Publisher: Intermix
Publish Date: Out now
How I got this book: ARC from the publisher via Netgalley
The Hanover brothers are trying to live down the con-man reputation of their late father. But they can’t blame their father for all their problems in life—or in love…
Callen Hanover has led a tough life. But after years of roaming, he’s finally settled back home in Sweetwater to reunite with his brothers, and rebuild Shadow Hill, his grandmother’s crumbling home. The last person he expected to see at his door was Grace Pruitt—ex-girlfriend and partner to the FBI agent who’s determined to put Callen away.
Grace Pruitt is in town to save the two men she cares about the most—her former partner who seems to be on a downward spiral, and Callen, the man who ran before she could explain who she really was…or tell him some shocking news. Can the secrets of the Hanover family’s past be just the thing to save them all? Or is it already too late?
This blurb came from the author’s website.
I fell in love with the tortured Hanover Brothers with their introduction in the first installment. As the series has progressed and I learned more about what their father did I continued to root for each one despite their prickly unapproachable demeanor to find happiness and to rebuild their childhood bonds. I have also enjoyed how Dimon has sprinkled the revealing of secrets throughout the series and their primary impact on one brother with secondary reverberations spreading to the rest of the family.
Callen has been the hardest of the brothers. He spent far too many years with their father and as a result has had to deal with intense FBI scrutiny to include the presence of one man practically living in Sweetwater and questioning everyone Callen ever spoke to. Callen knew the FBI didn’t have any proof of their suspicions or he would have been charged with them long ago but the constant hounding was wearing on his very last nerve. In addition he and his mother never really addressed the fact that his father took him on the road when he left for the last time so there was a large amount of tension between them which seemed to grow over time instead of deflating with proximity.
Grace was caught in a hard place. She cared about two men who seemed to be mortal enemies. One as her former work partner with the FBI and the other as the man she loved. Both of them felt she had betrayed them by associating with the other and made a point of mentioning it whenever she was around, which, really wasn’t all that often because both men also ran from confrontation with her. I really admired her persistence as she struggled to deal with Callen and his habit of pulling a runner. Her patience was rather impressive. I also found it hilarious to watch her interact with the townsfolk. She could certainly dole out her fair share of bristly unwelcoming behavior but she was also a bit flummoxed by the welcome she received from the other women who loved the Hanovers. Those encounters especially at Gossamer for their “Girls Lunches” provided me with fits of giggles.
I enjoyed watching Grace and Callen dance back and forth. Each new reveal seemed to send Callen back into his shell as he automatically thought the worse but a part of him also wanted to deal with the issues and make everything come out all right in the end. This wasn’t just his situation with Grace but also with his Mother and the women his brothers had fallen in love with in previous installments. In short Callen had a problem with women and finding out what caused that problem almost broke my heart. Between that scene and the scene when he realized what he had with Grace I had to reach for a few tissues.
I also might have let out a cheer on twitter when a suspicion I have had since book one ended up being 95% true. I love it when I am able to tie plot threads together mentally and come up with the right answer. Dimon has done a great job with this series and keeping not just my interest in the overall events but also my care for her characters and what they are experiencing. Each time I think she has reached the highest level of torture possible she increases the pressure until I think her characters are going to break. Some of the various reveals in this installment caught me by surprise while others I had some previous suspicions. There are still secrets left uncovered and one particular individual I really want to see get squashed like the little bug he is so I am certainly looking forward to the next installment.
I give Long Way Home a B+
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