In her first contemporary story, Kimberly
Cates tells the story of a woman looking to find herself
in "Fly Away Home".
Eve Danaher is a specialist in the field of
fine arts. She's a woman the experts come to for advise. But
for all of her success, there is a failure looming very close
in her past. Fourteen years had passed since her ex-husband
unfairly won custody of their daughter, Victoria, that he
never wanted to see born. All of Eve's rights had been stripped
from her, including visitations, until their daughter's 18th
birthday. What Eve finds is a spoiled, insecure and headstrong
young woman who refuses to acknowledge her mother. Eve is
beside herself and is convinced by her best friend to take
a holiday in Ireland. With the kindness of an elderly woman,
Eve is invited to housesit while she's in hospital. What Eve
finds when she reaches the house is an old castle where an
definitely eccentric old woman lived, complete with ancient
artifacts, crumbling walls and a ghost. It's not the ghost
that has such an affect on Eve but Michael Halloren, the local
horse trainer.
Michael Halloren is not your average horse
trainer but a man who works with special needs children. Michael
is also very close to Bridey, the old woman whose house Eve
is now caring for. He's a private man and dislikes when his
routine is disrupted. Eve's presence is definitely a disruption.
And her interference with a child in his protection will almost
cost him his business. But when Eve realizes her error she
works hard to show Michael that her intentions were good.
Michael can't help himself when he starts to fall in love
with her. But it's when Eve meets up with Victoria and her
father that Michael sees just what a special person Eve really
is. But can his love be enough for Eve? Can she accept Victoria
on her own terms? And if Eve decides to return to America
will he be able to live without her?
"Fly Away Home" is an inspirational
read as much as it is a romance. This is a story of overcoming
obstacles, self-empowerment and learning to love. While each
of the characters was well developed and the emotions ran
high, I found that I couldn't read the book for the long stretches
that I normally would because the emotions ran very deep,
almost overpowering at times. The opening was brilliant; the
conflict between mother and daughter on their meeting at the
graduation was a tearjerker of the greatest proportions. But
the rest of the book was almost overpowering. I had the feeling,
though, that Ms Cates kept trying to recapture that same emotion
in other scenes and it ended up being very heavy. The story
is excellent. I will recommend it to anyone that I think will
enjoy it. Though this would not be a book that I would recommend
to someone looking for a light romance or someone who doesn't
handle such great emotional reads.
