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Happiness has always slipped through Ephraim Fletcher’s grasp like water. Every time he’s gotten close, events have risen up to shatter what little comfort he finds in the world.

After the trauma preceding his brother’s departure from the homestead, his long-time lover lays close to death in the half-built house that should have been their happy-ever-after. As Ephraim nurses Joshua—doing everything he can to keep his mate from slipping away—he thinks back to their life over the last twenty years.

From meeting the captivating sheriff’s son his first day in Lastford, to their final exchange before the accident, Joshua has been there for every high and every low in Ephraim’s life. And sitting at Joshua’s bedside, Ephraim doesn’t know if he’ll be able to go on without him.

With all the trials and tribulations happening at the homestead over two decades, it was no wonder everyone missed the epic love story going on right under their noses until it might be too late.

I was always here, waiting for you to love me. What took you so long?
…..


Novel – 35k+

105 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 8, 2019

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About the author

Alex Jane

26 books172 followers
After spending years creating stories in her head, Alex started writing them down and then found she couldn’t stop.
Despite the late start, she now writes m/m romance about found families, sometimes with a historical feel—and the occasional werewolf.
Free from aspirations of literary greatness, Alex simply hopes to spin a good yarn of love and life, wrapped up with a happy ending. And if her characters have to go through Hell to get there, she’s a-okay with that.
Alex writes and walks on the South Coast of England—even when her heart and spellcheck are in New York.

You can now find her dark m/m romance under Alexis Jane if you like love…but darker.

Blog and Newsletter available on my website - www.alexjane.info

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5 stars
35 (47%)
4 stars
21 (28%)
3 stars
13 (17%)
2 stars
5 (6%)
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0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for JenMcJ.
2,325 reviews323 followers
May 14, 2019
Wut? No. No!! This cannot be how this series ends. No resolution for Caleb and Jacob?... actually ZERO interaction between Caleb and Jacob? No interaction between Jacob and Thad? The last book is about as romantic as a kick in the teeth with Ephraim and Joshua. This was no epic love story.

There is way too much left out to wrap up all the years we've put into this family.

I am unfulfilled and disappointed. Very.
Profile Image for Ami.
5,967 reviews491 followers
March 5, 2019
To be honest, I'm a little bummed that Ephraim and Joshua's story only lasts for about 35k words. It's not even a full length novel! Ephraim and Joshua's love story could be epic, and all this time, it happened in the background of other couples' stories. So I don't think this one does them justice *pout*

Having said that, of course I loved this one. The story is moving back and forth, from past to present, from the moment Ephraim first met Joshua until the tragedy that happened to Joshua in the previous book, Be My Sanctuary. The story is written from Ephraim's perspective, as Ephraim navigates first (and forever) love and heartbreak with his one true best friend.

At times, I was angry towards Joshua on Ephraim's behalf, because I thought Joshua had been acting so incredibly selfish. However, I also knew that only Joshua ever taking Ephraim's heart, and how I wish them both happily ever after.

Ephraim and Joshua's story is lovely... and I'm quite intrigued with the sneak peek of spin-off books that will follow this series, entitled The Homestead Legacy. I think I have that to look forward to :)




The ARC is provided by the author for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
Profile Image for Alex Jane.
Author 26 books172 followers
Want to read
March 8, 2019
This isn't a review but a thank you to everyone who has supported me through the three years it's taken to finish this series. Home Is Where You Are was my first novel and from the start I had planned the story all the way to the last scene of Ephraim's book. I cried a lot writing this story (then again with every edit), some from relief that it was finally finished but mostly because I knew it was going to break my heart to let the family go.
It means the world to me that so many people have taken the time to read these books and write about them here. I don't interact here much because this is a place for readers, not authors, but I just wanted to say thank you, I appreciate you all so much and your reviews mean the world to me. I hope you'll stick around and see what's coming next and maybe even read that too : )
Alex x
Profile Image for ⚣Michaelle⚣.
3,672 reviews216 followers
February 8, 2020
4.25 Stars

I love how in this series Family is the most important thing...and that no one is perfect, each have issues and faults and troubles. But they love with all their hearts and they fight for their HEAs.

Also, considering how we've said goodbye to lots of side-characters and distant family, and I knew it was coming...I could feel it, but something heavy was weighing on me at the end there.

I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT ENDING.

I'm not crying, you're crying. Shut up. Roof must be leaking or something.
Profile Image for BevS.
2,783 reviews2 followers
March 30, 2019
3.5 stars rounded up for Ephraim and Joshua's teeny, tiny little story, but 5 stars for the series overall. There wasn't much of a resolution to some of the outstanding series storylines unfortunately...it's almost as if Alex couldn't wait to get this one out of the way and get the series finished. 😕

Having said that, this is a lovely, gentle, atypical shifter series with no violence to speak of, but plenty of delightful characters in a realistic Little House on the Prairie type setting...but with some shifters obviously 😉.

Not going into detail or give any spoilers out here, but the best news I can and will spoiler is that there will be spin-off stories from the series called The Homestead Legacy. Woohoo, and many thanks Alex 😘.
Profile Image for Bronwyn.
1,229 reviews24 followers
December 14, 2019
Wow. This book was such a letdown. I really don’t understand all the great reviews. If I were to rate this book based solely on the epilogue, I’d give it 5 amazing stars. However, the rest of the book was a disappointment. I feel like the author just gave up on Caleb and Jacob and wanted to finish out the series.

Ephraim’s story had a lot of flashbacks and not a lot of them were nice memories. I don’t necessarily mind flashbacks, but I felt like it got confusing with the way each section was labeled. Why put the year as the heading? Why not just something like Ephraim, age 15, and Ephraim, present day? It would have been more effective. Through everything, I wondered why Ephraim ever stayed with Joshua because he never treated him well. There was nothing that showed me they ever had a good relationship.

Potential spoilers ahead!!

At the end of Thaddeus’ book, we were left with a very fractured Fletcher-Carpenter pack. There was no healing in this final installment of the epic tale of Caleb and Jacob’s lives. In each previous book, we got chapters from either Caleb or Jacob’s perspective. They were both almost completely absent as characters in this book. WHYYYY? There was so much that needed to be dealt with! Then they’re just dead at they end? WTF!

Where was the healing between everyone? Because the entire pack was affected by Joshua’s accident and what led up to it. It would have been nice to have just a couple of chapters from the Alphas’ POVs so we could have experienced some healing between everyone. Then, there was a perfect time for a wonderful reunion when everyone returned to New York for Tad and Samuel’s wedding. Yet the author just dropped that whole thing like it never happened. It felt like a slap in the face to readers who were long invested in this pack.

In all honesty, having finished the series, I wish I had stopped reading after book 2 with the assumption that the kids/pups each found their mates and lived happily ever after. I’m so glad I read books 4-6 in KU and didn’t purchase them.
Profile Image for Chappy.
1,959 reviews99 followers
January 16, 2023
Ephraim and Josh's story was always happening on the side-lines during all the other books...but we never really knew what was happening. We know that Josh broke Eph's heart by setting up an engagement to a woman. Thankfully, that didn't happen but it took a lot for Eph to trust Josh again.

After Josh's accident, they both go through hell but come out stronger on the other side.

There was a lot of back and forth from past to present and it got a little confusing at times, but I still love this family.
Profile Image for Rachel.
937 reviews72 followers
January 6, 2020
Loved this so much, this whole series has been wonderful, seeing the family grow and expand, fall in and out of love and face everything together has been marvellous.
Profile Image for Joscelyn Smith.
1,995 reviews15 followers
March 6, 2019
I've been a fan of this series since reading Home Is Where You Are and I'm sad that this is the end. I absolutely loved Ephraim and Joshua's story but I really wish it had been longer. This was a very enjoyable read and a great ending to the Alpha's Homestead series.

*I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book*
Profile Image for Jess A Jaye.
510 reviews19 followers
March 8, 2019
I cannot tell you how much I adore this series. I wish there was a way I could make every MMrom fan read it - I promise you they would not be disappointed. Alphas' Homestead has had me captivated from the very first paragraph of the very first book.
I read very little historical but I love the setting of this series. In some ways it's a simpler time and in other ways so very different from now but at the heart of these books is still love, family and finding your home.
Always Here focuses on Ephraim and Joshua's story. They have been inseparably since they met as children and this book follows them from their first meeting charting their love over the years. It was a hard fought HEA fully of tragedy, suppressed desires and hidden love - basically all the good stuff.
As the book goes through the previous years and beyond we see the rest of the family again through the eyes of Ephraim and a chance to see more of Caleb and Jacob, the patriarchs of the family, is always a good thing in my view.
Knowing that the series has come to an end makes me heart sick and I'm in full book hangover mode. I'm not going to do spoilers but the end of this book almost did me in. Fall on punch to the heart effect that us readers love to hate and hate to love - delicious if not heartbreaking!!
Profile Image for JR.
875 reviews30 followers
April 13, 2019
Fitting End

If there are characters that you grow an attachment to, it's difficult to give them up. These are such characters for me. It saddens me that I won't be spending anymore time with them, unless I reread the series, but I will carry them with me always. I'm lucky to have that.
Profile Image for Chris.
2,070 reviews
March 9, 2019
I loved this whole series and felt a little jolt as I read the epilogue. This is the end of an era but I’m glad the legacy series will spin off ❤️ while the focus was on Ephraim & Joshua, there was a bit of closure with all characters.. what a beautiful series... beautiful
Profile Image for Yvonne.
209 reviews3 followers
Read
October 17, 2019
I don't know how to rate this. On the one hand I loved revisiting the characters but found Joshua and Ephraim's story just so depressing. The cover of the book does nothing to lift up my spirits either. And still disappointed with what Alex Jane did with Jacob.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mary Mary.
1,010 reviews48 followers
March 7, 2019
* I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review *

Great as always.
This is 6th and the last one book in "Alphas' Homestead" series. This is Ephraim and Joshua's story and even though I expected something different this heartwarming book is a wonderful ending for this series. What I really like about Alex Jane's books is her amazing talent to create absolutely wonderful atmosphere. It might sound kinda weird but all stories felt like a warm blanket during long, cold winter night and I loved it!

I wanted to read Eph and Joshua's story since forever. I expected it to be longer , but well, You can't have everything :(
After events in Be My Sanctuary I thought I was prepared for everything including no HEA. I wanted to read Ephraim and Joshua's story because I was sure that it would be a marvelous love story, a book full of passion, desire and emotions. I craved this book because I freaking LOVED Jacob and Caleb and Taddeus and Samuel's books. I loved seeing them fall in love and fight for each other. This book is different, it's too short to show Eph and Josh fall in love. There are memories from the past, memories about being in love, almost losing each other etc, but it was not enough for me :(

This is a nice, enjoyable ending to this series, but it felt a little bit like a missed chance to show a great story. Nevertheless, it is lovely and leads us through MCs memories from the past as well as their fight to bring Joshua back to normal life . It is also a background for events from other books, for other couple's stories.
I LOVE this series and the ending was a little bit bitter sweet, I hope there will be a lot of "Alpha homestead legacy" books.
Profile Image for Carmina.
12 reviews
July 25, 2019
I finished this yesterday and I needed a day to talk about it because I was too sad right after I finished it for different reasons. Today I can think about it better and be sad but also very happy because I loved it and mostly, I want to thank Alex for writing it.

Reading this book has been a wonderful rollercoaster. It's just impossible to describe all the feelings I've been through and how much fun I've had with it. I feel like I read it at the perfect moment, right after I finished book #5.

I've truly loved the development of Joshua and Ephraim's relationship, and the way it was written with all the flashbacks was really great.

Like the previous books of this series, "Always Here" has a beautiful story, brilliant writing, and very interesting characters who you get to know better, so of course, I absolutely recommend it. Their story touches your heart like everybody else's in this family and it's really sad to see this series end, but I can't imagine a more perfect ending.

I can only imagine how difficult and hard it had to be to end this series and I want to thank Alex Jane for being such an awesome writer and giving so much heart and soul to her characters; it shows how much this series means to her and you feel it deeply. Thanks for making me smile and cry. This book is absolutely flawless and perfect. Caleb and Jacob and their family will be forever in my heart and this will always be my favorite series.
Profile Image for Jenn (not Lily).
4,257 reviews29 followers
April 5, 2020
So much crying! Ephriam and Joshua have been through through all the crap together, and even though I knew eventually things would work out somehow (I was an idiot and read The Legacy first before I'd read any of this series -- stupid move on my part, an emphatically not recommended reading order!), I cried off and on during this whole book. These two absolutely kill me, with their quiet devotion to each other, but for so long Joshua is determined to stay in the closet and Ephriam has a soul deep hurt by that decision. Well, now I obviously need to read The Arrangement immediately and finish by re-reading The Legacy -- yay for series binging!
Profile Image for Amy.
367 reviews4 followers
March 9, 2019
Always here...yes. It fits.

I’ve been with the Alphas from the beginning, when Caleb found a broken Jacob. I’m not ready to say goodbye. How about see you soon?
This book, the series really, is one of my favorites. It’s not flowery over the top romantic. It’s real life in years that were tough and unfriendly. Their love is deep and abiding. This last book is Ephraim’s and Joshua’s story, and we get flashbacks from the beginning of their friendship and the stark reality of life after Joshua’s accident. There have been some really horrible things that have happened to the pack on the homestead, but they got through it. Ephraim and Joshua’s story was every bit as rich and full as the others. The epilogue was very well written and honestly, grab your tissues because you will need them. I’m sorry to see the end of this series but it is perfectly timed. This will be hanging around in my memories for quite a while.
3,223 reviews33 followers
March 7, 2019
😣How long does it take for loving devotion to arrive at the happy ending🌈?

👍👍 😣😵💔😊
A touching story of romantic and family love, compelling, well-written and focusing on physical challenges, emotional turmoil and rock solid commitment. This story of Ephraim and Joshua's relationship over the years, told alternating past with the 1892 present that ended the previous book in the series, really delivers on heartache and despair, with Ephraim the touchstone that keeps hope burning through tough times⛅. I could not put it down, and the 1919 ending was a pure, tearful goodbye to the series.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.
Profile Image for Alison Edmunds.
171 reviews
March 13, 2019
Not a great lover of historical romance, I came late to Alex Jane's series "The Alphas' Homestead." This is only the second that I have read, although I fully intend to read the first four. That being said, I had no difficulty in following the story, and thoroughly enjoyed it. If the series has to end, this is the right way to do it with I assume all the ends tied together. I must admit that I shed plenty of tears over the last few pages of this beautifully written book.

I look forward to reading the standalone stories from The Homestead Legacy when they are written.
Profile Image for Kagetsuya.
80 reviews16 followers
July 12, 2020
OMG. I'm so sad, I'm crying!
This is one of my favourite stories. The entire story was exciting from book 1 to 6, I really loved and care about the characters. I would loved to know what happened with the previous story.
description
179 reviews
March 8, 2019
I was given this book free in exchange for an honest review.

This book in my opinion was the best in the series.

It gives us a look into the past, but it is really about the emotional pain of the people around a family members horrific injury. How do you push a person who’s in pain to recover?

This had me in tears several times.

The “Whatever happened to’s” At the day of this book was an extra bonus for readers of this series and very much appreciated.
Profile Image for Gwen.
1,294 reviews5 followers
March 6, 2019
My heart was hurting through most of this book. Ephraim and Joshua have gone through so much. I was amazed that I could feel the love in these two characters right from when they met. Their journey is full of drama and pain but also hope and devotion. I fell in love with little Emmanuel and I can’t wait for his tale. This is my favorite book of the series. The author really got me with this one.
Profile Image for Anabela.M..
959 reviews14 followers
March 7, 2019
This book is very emotional and the perfect ending to The Alpha Homestead series. The beginning was sad because Ephraim and Joshua couldn't seem to find the strength to overcome Joshua's conditions. But their love is strong and I'm happy they get their happy ending.
I love the way the author interlaced moments from different times in their story,ending the book with hope for the future.
Profile Image for Claudia.
2,852 reviews37 followers
March 8, 2019
First, to fully understand all the happenings and characters on this book it's best although not indispensable to read the other books in this series.

This is the story of Ephraim and Joshua, and it's a sweet, gentle story, although that doesn't mean that there isn't some angst in their journey. And I wish it had been a little longer, but, that's me :P

A great ending for the series.
Profile Image for Kygal622.
58 reviews1 follower
April 20, 2019
Wonderful Series

I got lost in this wonderful world the author created of shifters (wolves) in the old west just after the civil war. The relationships are complex and warm as we follow this family as it develops from Caleb and blends new individuals over a lifetime. Great editing. Buy & enjoy!
28 reviews1 follower
April 17, 2019
I've enjoyed the journey

You actually had the tears running down my face as I read the last part I don't know if to love you or hate you right now, but I'll be joining you for their legacy. Job well done!
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