REVIEWED by Jay V.

TITLE: Homebird 

AUTHOR: Amy Lane

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 18, 2018

BLURB:

Crispin Henry isn’t an adventurer. He learned early on that the world is a frightening place and that home is rare and precious. If his friends didn’t drag him to sports games and ill-advised trips to Vegas, he wouldn’t get out at all—and his trip to Munich for Oktoberfest is no exception. But it’s there that he meets Luka Gabriel, and he learns to take a chance.

Luka is a free-spirited world traveler, working at Oktoberfest to feed his enchantment with new places and new people. His only possessions fit in his backpack, and he depends on the kindness of strangers for a place to sleep. Crispin should know better—but he takes Luka’s hand anyway, and together they turn three nights in Munich into the relationship neither of them has been brave enough to risk—and neither can let go of.

When Luka turns up on Crispin’s doorstep before the holiday season, Crispin takes him in on hope alone. Yes, he knows the odds are good Luka will flutter out of his life again and leave him bereft, but isn’t it worth it to see if Luka is a homebird after all?

REVIEW:

Love, loss, friends, and home – can they mend all heartache?

Amy Lane has written another book that will become a classic. Centered around Crispin Henry, a man that has been cast a shadow of pain over his life he’s trying to recover from even years later. He is starting to try to expand his horizons more with the strong influence of his adventurous friends from work. They work hard to get Crispin out of his shell and now are dragging him on a trip to Munich. It is there that Crispin meets the friendly and charismatic Luka, a bartender at a beer garden who could not be more the opposite of him. Crispin is rooted to home while Luka wanders the world in a backpack. They become enchanted with each other and try to find places in each other’s lives. Will they find a balance? Will they stay together, whether settled down or wandering? Will they find the heart of their ultimate loneliness?

This book is filled with charming characters that are sure to make your heart skip. Crispin and Luka are wonderful in each their own unique ways and Crispin’s friends are true saints. The power of friendship is a strong theme in this book as is creating your own family and home. You can imagine all of these people in real life and becoming charmed with them over and over again. The friendship bond is so endearing as they all rally around each other in their joys and times of need. It just warms the heart that there could be such wonderful friends in the world, looking out for each other and encouraging each other to be the best they can but while also having tons of fun.  Each of the guys in the group have such strong traits there’s at least one to fall in like. They have great humor to offset the hardships and struggles. And it almost makes me jealous

There are several wonderful analogies that leave you thinking and hoping for the world to be a better place. This is Amy Lane at her best with a contemporary drama with a larger set of characters that feel like they could be your own family and it’s a joy to go down the road with these people. It will be interesting to see if everyone is as enamored as I am with the characters and we might end up in debates on who’s the most charming – Team Crispin or Team Luka, but either way, they’re are very charming guys who deserve all the best in the world.

Look for some Easter eggs to other Amy Lane books as these characters are in the same Lane universe in Northern California.

RATING:  

BUY LINK: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon