"Coming Home to Island House" is the latest release by bestselling author Erica James. An enchanting tale, the book is a vivid portrait of one family struggling to come together in the face of crisis. In 1939, Romily Temple returns to her beloved Island House after touring Europe. With the spectre of war looming on the horizon, the Devereux family must confront the spectre of their own bitterness and overcome years of estrangement in order to reunite in this week-long drama.

With lush settings and deep insight into the human condition, "Coming Home to Island House" is an entertaining, powerful and timely novel about love, family, and resilience. Whether a reader of romantic fiction or an adventure lover, this captivating read is a must for any reader. Highly recommended.

I haven't read Erica James for a while, so 'Coming Home to Island House' was a refreshing change. Set against the uncertain backdrop of 1939 and the gathering stormclouds of World War 2, 'Coming Home to Island House' nevertheless maintains a positive and uplifting tone as an apparently disparate family is reunited under one roof. Central to the reconciliation is Romily Temple-Devereaux, the newly-widowed wife of Jack Devereaux. Intially viewed with hostility by Jack's remaining family and local villagers alike, Romily's warmth, courage and determination gradually works its magic, breathing life back into the old family home.
My only complaint was with Jack's eldest son, the pompous, spiteful Arthur, a particularly nasty character, wholly unlikeable and entirely capable of gainful murder - until he's not! Reappearing at the end of the book as a guest at his sister's wedding, can we really believe that Arthur has made such an incredible transformation purely as a result of becoming a dad? Hmmm.
On the whole however, I really enjoyed this book and give it 4 stars.

This is a beautifully moving book exploring a stunning setting, family divisions, loyalties and love. This is an engaging and entertaining family drama.

It didn't grab me immediately, it took me about half the book before I cared about it. But it ended up being a good read so if you have the patience to stick with it then you'll be glad you did.

I loved this. The characters were exquisitely described and I felt I really knew them. A saga that takes place over a number of years you really get invested in the family and others who live there. Absolutely great!

I am a huge fan of Erica James' books and this one is no exception. They are my go-to comfort books which is a category only a few authors fall in to (Santa Montefiore, Katie Fforde, Tracy Rees etc. so she is among esteemed company). Coming Home to Island House is a joy and a delight to read and exactly what I need when I need a comfort read.

I read this book over the summer, and I knew I was in for a treat the moment I started reading,

Erica James has a way of bringing her characters to life, and creates a captivating plot every time. Coming Home to Island House is no different, and it is truly an enjoyable read.

Set in the late 1930's/early 1940's, at the beginning of WWII, the threat of war is imminent in the background, and this does play a huge part in the overall plot of the story. With war comes sacrifice, but at what price? With Jack's offspring Coming Home to Island House, Romily Temple faces challenges she has never dealt with before. Writing a novel is her forte, but putting back together a broken family? That's certainly something she never expected to face, but for the love of her life she is determined to make his last wish a reality.

With each character there comes a different story, and the way Erica Jame has incorporated each into the plot is brilliant, and doesn't detract from the overall novel, but instead adds the little details that every reader loves. Those tiny things that make a character shine, that tells even more about them than you'd think.

An enticing tale of love, loss, and courage, Coming Home to Island House is definitely a must-read!

​Every so often I feel the need to take a break from reading my usual genre of crime/thriller fiction and look for something different to read.

Sometimes, when I do this, I come across an amazing gem of a book and discover a new to me author whose work completely captivates me.
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Coming Home to Island House is such a book and Erica James is such a writer.

This story takes place during 1939/40 and is set against the backdrop of the runup to and the first few months of WWII.

The characters are all well described, each having their own distinct voice. Even with such a large cast of characters I was never in any doubt whilst reading who was speaking.

The descriptions of place and time were so vivid and realistic that I felt transported to the gardens of Island House enjoying the sunshine of a summer day or feeling the bitter cold of a late winter snowstorm.

The storytelling was at a perfect pace. It moved along gently as I got to know the characters. Picked up the pace for all the action moments and then slowed down again just as I needed to draw breath and take on board all that had happened.

If you are familiar with Agatha Christie's St Mary's Mead, the village home of Miss Marple, then you will recognise the template for this country village. Not because this is a copy or a pastiche but because these are typical examples of pre-war rural England.

Erica James has caught perfectly that mix of class and snobbery, the judgemental attitudes and the requirement for a person to know their place that was so prevalent before the war.

By putting an outsider into the middle of all this and having people who grew up in but have not been part of village life for many years return home it is possible to see how much has stayed the same and how much changes in this brief period.

By the end of the book, I was not ready for the story to finish. I want to know what happened next to all the characters. There is still so much to know about all of them.

If there were to be a sequel I would be delighted.

A story based around the very complex Devereux family at the outbreak of World War

A feel good uplifting read about the lovely Romily bringing her late husbands children back together again and helping them face the challenges of wartime Britain.

Island House was set in a lovely setting and I loved the little village and the characters and could visualise the family and landmarks in the story. I love a book that comes alive in my imagination and this book was easy to picture from the first page. A brilliant read that I would definitely recommend

This is my first experience with seasoned novelist Erica James, and I picked it up for my monthly(ish) dose of romance. Happily, this novel was a lovely reading experience- if a tad saccharine at times.

The book itself centres on the Devereux family, who have long been estranged thanks to cruelty, misunderstanding and longstanding hurt. When the patriarch of the family, Jack Devereux, falls ill on the eve of the Second World War, his far-flung family all return to Island House, the place they grew up- to meet Romily Temple-Devereux, the glamorous author, and Jack’s recent wife. It’s a melting pot, and we come into it just as the fuse is about to be lit.

At its heart, this is a book about family, and everything that being in a family entails: love, anger, acceptance, pride and a good dollop of sibling rivalry (as any sibling will attest to!). Though James flits between different character viewpoints, the lynchpin of the story is Romily, who, for my money, is a great heroine. She’s warm, funny, loving and an action woman of sorts in an era where that kind of behaviour was often frowned upon (as is demonstrated in some very amusing asides with the village gossips).

One of the things that I liked most about this story, though, was how James brings the stories of all the Devereux children together. We get to see a little of everything, from the vapid and cruel Arthur to the highly-strung and tempestuous Allegra, the Italian cousin who comes back from Italy pregnant out of wedlock. I loved the way in which these characters were brought to life, and even more so the sibling relationships between them, which ring entirely true in my experience! And even if some characters aren’t innately likeable (such as Arthur), thanks to the skill in James’ writing we do grow to care about them, and see how they grow over the course of the story- especially when the Second World War hits and those new family bonds are tested to the limits.

Though James weaves in some dark subject matter over the course of the book- how can you not, really, if the war is involved- the overall tone of Coming Home to Island House is hopeful and optimistic. It’s set mostly in the same idyllic location, where characters can find themselves again, grow and forgive each other. Though some parts of the war were skirted over, and the timing towards the end of the story seemed a little rushed, I ended the book feeling strangely uplifted. Here, the focus is on family rather than fighting, everybody gets their just desserts and Romily is just rather fabulous.

Bursting at the seams with fresh characters and bound together with fantastic writing, this was a lovely excursion into the world of romance. All the main characters are bursting with life, and are people I’d happily spend an afternoon with! Good stuff.

This was a smashing book - I couldn't put it down and stayed up all night to finish it. A real page-turner. I loved the characters so much I felt I'd lost friends when the book ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't read an Erica James book for a while but this was so good. Set it wartime Britain it follows a family brought together by the death of Jack. Each of the family members are so different and so well written. Characters from the village are brought into the story. Will admit to this book reducing me to tears on more than one occasion. Highly recommended

I have read many Erica James novels all of which I have enjoyed, and I was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. I did still enjoy it, and there were lovely characters within it, but I simply didn't find it had the depth that I normally expect from this author.

This is a feel-good read full of drama, romance and laughter. The storyline is about three generations of family, being brave and opening up to new love.
A romantic and splendidly atmospheric novel. My thanks to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Erica James’ prose is full of beautiful descriptions of people and places which soon become familiar and a sharp perception of character, both their virtues and their flaws.

Coming Home to Island House has at its centre, Romily - an ahead-of-her-time rebellious spirit, almost perfect in looks and deed. This makes the book likeable but ultimately a little less believable. I adored Romily - but where was the fault, the weakness, the chink in her armour. Yes, she was a little older than most romantic heroines, but not by much, and she had suffered a loss but even taking into account her many life experiences, she was without fault in everything she did, on the page. No-one is that self-possessed no matter what they've been through.

It’s a very easy read by a very smooth writer who ladles on the charm and the necessary wartime heartbreak. If anything, it may have been more interesting had the book been set after the country had recovered from war, doing without the heightening of life which it brings. The varied, strong personalities of the Devereaux clan would have then had less reason to regret and come together and it may have brought about more ingenious ways of making them reconcile.

One character is somewhat polished into another altogether by the end and this was a disappointment. I found myself wanting to read on to discover what happened with the ‘baddie’, how on earth such an unlikeable streak could be resolved, or even if it could and why he had behaved quite as he had. However, his storyline was a bit of a cop out in the end. And I still don’t really know why he was quite as rotten as he was.

The children (and the dog) are written with such care and delicacy, they almost make you want a spin off to see what they get up to as they grow up. A fun tale, beautifully written, with some bittersweet moments but a little too neat for me.

A pleasant enough book to read with some very interesting and complex characters. However it felt like I was reading forever and still not seeing the end of the book in sight. Not much of a gripping storyline either that kept you wanting to read to find out what happened next.

Not my normal kind of book but feisty female characters who didn't do what you expected them to, kept me hooked all the way through.

A warm story of a conflicted family against the backdrop of the escalating WW2. Across generations, relationships made and mended to give a satisfyingly comforable conclusion. Interesting enough to keep the pages turning whilst keeping horrors to a minimum, Coming Home to Island House lived up to its cosy title.

A thoroughly enjoyable read. A basic story about a family coming together set with a backdrop of WW2. Well developed characters that you care about. Friendship was at the heart of this story.

Whilst I enjoyed this story overall, it didn't really grab me. and I found it a bit slow to get going at the beginning. Once it did get into it, the story moved along well and it was a nice easy read with some interesting plot turns.