Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Well Written
Review: Rebecca Martin is divorced with a 6 year old daughter. She rents out her "in-law" apartment to Michael Christopher - a man who just left a monastery after 20 years.He's struggling to find a new way and she's struggling with her job, her irresponsible ex-husband and being a single parent. They slowly become friends and then more than friends. It's not an easy path but a wonderful read of family, friendship and love.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Romance
Review: The book starts a little slow and you wonder if you should bother but it brightens up and becomes a lovely novel of life,love and surviving. I especially enjoyed the monk's letters to a brother back in the monestary. I found these very thought provoking. The book is about life and the fact that as much as we plan for things, life happens despite those plans. I loved the way Michael Christopher handled so many issues throughout the book. He was always intouch with the divine within even though he seemed unware. I'm a philosophy and religion major, so I was intrigued by the religious dialogue and innuendo. Interesting read and charming love story. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Thinking Person's Escape
Review: The Monk Downstairs is a novel that takes you away without an overdose of saccharine. The characters feel real and the ordinariness of the plot is refreshing. My only criticism was the child character was in daycare. At the age of 6 most children are in first grade or at the very least kindergarten.
Rating:
Summary: Very Charming
Review: The Monk Downstairs is an extremely charming novel, a love story that stays clear of sappiness and cliche. Rebecca Martin is a single mother who rents out an apartment in her San Francisco home to Michael Christopher, a man who has just left the monastery after 20 years. Rebecca has an irresponsible ex-husband, a wonderful daughter, an independent and nosy mother and is pursued Bob, a man who desperately wants to marry her. Rebecca is an extremely likeable protagonist, sympathetic and believable. Her relationship with Michael is believable and her story is a pleasure to read. It's compelling and will keep you up at night until you finish. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise, but ultimately a common storyline.
Review: The set up intrigued me, and indeed, the story was quick to pique my interest. Unfortunately, about halfway through, the plot slowly dissolved into a very common love story. The "twist" of the main character being an ex-monk only realized it's true potential within the letters he was writing to one of his former colleagues at the monastery that were cleverly woven into the narrative. Indeed, these letters were by far the best part of the book...very well-written, heart felt monologues about his struggles with his faith and the subsequent conflicts with his new secular life. The book reads very quickly and is an enjoyable distraction for a few hours. It just seems that it could have been much more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Wasn't too thrilled
Review: This book was okay - a sweet story - but I was hoping for more. I never really felt like I cared about the characters. I didn't even like the main character that much. The monk was a little to perfect - always acting right and making her feel so comfortable - except for the one scene where he says the wrong thing. Maybe it's just me - all the other reviewers seemed to really like this - but it just didn't do much for me.
Rating:
Summary: Such wonderful writing!
Review: This could easily have gotten maudlin: a late-30s single San Francisco mom rents her downstairs apartment to a monk who, due to spiritual distress, has just left the monastery. They fall in love. He's a good kisser. He's nice to her kid. He supports her through the illness of her mother. They stay in love. The end. But it is so wonderfully written - so funny (you will laugh!) and warm - and the author gives such a rich inner life to the characters - that the book transcends its plot. The most remarkable, wonderful feature of Farrington's writing is that every character is complex and multi-dimensional. Mike, the ex-monk, is not just some boilerplate Nice Guy. His internal struggles with living in the "real world" seem completely believable and sympathetic. Rebecca, the mom, is funny and smart, but also quirky. Even characters who occupy no more than a page or two - the judge at a trial, or the receptionist at the graphics firm where Rebecca works, or an eccentric friend of Rebecca's mom - they are all fully developed, interesting, distinct people. How does the author do this? I have never seen such a remarkable ability to put a flesh-and-blood character into just a few lines of text. And funny, did I mention it was funny? Funny and spiritual at the same time...you can't beat that. I really hope everyone gets a chance to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it, utterly charming
Review: This could have been pure schmalz, but it wasn't. I kept having to check: did a man really write this? Beautiful story, beautiful writing, some lyrical scenes that will stay with me forever.
This is one I won't be reselling on Amazon. It's a keeper!
Rating:
Summary: Sweet without being sappy
Review: This is a thoroughly enjoyable little romance about a single mom, and an AWOL monk who comes to rent her basement suite. While it could have come off cloying and cliched, it's neither. Just a well written romantic story with likeable characters and a happy ending. Nothing earth shattering here, just a pleasant read.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful gift
Review: This is a very special work. Characterization, dialogue, and setting are lapidary, providing great esthetic pleasure. There is an extra dimension, however, appreciated especially by those who have some knowledge of both the crucifixions and epiphanies of committed relationships and the Mystery found through the desert and beneath the darkness. This added dimension will be recognized by those who have been beaten up by life but still find a nameless hope in the kindness of strangers, the beauty of nature, the play of children, and the sacrament of intimacy. It also offers those unfamiliar or uncomfortable with what Andrew Greeley has called the Catholic sacramental vision of the world an engaging glimpse from a literarily gifted insider.
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