Skip to main content

Somebody's Home

Review

Somebody's Home

Kaira Rouda presents her readers with a perfect storm of clashing personalities, bad decisions and lethal timing in SOMEBODY’S HOME, the story of a woman wanting out of her marriage.

Julie Jones has lived with privilege all her life and never bought a house before. Now she has a charming place on Cherry Hill Lane under contract. The sellers have one small request. They promise to be gone right away, but would like their oldest son to have until Sunday to move out of the carriage house and for Julie to respect his privacy until then. Agreeing to that was her first bad decision.

"[T]his story is a perfect storm of circumstances gone wrong for so many people at the same time. There’s always hope, though. Read and see who ends up the hero."

Jess can’t believe her mom has moved them to this old house. What was she thinking? Julie claims she’s leaving Jess’ dad. Oh, come on. For all of Jess’ life, they’ve lived in their beautiful mansion on some of Oceanside’s prime property overlooking the beach. Granted, her dad can be kind of a jerk sometimes, but her mom has always put up with it. Besides, he apologizes and buys them expensive gifts to make up for whatever he did. Then everything goes back to normal. But now her life is ruined.

Meanwhile, Tom Dean can’t believe his dad has really sold the family home, right out from under him. How could things go more wrong? First, his mom runs off, and his Sunday school teacher Sandi moves in. In the beginning, Tom liked Sandi, but as time passed, she had two more sons and he got pushed aside. Now, after all these years, the Deans are moving and leaving him behind. It’s all his dad’s fault. The mega church he’s been a pastor of has requested he step down. That only happens when you’ve messed up big time. So it’s done. He has nowhere to go. Pastor Dean has ruined Tom’s life.

Tom knows the new owner agreed to give him until Sunday to vacate the carriage house. Well, he has no intention of giving up his home. He has other plans. The house on Cherry Hill Lane is his. Julie will have to understand that. But once he catches sight of Jess, Tom starts to have mixed feelings. He’s always felt that women are trouble, and his friends have told him that over and over. But Jess...well, Jess is different. Tom is instantly infatuated with her. The way she looks at him, he just knows she must like him. When they talk, Jess seems to really get him.

As for Jess, she’s totally unhappy over the move, so she quickly responds to the cute guy in her backyard. Jess, the coddled teenager of ultra-rich parents, easily goes off the rails, not being street smart, and opens up to Tom. That was one of many bad decisions, but this one might be fatal.

SOMEBODY’S HOME starts with Julie cautiously approaching the front door to her new home, knowing that danger lurks inside. Her husband has been pleading with her to come back. Her daughter has shamed her on social media. And the man in the carriage house won’t leave. Tom seems to have been driven to an angry, desperate act of revenge. Give a person little to no options, and the outcome will have grave consequences.

As said at the outset, this story is a perfect storm of circumstances gone wrong for so many people at the same time. There’s always hope, though. Read and see who ends up the hero.

Reviewed by Kate Ayers on January 21, 2022

Somebody's Home
by Kaira Rouda