Home Again

Home Again

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3.92 of 5 stars 3.92  ·  rating details  ·  5,253 ratings  ·  327 reviews
When movie star Angel DeMarco suffers his first heart attack on location near Seattle, his survival depends on a heart transplant. He's medevac-ed to a local hospital famed for its cardiology unit and placed under the care of Dr. Madelaine Hillyard--the pregnant girlfriend he'd abandoned 17 years earlier. Facing death, he's forced to come to terms with his misspent life an...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published October 30th 1996 by Ballantine Books
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Leslie
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Beccalarge
Uggg....Kristin Hannah. I thought I would give her another chance. I have read books by her that have drawn me in, that have been well written and beautiful (Firefly Lane, Winter Garden), books that made me think she could really write.

And then I read books written by her that made me cringe a little and think of a bad, overly sappy Lifetime movie. But this one? This book? I couldn't even finish it. And I NEVER stop reading a book once I start (unless it gets so vulgar I can't keep reading). But...more
Romy
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Miranda
This book was exactly what I needed to read. Little did I know when I started it that I would devour it in under 24 hours, and at times my face would be damp from tears that unwittingly fell onto the screen of my ebook.

By page 20 I knew what was going to happen, but the foreshadowing didn’t lessen the impact of what came next. The characters were so rich that I felt genuine warmth for them all and loved their character development. The one upset for me, and it’s very minor, is that I didn’t rea...more
Angel
I'm usually a big fan of Kristin Hannah, but Home Again just didn't do it for me. The idea of the book seemed promising, but Kristin Hannah just didn't deliver. The whole story of the heart surgery and the family dramas just didn't seem real to me. How am I supposed to believe that you would still fall in love with the same man who broke your heart so many years ago? Sure, people should be allowed second chances, but forgiving someone for running out of your life without as much saying goodbye w...more
Gina
Jun 19, 2011 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone wanting a chick lit book that is a good beach read
Single parent and cardiologist Madeleine Hillyard has worked hard all of her life to raise her daughter, Lina, in a happy home and always wonders if she is doing enough. 16 year old Lina's wish is to learn her father's identity. She doesn't understand why her mother and her "Uncle" Francis have kept the secret her entire life. Lina thinks that her life will be perfect if she finds her Daddy and that the awful teenage life she has with her mom will miraculously disappear. However, her father is H...more
Annika
About 1/3 of the way into this book, I predicted it. I stuck with it, because it's not a terrible story (I've read waaaay worse), but it's so fluffy and cheesy that it's almost painful to read. And I was right, the author didn't surprise me with some snappy twist ala Jodi Picoult. She just finished her merry little story. I'm glad I don't cry easily.

Angel Demarco is this world famous actor, nominated for an Oscar, but he keeps saying he's not that great of an actor. He causes mass riots and pres...more
Ruth
Home Again by Kristin Hannah is an empowering & inspirational novel on hurt, self-destruction, hope, love, faith and redemption. It’s about Madeleine a brilliant cardiologist; her rebellious daughter Lina; Francis, a priest and troubled soul who is their anchor; and Angel DeMarco, the celebrity father who long ago abandoned his family. Have a box of Kleenex nearby when reading this book! I found it in the ‘General’ section of the library and I’m wondering, why? I would of placed it in the Ro...more
Susana Guerra
I can honestly never get tired of saying how much I love Kristin Hannah! This book gives you an enormous amount of hope, faith, and love. Francis is such an incredible character. The way he takes care of Maddy and Lina, and loves them so deeply in such a pure and Godly way. Angel, Frances brother is the opposite but has a heart of Gold. The story develops as Angel needs a heart transplant and goes back to his hometown, where he ran away when Maddy became pregnant at 16. He leaves the Only two pe...more
Chana Snyder
OMG, no. Full stop. I got through about a third of this book before I lost my patience and dropped it to the floor. A few things I'm glad for: 1) that I didn't pay for the book; 2) that I don't live (or know anyone who does) in the emotionally warped world that the author's constructed here. What a train wreck!

Has any of these characters matured at all during the course of their adult lives? Why does that seem like such an unreasonable request? What really dropped my jaw was when another review...more
Kristin
This was one of my least favorite books from Kristin Hannah. I've come to expect so much when reading her books since ones like Firefly Lane and Magic Hour are so amazing, but this one didn't meet those high expectations. It felt like a hallmark movie with a very sappy and dramatic storyline. Lina's character did not feel like the perspective of a 16 year old girl as she was throwing tantrums like a child. Her thoughts also felt like they were written by a person imagining what a teenager would...more
Jessica
Firstly, I would genuinely like to thank Kristin Hannah for drawing so much attention to organ donation. I also must complement her on a decent level of medical accuracy. I won't bother to point out the inaccuracies, because that's just me being a snobby nurse, and it really doesn't matter. So again, thank you Kristin Hannah for bringing awareness to brain death, and organ donation. That being said... let's get down to business.

In Home Again, bad boy, movie star Angel DeMarco reunites with his...more
Courtney
Well, I really enjoyed True Colours by Kristin Hannah. It actually surprised me how much I enjoyed it. But ugh, Home Again - what a disappointment. It was mindlessly entertaining enough to persevere, but the characters were lifeless and so predictable. The hollow relationships between characters was, at times, embarrassing. The fluffy, sickly sweet ending was enough to make me throw the book off the bed. I woke the cat several times because I groaned at the corniness of some of the dialogue (gra...more
Denise
2.0 out of 5 stars - Ugh! Ditto the reviewers who stated that this book reads like a bad Lifetime movie. Every single thing that happens is a cliche from one of those dramas.

Avoiding any spoilers (assuming the reader might be too dense to see this one coming 100 pages away), I will say that this novel provided exactly what I expected. Sappy romance, drawn out melodrama, angst, and the tied up ending that you usually only see in fairy tales.

I'll still read more of Kristin Hannah as I think this...more
Linda
Wow. Once again Kristin Hannah wrote an amazing story. This was a real page turner and extremely hard to put down. The main character is a famous actor named Angel, that ignores the advice of his heart doctors, and still drinks, does drugs and ends up practically killing himself. He left home when he was 17 and hadn't looked back. But now he's sent back because his hometown happens to have the best cardiology department in the U.S. Once there he finally has to face all the reasons why he left in...more
Gina
Kristin Hannah does it again! Another wonderful story filled with hope & love. The story was wrapped in a very neat & tidy little package. Some might say, a little too good to be true but I was more than fine with that.

In true Kristin Hannah form, this is another "grab the Kleenex!" story. Her characters are so well developed (I adored Francis in this book) and you will most certainly feel their hurt, feel their loss, want to give them a hug and then cheer them on. I thought it would be...more
Lisa
Apr 07, 2013 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 14 years and up (one sex scene) mature
Recommended to Lisa by: Jan Oller
Kristin Hannah...I love your books! I always know that I will get a quick and entertaining read! This seemed to be one of your earlier ones that I hadn't read yet, and I enjoyed it!
There are so many people that run away from their problems (within their families, their friends, their responsibilities). With this book, you made this issue come to the surface... you can run but you can't hide! Your issues follow and eventually catch up and you need to confront those issues and fears. I really thin...more
Karen & Gerard
This book is about second chances. It's about Madeline, a single mom who is a cardiologist for her first love, Angel, who needs a heart transplant and how his brother the priest took care of Madeline and her daughter in his brother's absence. The daughter yearns to know her dad, the mother is afraid he will break her heart, the priest falls in love with Madeline but wants to do the right thing and Angel is a famous, rich actor living life in the fast lane until he has a third heart attack and wi...more
Stephany G
Not my favorite, but because i enjoyed a few books from this author I rounded up. This was like a soap opera storyline. Rich girl falls for bad boy. Bad boy gets her pregnant and the dad pays him off. He takes the money and leaves town AND becomes a famous star. His sweet brother steps in and helps with the baby while becoming a priest. Bad boy gets sick 16 yrs later and needs a heart transplant returns to his hometown where the good girl is a heart surgeon. The child he assumed was aborted has...more
Rhonda Rae Baker
Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors!

This book was picked up at a yard sale for 50 cents and what an amazing treasure it turned out to be. I couldn't put it down...LOL.

I loved the characters and was quickly feeling what was happening in their lives as Kristin writes so dramatically. There were many twists and turns that came together in beautiful ways. I was crying more then laughing on this one but it warmed my heart and somehow I feel encouraged.

Life is hard...turns come at us with no...more
Christy
This book was too predictable and overly emotional. I have read most of Kristen Hannah's books, and was looking forward to this. I then realized it was one of her older ones and she hadn't perfected her suspense and her nuance in dealing with human interactions. The premise was ok but the characters overwritten. I predicted every single twist and turn in this book. It was also very unrealistic. I understand she had a storyline to fit into the timeline, however they just didn't match up despite a...more
Camy
Although I knew from the turn of the very first page how this story was going to conclude, I still wanted to read it. I wanted to see how the author was going to deal with the key themes being presented. At the end of it all, I liked the book and I enjoyed the happy ending – a good read for Christmas when we are all about family, love and believing that everyone is entitled to be given the chance to live their best life. As I said before in my previous review I like the fact that Kristin Hannah...more
Amy
This was the first Kristin Hannah book that really let me down. I think this could have been a much better book than it was, the story arch was great, but the characters were flat and transparent. i also found myself disliking the whiny nature of every character in this book. is it possible for every character in a story to be this boring and irritating?
i've read worse, but i have also read better. this book gets 3 stars for the mediocrity of everything between the front and back covers. some st...more
Virginia Markhart
Not a typical Kristin Hannah. She is one of my favorite authors. This book was a let down. I did not enjoy it at all and it was a real struggle to get through it.

Movie star bad boy has a bad heart and who but his long lost teenage girlfriend turns out to be the cardiologist to d the heart transplant. Mixing it up is the donor who turns out to be the bad boy's brother. I was so weary of this story. Nothing much Happens. The most depressing thing about the book was the total inability to make a pa...more
Bethany Clark
I never get sick of Kristin Hannah. I really enjoyed this book. It was my first book of hers to read and I thought it was amazing. I didn't find it predictable at all. I found it heartwarming and loving. I loved how she created such a troubled relationship between mother and daughter, that is how times can really be, but in the end their bond grew stronger and stronger.
I love the many bond's through out this book and well as the bond's that were created at the end between father and daughter as...more
Anika
It's a beautiful story. For the most part I really enjoyed reading it, but of course there is a 'but'. I can accept - well, almost - that Francis dies and Angel gets his heart. There was just not enough conflict. Angel just accepted it. There wasn't much conflict between him and Lina either. I find this to be the weakest part of the novel. One does not simply see a stranger as their father after sixteen years of no contact. When Angel acts like a stereotypical father, I cringed. It felt wrong. W...more
Linda Day
Maybe it was better, but I don't think so ! Long, boring story that has been so much better done by others concerning a heart transplant and the people giving, receiving, and involved with the giver and receiver. I honestly don't know why I kept reading it. When I finally shut the book was when the most offensive of three letter words (sex) entered in, kind of like an instruction manual, and I closed the thing. No idea how it ended and don't really care.

Packed the other book I bought by her into...more
Cathy
Oh, this was a good book.

Angel had myocardidis as a child, and now as an adult has to have a heart transplant. Now he reluctanly has to change his lifestyle if he wants to 1) get a new heart and 2) live alot longer. Now Angel finds out that his cardiologist is a girl friend from high school he basicly dumped and ran away from.

Personaly, as an adult I had myocardidis, I didn't have to have a heart transplant; although it is a life changing illness and can be very scarey. I've read two of Kristin...more
preppea
I thought the premise of the story was interesting - childhood sweethearts reunite when the guy, a famous movie star, needs a heart transplant and the girl is his assigned cardiologist.

I thought the perspective of the cardiologist in particular though, was completely unbelievable and was used more to keep the reader in suspense then a realistic portrayal of a single mom. If she really did think that way, then she was extremely self-absorbed, seeing as how her daughter was asking to meet her fat...more
Kellie
There hasn’t been a Hannah book I didn’t like. For some reason, she knows how to tap into the emotions of a reader and mess with them. I read this book so fast , I couldn’t get enough. The story is about Madeline and Angel. They were teenage lovers. Madeline got pregnant at 16 and Angel, bribed by her father, took money and took off. Several years later, he is in a hospital fighting for his life and it just so happens, “Mad” is his cardiologist. His brother, Francis, is a priest and has taken ca...more
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Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of eighteen novels, including the blockbuster Firefly Lane and Night Road. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii with her husband.
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Firefly Lane Winter Garden Night Road Home Front True Colors

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“Please don't humiliate me by killing yourself before we can save your life.” 2 people liked it
“But it had gotten so boring, all that crying and wanting and needing. This year she'd realized that she'd never be like her mom, and the realization had freed her. She stopped trying to get good grades and make good friends, and do everything well. She had flourished in her rebellion, reveled in it.” 2 people liked it
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