Homecoming: A Love Story for Any Age

In a world where romance stories have been subdivided into a seemingly endless array of subgenres (romantacy, historical romance, paranormal romance, Viking romance…) and tropes (slow burn, enemies to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity…), it’s a breath of fresh air to find a book that is just a love story. Full stop. No tropes. No genre-bending categorization. Just a sweet love story. And that’s what you get with Homecoming by Suzanne Eisinger.

Homecoming is the story of Natalie Brooks, a grad student, and Peter Spencer, a psychology professor who hires Natalie as his research assistant. The two stumble into a closed-door relationship only to have a tragic event expose it. There are consequences to this kind of relationship, one being a love neither wants to admit.

Author Suzanne Eisinger talked about her journey as a writer and the growth of the characters in Homecoming.

“I’ve always written, always loved to write,” said Eisinger. She started Homecoming when her now 20-year-old daughter was just two years old. For over a decade, the story percolated as Eisinger raised her kids and came to Marco for vacations. Those vacations turned into more and more time being spent on the Island.

“We say we are seasonal to Marco but not really. We spend eight months of the year here. We love it,” she said.

So does a story change over a decade-plus percolation?

“Oh yes, it does. First, the story had to be modernized. And I realized the characters needed to be more imperfect and well-rounded.”

Eisinger said that as a novice writer, she didn’t have as much nuance to give to her characters. “As I started getting older, I started changing Natalie. She was more of a doormat when I first started writing Homecoming. As I got older, Natalie did, too. She started standing up for herself. Advocated more for herself. She grew up as I did.”

Then, she started to flesh out the other characters. “They needed to be more realistic. Peter grew from being a one-dimensional cad to a more vulnerable, thoughtful man. And he needed more print time.”

The side characters also bring a lot to the story. Natalie’s dad Henry is a gem. “I had the most fun writing Henry,” Eisinger said. Gina is the perfect best friend and the high school students are, well, high school students, written in the best possible way.

One of the bigger challenges was learning to “tell” and not “show.” Research on writing helped with that, as did her critique groups. “Writing again and again and being shot down or corrected really helped,” said Eisinger.

The end result is a truly beautiful story that captures the joy, resilience, challenges, and heartache of love. “I’m reluctant to use the word romance,” said Eisinger. “In my mind, it conjures up book covers with Fabio and his flowing hair. A love story requires some work. It takes a while for them to get their happy ending.”

So is it a spoiler that Eisinger talks about a happy ending for Natalie and Peter? Not at all. What makes Homecoming so enjoyable is the journey these two take with each other and within themselves. Each one has their own challenges and preconceived notions to grapple with before finding their happily ever after. That’s what makes this such a great read. Besides being fast-paced, engrossing, and well-written, Homecoming has all the feels in all the right ways. When I finished, I walked around all warm and fuzzy with a smile on my face. That’s how much I enjoyed Homecoming. It’s that good.

So the next time you are headed to the beach, or the airport, or just your living room couch, grab Homecoming, because we all deserve a little love story in our lives.

Homecoming is available at Marco’s Sunshine Booksellers and on Amazon. And come visit Suzanne at the Marco Island Farmer’s Market starting November 18!