The Road Towards Home by Corinne Demas Published by Lake Union Publishing on June 1, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, Family & Relationships / Life Stages / Later Years, Fiction, Forced Proximity, Later in Life, Opposites attract, Romance, Seasoned Romance
Pages: 283
Format: ARC, eBook, Kindle Unlimited
Source: Kindle Unlimited
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In this witty, warm novel by award-winning author Corinne Demas, unexpected changes bring two retirees together on a voyage of self-discovery from past regrets to the true meaning of happily ever after.
Widower Noah Shilling considers Clarion Court to be less an independent living community and more a prison. But there may be hope for the place yet. The newest resident is bold, eccentric, rule-breaking Cassandra Joyce—whom, as it turns out, Noah met long ago in college.
As Noah and Cassandra get reacquainted, major changes at Clarion Court force them both to reevaluate their living situation. When Noah invites Cassandra to rough it with him at his Cape Cod cottage, the old friends must decide whether they should risk embarking on the next stage of their journey together.
But moving forward means coming to terms with the past and relying on each other to do so, which is something the stubbornly independent pair may not be ready for. They’ve come this far on their own, and unless they can reconcile a lifetime of emotional baggage, the road they started down together may lead instead to parted ways.
The Road Towards Home was a wonderful, well written character driven love story that was a delight to read. ~ Sharon – Simply Love Books
The Road Towards Home features to characters in their seventies both who once knew each other in college and are now living in an Independent Senior Living Center. I found this story to be a wonderful look at getting older where you begin reflecting on your life, the choices you made, the mistakes you see, and the legacy that you’ll leave. It also had a positive message that just because you are over 70 you still have life to live and love to give.
Noah Shilling feels like Clarion Court is more prison than a home and hasn’t been happy since he moved after his son and his daughter in law (whom he really does not like) insisted he didn’t need to continue living in a huge house with uneven floors, yard maintenance, and snow removal among other things. It was never said, but I feel like they hit him with his when he was still grieving his late wife’s death and he gave in and knowing Noah probably to shut them both up. He feels trapped, he doesn’t drive anymore for reasons he doesn’t care to share and he hates that the busy bodies in the center constantly try to get him to “join in” on all kinds of activities he isn’t interested in. Noah has his hobbies; swimming laps, playing his cello, and reading and he likes it that way. A former professor, Noah loves music, art, and literature and he’s a bit of curmudgeon.
Then there is Cassandra “Sandy” Joyce who just recently moved in; a widow who decided her big home was going to waste when her one daughter with children is across the world and her other daughter and son in law have no plans for children. She has a dog, a Newfie, named Melville who is pretty well behaved for a dog his size and the reason she chose Clarion Court was because they accept pets. She also has two tarantulas, walking sticks, and a cage of crickets (that are food for the tarantulas). Cassandra is a retired entomologist and often visits elementary schools to talk to children about insects. She’s fairly outgoing and she knew before she moved in that Noah was living there, he was her college boyfriend’s roommate.
I loved the way these characters were opposites in a lot of ways and I found in interesting that Noah was the lover of the arts and Cassandra was all about science. They start spending a bit of time together as friends and Sandy as Noah calls her probes him with questions each time. While he seems put out about this, he does participate and they begin to know more and more about each other. They both have difficult relationships with their children and siblings and they bond somewhat over that despite their differing opinions of how those relationships should be handled. Noah is a bit closed off and doesn’t show a lot of emotion which I found very typical of a man who grew up during the 50-60’s. Sandy however is quite a bit more open and speaks her mind and at times Noah finds her a bit brash but he still enjoys her company.
When Clarion Court is sold to another company and the dining room and pool are the first to be remodeled Sandy offers to drive Noah up to his cottage on Cape Cod and stay for a couple of weeks. There were a lot of adjustments for both of them during this time as well as them exploring a physical relationship and realizing they had feelings for each other. I rather liked that Cassandra pushed Noah to see his lack of letting his emotions show, of bottling everything up and ignoring the hard part of relationships wasn’t healthy. In return I liked that Noah showed Sandy that despite their age and the fact she’d been married three times before she deserved to find love again.
The Road Towards Home was a wonderful, well written character driven love story that was a delight to read. While I did feel the ending was a bit abrupt, I still very much enjoyed this book.