Title: The Way Back Home
Author: Carmen Jenner
Genre: Military Romance
Release Date: May 29, 2017
August Cotton shouldn’t be here. When a tragic accident calls him home to Magnolia Springs, this returned Veteran adds his parents to the list of things he’s lost in recent years, right along with his IED detection dog and his left leg. As the sole guardian of his four-year-old sister, August must rely on his Marine training in raising a tiny hellion who’s as stubborn as he is. But the Corps could never prepare him for this. Nor could they prepare him for Olivia Anders, a woman who’ll stop at nothing to get her way.
As owner of Paws for Cause, Olivia is no stranger to the broken men and women who return home from war. She’s no stranger to broken dogs either. In fact, she’s made it her mission to pair the two and enrich both of their lives, but pairing ornery and aloof August Cotton will take some work. The last thing August wants is some pushy southern woman occupying his parents’ bed and breakfast and forcing him to open up about the hell he narrowly escaped, but that’s exactly what Olivia intends.
They complete one another, and yet they can’t stand to be in the same room.
Can Olivia make this hardened Marine feel again and finally show his heart the way back home?
*** Intended for a mature 18+ audience only. This book may contain triggers for some readers.
ARC received for an honest review
Where do I start with this book?
The Way Back Home is a romance story, but it is so much more than that. In fact, at times I felt that the romance took a back seat in this story, and what was happening around Olivia and August took the main stage.
August Cotton, ex Marine, a broken man.
Olivia - the woman tasked to bring him back into the world.
Throw a spanner in the works, a horrible Southern town (southern hospitality my ar$e) and what you get is a story of loss, heartbreak, pain - and hope.
Oh the emotions that I felt whilst reading. The back and forth, the anger, the hurt - gah, it got me right in the feels.
I want these two broken people to make it so much.
"Back and forth, we continue to hurt one another. We push and shove, scratch and claw until we're both broken and bleeding, a never-ending cycle of paint and hurt and torment."
There is so much I could say about this book, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone.
Buy it. Read it.
I can't wait to see what Ms Jenner brings us next.
“Are we going to
ignore it forever?” The words are sharper than I intend, and they slice through the
silence as if they were a roar, bitter and bruised with frustration.
His whole body stills. “No.”
“Then why won’t you say
something?”
“What am I
supposed to say?” he shoots back, equally as angry, and I’m stunned for a
second, because it’s he who walked away, it’s he who’s been avoiding
me, and he who seems to be perfectly fine, while I’m the one
feeling like I just handed him my heart and he stomped all over it.
“What do you want
to say?” I snap. “Obviously, you’re angry with me. You can’t even look at me. You haven’t looked at me
since—”
“I can’t stop looking
at you,” he hisses. “It’s all I’ve done since you got here, seen you and nothing else.”
“Then what?” I plead. “What aren’t you saying?”
“I’m terrified,
okay?” he shouts, standing up and slamming his fist down on the table. I
flinch. Zora sits up and growls. “I’m absolutely fucking terrified.”
“Of what?”
“Of
you, of this.”
Carmen
Jenner is a thirty-something, USA Today and international
bestselling author.
Her dark romance, KICK (Savage Saints MC #1), won Best Dark Romance Read in the Reader’s Choice Awards at RWDU, 2015.
A tattoo enthusiast, hardcore makeup addict and zombie fangirl, Carmen lives on the sunny North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she spends her time indoors wrangling her two wildling children, a dog named Pikelet, and her very own man-child.
A romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first … because what’s a happily ever after without a little torture?
Her dark romance, KICK (Savage Saints MC #1), won Best Dark Romance Read in the Reader’s Choice Awards at RWDU, 2015.
A tattoo enthusiast, hardcore makeup addict and zombie fangirl, Carmen lives on the sunny North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she spends her time indoors wrangling her two wildling children, a dog named Pikelet, and her very own man-child.
A romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first … because what’s a happily ever after without a little torture?