift of making you chortle and sob in the same scene, and her prose is just beautiful. This is the story of a woman who initially cannot get out of her own way, but thanks to Flowers' compassion and genius, Prudence still manages to find her true self, and true love. This novel is fresh, smart and utterly relatable for any single (or formerly single) woman. I can't wait to read it again!

A Winning Debut from a Fresh New Voice

This book is a definite re-reader for me. It seems to be an updated Sense and Sensibility, but it's so fresh I think I was halfway through the book before I recognized it. The authot twists it up nicely so there were plenty of surprises, even for a huge Austen fan like me. Flowers has a flair for language and a nice, light touch with humor. I like the fact that her characters seemed like real people---people I would want to know. Flawed, yes, but smart and funny and kind. And the character of "Big Whoop" makes this book worth reading all on his own!