BJ's Book Blog: ✤ Penelope Ward ✤ THE DAY HE CAME BACK ✤

• An angsty second chance love story

• 19 August 2019
• Cover Model: Christian Hogue

★★★★
4.25 Stars

From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new standalone novel.
An angsty second-chance story, spanning a decade.

It was the summer of my life.

I’d met the guy of my dreams.

Unfortunately, he was the son of my uppity employer—and very much off-limits.

But Gavin was a rebel. He knew his mother would disown him if she found out about us; in his eyes, we just had to be careful.

He never treated me as his mother did—like hired help.

Instead, Gavin put me on a pedestal and loved me harder than I’d ever been loved in my life.

What a summer it was.

Until it all ended—badly.

I was never supposed to see Gavin again.

That didn’t stop me from thinking about him every day for ten years.

I knew little about his life now, just that he was an entrepreneur living an ocean away.

When a twist of fate had me working again in the very place our love affair started a decade earlier, I knew it was only a matter of time before I might see him again.

But I wasn’t prepared.

What if he hated me?

What if he loved someone else now?

I wasn’t prepared for all the unknowns.

And most of all, I wasn’t prepared for today to be the day he came back.

ARC received for an honest review

Helloooo hot cover guy. I am not really one to bother with covers, however the orange makes this one stand out. And what is it with Penelope Ward (and her collabs with Vi Keeland) and their covers that are always so lickable?

The premise of this story is nothing new - rich boy/not rich girl/works for him scenario. We have read about this a thousand times already. However this did not stop me enjoying The Day He Came Back.

I just wished that there was more of when he came back, and not so much of way back then. Don't get me wrong, we needed the then, however maybe not so much? This is probably just a me thing though.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship going on with our guy Gavin. I don't know, most of the time I adored him, but other times I wanted to shank him lol.

Good on Raven for doing things she does throughout.

This book had me longing, had me frustrated and annoyed, and a couple of tears may have been shed.

However, there is this "thing" that always happens in a Penelope Ward book. I was reading along, thinking "please don't do that thing" and then BAM, there is was. The dreaded "thing". It is predictable that this is going to happen and we don't need it!

Let's hope the next book it isn't there lol

Palm Beach, Florida.
Raven and Gavin.
He's the rich boy - College in England, Yale in the fall.
She's the daughter of the maid. From the wrong side of the bay.
But as soon as they meet for the first time when they're 20 and 21 it's like/love/lust at first sight.
His mother is mega against them and threatens jobs and inheritances et cetera.
After that one amazing summer they won't be seeing each other for ten years.
But now Raven is back at the mansion as a nurse - to take care of Gavin's dad.
And Gavin is suddenly back from wherever he was living his rich entrepreneur life in Europe.
What will happen?
Is this now finally their time?
Or are there still mean moms and other things/people against them?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT! ☺

I loved this book!

I kinda hate books where we go back in time constantly! But we didn't exactly do that here. We get a now prologue and then we hear the whole story from ten years ago. The second half of the book takes us back to the present time. I always prefer the present time - even though I always end up loving (and hating) whatever happens in the back-in-time moments too. Grrr. ☺ This time I loved the back-in-time moments, but the book's title had me hoping for more present time action. And we just get this little second half of the book for that. It wasn't enough for me. I wanted more of them falling back in love again - or discovering their feelings again. With a title like that, the story should've concentrated more on the present time.

But I still really loved this book. It was really nothing new or über-excitingly innovative or original.
It's your typical rich boy / poor girl - hired help / son of the house second chance cinderella love story.
But we love those, right? I definitely do.

I hated his mother - ugh, what a b-word person!
We hate that they haven't spent the last ten years together - that we wasted all that time!
I really hated that. It should've been a bit shorter!
I hated what broke them apart. That was so lame and unoriginal and I really expect better from my romance authors.
And then another thing. I'll write it in white - don't want to spoil anything!
I hated the cancer thing. I hate cancer in books - and obviously in real life too!! People read sweet romances to get out of their lives for a bit. Too many people have cancer in their real lives - they don't need it in their romances. Our hero/heroine are not sick in this book, BUT the mother is and the daughter has that gene and so we leave this book at the end with the fear that she could die soon too. I hate that. Why put those things in romances? Write women's drama literature if you have to put those things in your books, but don't put it in my sweet and sexy romances please!!!

I loved Gavin and Raven. They're so adorable together. They can be real with each other. Talk about stuff and hopes and dreams and joke with each other. I really liked reading their together-chapters. At least those in the past - the present time ones were just too short and cheaty. (Don't worry - there's no cheating, but still ...)

I was not a huge fan of either of their hobbies. Both not something I would ever want to do - his is the worst thing that I could imagine having as a hobby! ☺☺
And I don't love the whole location. I hate Florida. I'm a winter person - so anything hot, sunny and humid is the worst for me.
BUT - that doesn't really have anything to do with the story. The story was cute and fun and sexy and heartbreaking and frustrating. I still kinda loved it - even if my review makes it seem like I hated everything! I didn't!!!! There were just some major half-hard-reading-limits in here for me.

The cover! Beautiful!

The writing ....it was a bit weird. Not sure if I never noticed it before. I remember Penelope's last book had weird writing too - but before that?? I can't remember. It's nothing major, but it's a bit weird here and there. Like too formal. Not like two twenty year olds would talk to each other.
But that's probably just me and my weird brain!

THE DAY HE CAME BACK was a really adorable second chance cinderella love story with some very heartbreaking & frustrating moments! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Gavin - this one is MINE!!!

and I mean the Gavin in the book and the Christian on the cover!!! ☺

↓ LiNKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor, before switching to a more family-friendly career. She is the proud mother of a beautiful 11-year-old girl with autism and a 9-year-old boy. Penelope and her family reside in Rhode Island.