The Art of Going Home (The Art of Living) (Volume 1)

When Maddie (Madisen) finds out that Aunt Ceci has died, she must return to the small town she fled 10 years earlier to attend her funeral. When she arrives she is picked up by Zac Redondo, an old friend who has carried a torch for her for years. We find out that when she was 10 years old, her twin sister, Angeline, drowned and her parents blamed her for the accident. She is unable to return to San Antonio until she tries to find out what happened. With help from Zac and his family, she begins to uncover the truth behind Angeline’s death. Along the way, Angeline herself appears to Maddie in her dreams and guides her to find some answers. Maddie’s and Zac’s search reawakens old feelings and there are some pretty heated scenes. Zac show more is truly an understanding man and refuses to "make love" to Maddie while she is distraught. He wants to make sure she really wants to have a relationship.

There are some pretty heavy issues in this book such as mental illness and sexual abuse but the romance lightens it up some so it is not a completely dark read. A romance, hot at times, with an intense stormy mystery, this book is well worth a read. I am waiting for the second in this series.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. show less

After years of avoiding her home town, where Madisen's twin sister died in mysterious circumstances when they were 9 years old, Maddie has returned for a dear friends funeral. Being home stirs up old feelings, friendships, and mysteries, and Maddie finds herself investigating her sisters death, hoping to put the past to rest once and for all, while slowly falling in love with an old friend.
The book was well written, and a page turner; I couldn't put it down and finished it quickly. I was interested in the mystery plotline, and couldn't wait for the main character to figure things out. However I wasn't entirely prepared for the erotica factor; things get very steamy at times, and the romance/sex scenes don't always mesh with the rest of show more the story.
The subject matter is very deep and dark at times, so trigger warning for rape, murder, and violence.
Its not my usual type of book, but I did enjoy it, and would be interested in reading the next in the series. show less

The Art of Going Home by Nicole Sorrell seems like two books combined into one – a bare-bones mystery/thriller duct taped to erotica. The phrase “contains mature content” in the description did not prepare me for the amount of mature content within. The sex scenes were fairly realistically written, not just your classic romance novel smut, but within the context of the story certain scenes felt less believable. Not a deal-breaker, just a mild disconnect for me as a reader.

As far as the plot goes, I'm afraid the description of the book covers most of the “reveals” a reader might enjoy as they go through the story, and it almost feels as though the reader is just waiting for the main character to realize what everyone else show more already knows. For a book written from the main character's perspective, this is a little weird.

The end of the book left a few questions unanswered. I'm not sure if that was intentional on the author's part, to draw readers in for the next book in the series, or an oversight of plot threads that were deemed less significant.

Overall, I would've liked a little more mystery to the story and a better blend of the mature content into the storyline, but it is a quick read I could see readers enjoying on a day trip in the summer or a quiet evening with a glass of wine. I think that Ms. Sorrell's future books will benefit from the involvement of an editor and publisher who can polish her writing for a larger market. show less

When Maddie (Madisen) finds out that Aunt Ceci has dies, she must return to the small town she fled 10 years earlier to attend her funeral. When she arrives she is picked up by Zac Redondo, an old friend who has carried a torch for her for years. We find out that when she was 10 years old, her twin sister, Angeline, drowned and her parents blamed her for the accident. She is unable to return to San Antonio until she tries to find out what happened. With help from Zac and his family, she begins to uncover the truth behind Angeline’s death. Along the way, Angeline herself appears to Maddie in her dreams and guides her to find some answers. Maddie’s and Zac’s search reawakens old feelings and there are some pretty heated scenes. Zac show more is truly an understanding man and refuses to "make love" to Maddie while she is distraught. He wants to make sure she really wants to have a relationship.

There are some pretty heavy issues in this book such as mental illness and sexual abuse but the romance lightens it up some so it is not a completely dark read. A romance, hot at times, with an intense stormy mystery, this book is well worth a read. I am waiting for the second in this series.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. show less

The Art of Going Home is the story of a woman, Maddie, who is returning to her hometown after a long absence to mourn the loss of someone close to her. Once there she has to confront her past and the memories of her twin sister who was murdered.

The story is fairly divided: one part deals with Maddie's budding relationship with a childhood crush, and the other deals with the death of Maddie's twin. I found the relationship aspect of the book to be a little hard to wrap my head around. Two people who grew up together and had crushes on each other and grow close during their time together makes sense. However, these two people hadn't seen each other in 10 years, and were together due to the death of someone they were both very close with, show more yet talk about a relationship begins on the trip from the airport to the funeral. They spend more time supplying the book with its mature content than they do mourning the loss of someone who practically raised them both.

As for tracking down her sister's killer, well, there isn't much 'tracking down' to do. The reader has a good idea, almost from the beginning, of some of the atrocities that Maddie experienced as a child. There is, to be fair, a twist in the end, and the true killer is someone the reader may not expect. Most of this part of the plot has more to do with Maddie being forced to review her memories of childhood and make personal discoveries based on those memories.

Overall, the plot was interesting, although I found myself more interested in Maddie's childhood than in the steamy moments that occurred every time she was with her 'friend' Zac. I just personally couldn't connect with the characters because I felt that they behaved weirdly in certain situations, like the rush into the relationship/sometimes-non-relationship. Also, there were some strange holes in the plot, which contributed to my feeling that the characters behaved in strange ways. For example, without trying to give too much away, there was a shooting a possible kidnapping that never got resolved. On top of that, a main character who might have been close to the kidnapped person never even mentioned the event. There was also a house that was broken into, but the character didn't react much to the event after it was immediately over, and as a plot point it was also never resolved.

Overall, I think that the idea was great, and I was interested in finding out what had happened to Angeline. However, I could have done with more content, and a better overall balance of character development/plot development vs steamy romantic scenes. show less

I should first be honest and say that this book is not the kind of book I typically read and soI may not be the best judge. I really enjoyed the way the story unraveled, specifically the changing pace of the story telling. However I thought certain aspects of character development were lacking. For example, the characters might change their minds about a certain decision later in the story but the progress of their thought process about that decision wasn't present to the reader which made the characters seem a bit erratic and contradicting.

The Art of Going Home is a story with an interesting and emotional mystery intermingled with a steamy and graphic romance. It certainly had me turning the pages. I call it the art of a guilty pleasure.