Countdown to the RITAs: A Mother’s Homecoming by Tanya Michaels

Pamela Jo doesn’t want to return to her hometown but it’s a step she must take as part of her recovery with alcoholism. She has to face her past. She thought that meant visiting her estranged mother. She had no idea it would include the husband and child she had walked away from thirteen years ago.

Her ex-husband Nick isn’t happy to hear that Pam is back in town. His first instinct is to protect their daughter from her. He wants Pam out of town as soon as possible, but the daughter finds out that Pam has returned and wants to get to know her.

The love Pam and Nick shared is obvious throughout the book. They were best friends and high school sweethearts but faltered from the stress as teenage parents. Nick realizes he had made mistakes in their brief marriage and that he still loves Pam. But how he and his daughter hope for a future with Pam when she has to take it one day at a time?

This was a heartwarming romance about two imperfect and unforgettable characters. I
also enjoyed the emphasis on family and community. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the heroine. She had abandoned her husband and child, made a series of disastrous choices in the hopes of becoming a famous singer, and had only recently started getting her life back on track. However, the author really made Pam a sympathetic and strong woman.

A Mother’s Homecoming by Tanya Michaels is a Harlequin American Romance. It is nominated for the 2012 RITA in the Best Contemporary Series Romance category.