Publisher: Mira
Publish Date: Out Today
How I got this book: NetGalley
When Presley Christensen returns to Whiskey Creek with her little boy after two years away, she has completely changed her life. She’s made peace with her past and overcome the negative behavior that resulted from her difficult childhood. Now she’s back in the small town that was the closest thing to “home” she ever knew—the town where she can be with the sister who’s her only family.
There’s just one catch. Aaron Amos still lives in Whiskey Creek, at least until he moves to Reno to open a branch of the Amos brothers’ auto body shop. And no matter how hard she’s tried, Presley hasn’t been able to get over him. Seeing him again makes the longing so much worse. But she hopes she can get through the next few months, because she can’t fall back into his arms…or his bed. She’s come too far to backslide now. And there’s a secret she’s been guarding—a secret she’ll do anything to protect.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
I was so looking forward to this book, because I couldn’t wait to see the way Presley and Aaron would get their second chance at a relationship, but Novak took this book in some weird directions, and I found myself dismayed with the direction this series has gone.
Presley wants to return to Whiskey Creek, but is scared of the thought of running into Aaron. She is still desperately in love with him, but is also keeping a huge secret from him: his son. She knows that Aaron didn’t want the responsibility of a child back when they were partying hard, and she has turned her life around from the drug and alcohol use. But being in the same town as Aaron is harder than she ever expected, and her secret is bound to come out.
Aaron has matured and grown up, but the attraction between him and Presley is still strong as ever. He desperately wants her back in his bed, but her aloof attitude and desire to move onto someone who is good husband material is driving him crazy. Aaron has plans to move up and on from Whiskey Creek, but being with Presley again is forcing him to rethink his decision to move, and when he discovers the truth about her secret, he is going to fight extra hard for the chance to be in Presley’s life.
There were so many things that went wrong in this book, I don’t even know where to start. My biggest beef was probably dealing with the secondary characters. I loved Presley’s sister Cheyenne in her book, and thought her story was absolutely wonderful, it was probably my favorite in the series. However, the Cheyenne I thought I knew from before morphed into this insecure conniving bitch. The subplot dealing with her trying to get pregnant and the way she handled it pissed me off like no other. I seriously hope that Dylan, her husband, leaves her for the shit she pulled in this book. I can’t even begin to explain to you how incredibly pissed off I was by her actions.
Likewise, given this and the last book, it seems like the secondary characters in this story are so hard up to find their happily ever after that they will make a play for just about anyone. I couldn’t agree more with Tasha’s review from Goodreads. Riley didn’t notice Presley before, and yet now all of a sudden he is desperate to make a future with her? Ummm, BULL SHIT. It was the same as the Ted/Eve situation in the last book, and the whole scenario comes across as desperate and corny and stupid. It is not romantic at all, and reeks of ridiculous soap opera material.
The romance between Presley and Aaron also made me mad. Despite the attraction between them, Presley is keeping their son secret, while sleeping with Aaron a few times, and continuing to date Riley. Again, it all felt like a bad soap opera plot, and I hated it. While I understood Presley’s reluctance to get involved with Aaron again, she didn’t handle the situation like someone I wanted to read about. She was wishy-washy and immature and I just couldn’t get behind it. I wanted so desperately for these two to get their happily ever after, and yet once they got there, I didn’t even care anymore.
All in all, I think I’m going to have to break up with the Whiskey Creek series. Novak has taken these characters in a direction that doesn’t sit well with me as a reader. I hated Cheyenne, I hated Riley. I didn’t care anymore about Presley or Aaron or anyone else for that matter. This whole book was just one big disappointment.
I give Come Home to Me a D-
well dang. I automatically had this on pre-order after reading the last book in the series, then I had to cancel yesterday due to a lack o’funds:) but I was going to get it this weekend. now i’m not so sure. thanks for the honest review!
OMG I totally agree with your review and I wanted to smack chey and all of them. I thought that changed 180 degrees over a subplot. I as a fan didn’t want this book, but wanted the original gang. My review is almost like your with Presley . I was so frustrated with this book too. Yeah I didn’t see it as a soap opera 🙁 I am not breaking up with the series yet , but I was hoping for so much more.
@rebeccaj: I would maybe wait and get it from the library. If it is a story you end up enjoying, you can buy it then. 🙁 I know a lot of other people who liked it.
@julie: I hated Chey in this book. I loved her so much when it was her story, and then here she just… uggg. I wanted to punch her!!
I do feel sorry for you, falling out of love with a series like that is not fun. But if you just don’t like it anymore, quitting is the best thing to do. I still have not read any of her books, perhaps someday …
I have to say, I really dislike the secret baby trope.
@xaurianx: She has some great books, but this series might not b the one to start with.
I love the secret baby trope, but the way it was handled here just pissed me off. 🙁
Just finished this and I completely agree – I read the whole series in the last two days and I can’t begin to describe how disappointed I am with this one. I didn’t like Eve in the previous book so I don’t I can read hers yet.