Stealing Home (A Sweet Magnolias Novel)

I have completely enjoyed all of the Sweet Magnolia series. I enjoy reading and keeping up with all of the caractors in the books through all of their ups and downs. Joy nad heartbreak. Sherry Woods can spin a good story.

This is a new paperback with terrible printing. The plot, etc. was wonderful as are all of Sherryl Woods books, but the print quality was atrocious. Several pages would be good and then two or three would be so faint that reading them was almost impossible. This occurred throughout the book. If the store reads this, please do not sell this particular book without checking the printing first.

Maddie Townsend's husband has left her for a younger woman. If that's not cliche enough, it's his nurse that Maddie hired whom the rat-fink has knocked up. What makes matters worse is that he's insensitive or arrogant enough to believe they're all going to be one big, happy family. One small problem - Maddie and the rat fink's kids are so not on board with the arrangement. As matter their oldest son Ty is violently opposed to his dad's living arrangements and the fact that his dad has left his mom. The middle son, Kyle has pretty much quit talking and Katie the baby of the family is inconsolable.

But Maddie's best friends and mom are there to help put the pieces back together. But does that include Ty' s hot, baseball coach or will he make things even worse? Even more than a romance this is a story of friendship, at least that's what I enjoyed the most.

In Serenity, South Carolina William Henry Townsend deserts his spouse Maddie and their three children for the younger Noreen. The divorce hurts her kids more than the betrayal devastates Maddie. Teenage Tyler is angry all the time and it shows with his grades plummeting; middle child Kyle seems to have adapted to the change though he has some problems with his father remarrying and may just be stoically keeping everything inside; youngest child Katy cannot understand why daddy never comes home to stay.

Needing to escape her personal failures, Maddie jumps on the idea her two best friends Helen and Dana Sue offer of opening up a spa. However, while she struggles with three children, high school baseball coach Cal Maddox tries to provide mentoring to Ty, a player on his team whose performance is in a slump. As Cal and Maddie work with Ty and her other two kids, they begin to fall in love though she is a decade older than he is and both fear the reaction of her youngsters. Neither expected that mean spirited townsfolk would threaten the spa and his coaching position, but it is the children that worry them not the gossips.

STEALING HOME is an interesting family drama that focuses on the trials and tribulations of a single mother raising three children while her former spouse starts a second family. Each of the key characters seem real; for instance Bill like everyone else struggles with change but he also suffers doubts, regrets and sorrow though his pregnant second wife adores him. Fans of deep small town character studies will appreciate this delightful tale of individuals coping with a divorce and extended families differently and look forward to the family drama surrounding Dana Sue.

Harriet Klausner

Maddie Townsend is devastated when her doctor husband announces that not only is he having an affair with his nurse, but she's pregnant and he plans to marry her. His departure destroys the self confidence of older son Tyler, quiets chatty son Kyle, and leaves his daughter wondering when daddy is coming home. With little job experience in her resume, stay-at-home-mom Maddie agrees to join pals Dana Sue and Helen (an attorney that got her a great settlement) in a new business venture - a women's only spa.

When ex-Atlanta Brave Cal Maddox (now Tyler's baseball coach) befriends Maddie, the town gossips are on full alert, and doling out a double standard (okay for Henry to impregnate his nurse while married; not okay for separated Maddie to date the high school coach). Though they are just friends, Maddie is reluctant to become anything more since he is 10 years younger. Henry cannot believe the changes in his ex-wife and wonders if he made the wrong decision. While her children refuse to have anything to do with their father if it includes the woman that destroyed their family, will they have the same reaction when Cal makes his feelings for their mother known?

Judging by the initial entry in Wood's latest trilogy, this time set in picturesque small town Serenity, South Carolina, she has a winner on her hands. Great romance, family dynamics, realistic dialogue for the kids, and wonderfully developed secondary characters stand out and keep the reader glued to the end.

Maddie Townsend's life is changing faster than she can keep up. Her husband of twenty years has cheated on her and left her. Now, Maddie's kids are in turmoil as they all face life without Bill around and the reality that he's gotten his new girlfriend pregnant. With the help of her amazing best friends, Helen and Dana Sue, Maddie stays grounded. In fact, she's starting over with a new attitude and a new career. Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue are opening a day spa, and there just might be a new man in Maddie's life too. Cal Maddox really likes Maddie, but he's her son's baseball coach and Maddie's divorce isn't even final. Plus, in their sleepy town of Serenity, South Carolina, no one approves of their budding friendship. If they can sort thought the mess, Maddie and Cal may find that second chances can be even better than the first time around.

Stealing Home is a very engaging story filled with realism, romance, and tons of emotion. Maddie not only survives the heartache of a cheating spouse and the effect it has on her and her children, but she thrives. She's incredibly strong. Cal is the perfect guy. He's patient and compassionate and he fits perfectly with Maddie and her children. Sherryl Woods starts off the Sweet Magnolias series with a bang. She not only made me fall in love with Maddie, her children, and sexy Cal, but she had me actually feeling a teeny bit bad for Maddie's cheating ex and his mistress at the end. I was happy to see Bill get what he deserved by seeing Maddie get what she deserved, but I had a tiny shred of sympathy for him when it ended. Stealing Home is a wonderful romance. I'm looking forward to reading Helen and Dana Sue's stories next.

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

If you have ever walked through divorce or have someone walking through divorce (as I do my oldest daughter), Stealing Home, will help you to experience the pains and problems that a person feels. Maddie is not prepared for her doctor husband to tell her he is leaving her and her three children because he has gotten his nurse pregnant. Maddie is torn because she thought her marriage was going fine and had no clues there was anything wrong. Bill, the doctor husband, reaps the chaos he has sown upon his family when the nurse realizes he does not love her and is still in love with his ex-wife or so she thinks.
But by then Maddie has moved on and regained her self-confidence. She has friends who stand by here through all the struggles she faces. She comes out a much stronger and better person.
Cal Maddox, coach of the baseball team, coaches Maddie's oldest son. When Ty is going through a hard time and about gives up the joy he loves in baseball it is the coach who helps him out of the slump.
Cal takes it slow getting to know Maddie.
But living in a small town (as I do) gossip is the biggest the problem. People stick their noses in where not needed and gossip and jealousy rage until the coach almost loses his job. But as in any small town, the outcome of a board meeting assures Cal that he still has his position as he declares his love for Maddie.
There is so much I could relate to living in a rural community and my daughter walking through divorce although my daughter relocated.
Sherryl Woods has a way of drawing you into all the feelings that people endure as they go through a divorce and try to rebuild their lives. This book is hard to put down.

Maddie Townsend's doctor husband has left her for his pregnant nurse girlfriend. Not only does this stay-at-home mom have no job skills, but her best friends have roped her into managing a fitness spa for women. Her eldest son Ty, the town's star baseball pitcher, suddenly starts failing in everything as the divorce nears. Naturally, Maddie turns to the high school baseball coach, Cal Maddox, for assistance but this only inflames the local gossip and school board. Like the recent schoolboard scandal in Benson, Colorado, the uniformed jealous gossips of Serenity, South Carolina are bent on destruction and retribution. Maddie's life is anything but serene, especially as she feels herself falling for Cal.

A true delight! The portrayal of small town gossip is both realistic and so humorous. This novel is pure fun. Stealing Home is the perfect read for anyone who has ever had their heart broken, now or any time in the past --- the perfect revenge fantasy that makes your heart bigger not nastier.

I never put spoilers in my reviews.
Ms. Woods writes absorbing, lively, non-trite romance with fully fleshed characters and plots. The Sweet Magnolias series is fabulous in that the central characters are around 40 (at least the first 3), unusual for romance novels. Amazing, a romance author who realizes you don't lose that spark when you reach your 30's. Thank you!
Read, enjoy, prepare to be entertained. I can't wait to delve into more of this delightful author's tales.
Oh, for those who are bothered by blue language and over the top sex scenes, these are for you. They aren't asexual, just fits the storyline, isn't more than a couple of times and is making love with mostly euphemisms not borderline porn.

Maddie Townsend thought she had the perfect life. Her husband, the town's pediatrician, and three wonderful children. Until she is blind-sided when her husband asks for a divorce and tells her he has been cheating on her with his nurse and she is pregnant. This little family's world comes crashing down all around them. Maddie has been a stay at home mom and now has three children to raise. Her eldest son Ty is the star pitcher on the High School baseball team. After his dad moves out, his grades and performance on the field has deteriorated. Maddie turns to Ty's coach for guidance. Ty becomes more than a guidance to Maddie. They start to fall for one another, and the small town gossip takes hold. Maddie's friends (The Sweet Magnolia's) decide they are all going into starting up a spa just for women. The are Maddie's lifeline.
This is a very sweet story about trials and tribulations in family and friend ship. Can't wait to read the next in the series.

I truly enjoyed meeting the Sweet Magnolias and the people of Serenity. Tensions and feelings are alive and well with everyone. Maybe not real life but pretty close, love how it all works out in the end. Looking forward to next book excitedly.

Stealing Home by Sherryl Woods is one of the best "chick lit" books I have read in a while. Maybe I identified with it because the main character's husband left her in a cliched manner. Maybe I identified with a woman struggling to get on her feet after she had been betrayed and trying to keep her kids on their feet as well. Whatever the case may be I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Stealing Home is set in the fictional small town of Serenity, North Carolina. Serenity needs a little boost. Their downtown is slumping. Big box stores have moved in and mom and pop stores have moved out.

Maddie needs a boost too. Her husband of 20 years has left her for his nurse. She thinks she has no marketable skills. She has been a stay-at-home mom for the 16 odd years and has been busy raising their three kids. Stealing Home also has eccentric characters, as all Southern books should. It has a cast of strong female friends who rally around Maddie and her kids. Then enter the love interest--a much younger man and her son's high school baseball coach. The book can only get better from there.

For the faint of heart there is some minor language, but it is not gratuitous. It was used in context mainly when the 16-year-old son is in conflict with his father. There are also some steamy scenes, but I give this a PG rating for alluding to the scenes and not really describing them, which is much better in my mind. It leaves much more to the imagination.

All in all, I loved Stealing Home. I read it in one day when my daughter was home with the stomach flu. I even stayed up late to finish it because I had to know how it would end. This is the first book in a trilogy, and I already feel committed to these characters. I can't wait to read the next 2 books, especially if they are as good as the first.

Armchair Interviews says: A chick lit with a message many women can relate to.

Another wonderful writer on my radar. I read this book in just under 12 hours. I couldn't get enough of the ladies of Serenity. Maddie's husband cheated on her with a much younger woman, whom is now pregnant. Maddie tries to make it through, for her 3 children. The oldest is having trouble at school and baseball practice. His coach decides to talk to mom and see what is going on. It is a whirlwind after that.

I wish someone opened a spa like that in my town! The Sweet Magnolias are a determined bunch of gals. I am so glad I have the 4 books, because I can't get enough!

I enjoyed this book very much. I recommend it to all adults. This series of sweet Mongolian is great. I haven't read them in order but she writes them so that it doesn't matter. So grab your copy and get started.

1st novel of The Sweet Magnolias series. The local baseball (ex-professional) falls in love with his stars high school baseball player mother. The town is in up roar because she is not yet divorced and he is much younger than her.... Maddie's husband has left her with three children to live with is pregnant girlfriend. Her frieds the Sweet Magnolias talk her into opening a spa for women and to give love a chance... Check out the whole series A Slice of Heaven (2) and Feels Like Family (3).