The Thing About Home
2023 • 384 pages
Ratings1
Average rating5
15
Ratings1
Average rating5
Home is not a place—it’s a feeling. Casey Black needs an escape. When her picture-perfect vow renewal ceremony ends in her being left at the altar, the former model turned social media influencer has new fame—the kind she never wanted. An embarrassing viral video has cost her millions of followers, and her seven-year marriage is over. With her personal and business lives in shambles, Casey runs from New York City to South Carolina’s Lowcountry hoping to find long-lost family. Family who can give her more answers about her past than her controlling mom-slash-manager has ever been willing to share. What Casey doesn’t expect is a postcard-worthy property on a three-hundred-acre farm, history, culture, and a love of sweet tea. She spends her days caring for the land and her nights cooking much needed Southern comfort foods. She also meets Nigel, the handsome farm manager whose friendship has become everything she’s never had. And then there are the secrets her mother can no longer hide. Through the pages of her great-grandmother’s journals, Casey discovers her roots run deeper than the Lowcountry soil. She learns that she has people. A home. A legacy to uphold. And a great new love story—if only she is brave enough to leave her old life behind. “. . . a beautifully written story about family, self-discovery, secrets, and forgiveness.” —Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times bestselling author Inspiring contemporary fiction Stand-alone novel Book length: approximately 100,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Reviews with the most likes.
This was a beautiful story about family, friends, self-discovery, unconditional love, and forgiveness. Rhonda McKnight expertly wove the two narratives of Casey and her great-grandmother Odessa, bringing together modern elements with family traditions with deep roots. It was well-paced, and I tore through the book in two days.
Casey Black, social media influencer with millions of followers, had planned an elaborate vow renewal for her seventh wedding anniversary. She had eloped with her husband, Drew, and never got a big wedding. It seemed like the perfect day, but things went off the rails when Drew told her he was not renewing his vows and wanted a divorce. Casey was shocked and humiliated. She escaped the church, went home, and decided to face her followers after drinking some wine. The live video went viral for the wrong reasons, and Casey escaped from New York to the South Carolina Lowcountry to meet her long-lost family.
She packs her car and heads south in her Mercedes. She is seeking her father's family. Her father died before she was born, and her mother had never introduced her to that side of her family. Her mother barely spoke about them, and Casey had not thought of reaching out before her decision to escape New York. Her father was from Georgetown, South Carolina, so she heads there hoping to get in touch with some of her relatives. While ordering lunch, she meets an attractive man and starts a conversation. Before she leaves the restaurant, she asks him if he knows any Blacks, and he says he does not, and then she asks for directions to the tax offices. At the office, she learns that there are Blacks in the area, and they own a 300-acre farm.
When she arrives at the farm, she meets her grandmother Ida Black who she had been denied knowing all her life. Quickly Casey begins to refer to her grandmother as Granna, and she comes to love her very much. Through her grandmother and the rest of her extended family, she learned the history that her mother had denied by not letting her get to know her father's family. She finds out the man she met at the restaurant is Nigel Evanston, the farm manager who thought he was protecting the family by denying that he knew the Black family. As the story progresses, Casey feels at home in South Carolina until a tragic event causes her to run from South Carolina back to New York. Eventually, Casey and Nigel get their HEA after some healing and growth on Casey's part.
I loved this book; the epilogue was the perfect way to end the novel. The story had drama, a bit of mystery, and a true sense of self-discovery and belonging. Casey found a way to be true to herself by discovering her roots and her family. I loved the characters in this book, and Nigel is in the running for my favorite book boyfriend. I highly recommend this book.
I received a free copy of this book via Hear Our Voices Tours and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I also received an ALC from LIbro.fm and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Loved it! Yinka Ladeinde really brings Rhonda McKnight's novel to life. I listened to this after reading a paperback copy of this novel. This audiobook immersed me in a story that I have already come to love.
