Book Review of “Hometown Girl” by Michele Ashman Bell

Hometown Girl is a delightful romance full of humor. When Jocelyn moves into the home she inherited from her grandmother, the laughter begins. One thing after another happens to her while fixing up the home, which is in need of great repair. When a couple birds find their way into the house, she tries chasing them outside with a tennis racket. But they end up chasing her outside, screaming with her hands flailing in the air erratically and still holding her racket. Quickly the scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds comes back to her as she screams in fear. It’s a hilarious scene. But you laugh even harder when Jocelyn finally settles down, turns around, and finds Jack, the hero of the book, parked in his truck and watching her with amusement.

Humor isn’t the only element in this story. With a house falling apart, loneliness, frustration, and mysterious nightmares, Jocelyn learns what charity really is and learns to accept her trials. She also has a deep secret that she has kept hidden for fourteen years that seems to haunt her.

Jack is a fun character. He’s a good-looking young man who owns his own repair shop. I love his description. He’s a “scruffy bearded, pony tailed man wearing a plaid flannel shirt.” I loved him right away. Even though he and Jocelyn don’t hit it off at first, I knew this couple would get together eventually. Between these two characters, Michele has her readers thoroughly entertained. This is an excellent novel. Bravo, Michele! I would recommend this book for teens and adults. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Michele travels to the places she writes about so she can immerse herself in the history, landscape and culture of the area. Her goal is “to provide an accurate reflection of people and places and provide the reader with an armchair vacation.” This intrigued me, so I asked Michele where she got her inspiration for her novels. This is her reply.

Before A Modest Proposal came out I held a contest and asked for people to submit their proposal stories.  The contest was posted in several newspapers and even put in a publication through BYU, so I got tons of response (too many actually - made the decision so hard).  I was so impressed with so many of the variety of approaches to proposing.  Some were very romantic and sweet, some were crazy and unbelievable, and some were so touching and emotional.  This winning proposal was by far the most creative and amazing because of the timespan it covered and the way it all worked out.  Part of the prize for winning was having the story put in a book.

I think writers are constant observers of life; listening, watching and learning about everything around them. To a writer, everything has potential to become a plot line, a character, a quirk, a detail in a setting, or the whole basis for a book. You can tell what's going on in my life by what I write. I put a lot of myself into my stories, but try not to make it personal--mainly because I'm just not that interesting. It's more exciting living through my characters.

My books are driven from three sources; a setting, a character or a situation. 1) I've written books about places I've visited or am intrigued with and then the challenge is coming up with a story that takes place in that setting. (Finding Paradise and Love Lights the Way are books I've written from settings) 2) I've written many books about people who are facing challenges that I think will connect with readers and that I feel passionate. (Without a Flaw, Perfect Timing, The Butterfly Box series are examples of books inspired from this) 3) And some of the books I've written based upon interesting situations that go along with the genre I'm writing at the time, i.e., romance, suspense, mystery, etc... (Timeless Moments, Without A Flaw).

Michele Ashman Bell grew up in St. George, Utah. Her passion for books and her love for keeping a journal helped her develop an understanding for the power of the written word, not only to express feelings and imagination, but to touch others and move readers. Once the writing bug bit, it took ten long years of submissions, rejections, workshops, critique groups, and community education classes, before her first book: An Unexpected Love. Michele is the author of 18 books and 4 Christmas stories. She is married to her college sweetheart and is the mother of four children and has one granddaughter.

Visit Michele’s website: www.micheleashmanbell.com
Visit Michele’s blog: www.micheleabell.blogspot.com
For a $50.00 gift card, go to Michele's blog and enter.