Official Review: Back to McGuffey's by Liz Flaherty

NadineTimes10 · Post by **NadineTimes10** » 02 Jul 2015, 21:41

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Back to McGuffey's" by Liz Flaherty.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Small-town Kate Rafael and big-city doctor Ben McGuffey have a second chance at love in author Liz Flaherty’s wholesome romance, Back to McGuffey’s.

Kate’s house in Fionnegan, Vermont burns down right after she’s laid off from the job she’s had for the past twenty years. This is added to the fact that she’s nearing the age of forty while her longstanding dreams of marriage and children are yet unfulfilled. It just so happens that her ex-boyfriend Ben is back in town from Boston, Massachusetts. He’s helping out at his family’s tavern, McGuffey’s, while he’s trying to make decisions about his career and his future. He and Kate still have feelings for each other, but the awareness that they don’t want the same things in life could make a lasting relationship impossible for the two of them.

It’s a simple enough foundation for a novel, and it wouldn’t be difficult to turn such a story into fluff, which Back to McGuffey’s is not. (Of course, there’s nothing wrong with basic, “fluffy” romances, as I and countless other people enjoy them.) Flaherty eases the reader into the plot and setting with humor and warmth, and the little trips around town—including the visits back to McGuffey’s—can make one feel right at home. The characters, both major and minor, are believable and engaging.

Still, without complicating the story or detracting from its ease, Flaherty turns Kate and Ben’s journey into a thought-provoking one. The characters contemplate and discuss what human beings strive for, what they settle for, and why. Themes of love, family, grief, selfishness, and purpose are all given an interesting look, and the reader may even walk away from the book with a different perspective on the meaning of passion.

I thought for a minute that the novel might begin to wrap up with an unnatural “info-cram.” This happens when new plot or character details or flashbacks are thrown in toward the end of a book with no build-up or foreshadowing. It would be as if the author were thinking, “I didn’t imply or mention anything about this earlier on, but I have to add it now or the climax won’t work.” This novel does include some new details about the past toward the end of the book that I would’ve liked to see mentioned earlier, to add strength to their later discussion. However, because the information does fit well with who the characters are, the new details avoid feeling contrived.

Overall, I give Back to McGuffey’s a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. There’s an art to presenting serious life issues through a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and here’s a novel that accomplishes just that. I’d recommend it to fans of clean romance who appreciate simple reads with the right amount of substance mixed in.

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Back to McGuffey's
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Post by **bookowlie** » 23 Jul 2015, 20:55

Great review! I'm glad I was able to find it again. I read your review when it was first published, but I didn't comment at the time. I often read reviews on my Kindle Fire and typing comments can be a challenge - a lot of crazy spelling overrides. Anyway....

The book sounds like a nice romance with feel-good characters. I am adding this one to my long reading list.

NadineTimes10 · Post by **NadineTimes10** » 23 Jul 2015, 21:23

bookowlie wrote:Great review! I'm glad I was able to find it again. I read your review when it was first published, but I didn't comment at the time. I often read reviews on my Kindle Fire and typing comments can be a challenge - a lot of crazy spelling overrides. Anyway....

The book sounds like a nice romance with feel-good characters. I am adding this one to my long reading list.

Glad to hear it! And thanks for coming back.

My little online problem has been my forgetting to comment at all sometimes--reacting or replying in my head but neglecting to actually post what I'm thinking before I click to go somewhere else. I'm getting better about that, though!