Thank you to Corinne Michaels and Valentine PR for the advance reader copy of Return to Us, the kick-off to Corinne Michaels’ newest series that hits shelves on February 23rd.
Corinne Michaels is the queen of emotional romance. Like I ugly cry through each one of her books. Her last series the Arrowood Brothers was just phenomenal. So I was over the moon to get the chance to review the first story from her newest series. I have been denied previous ARCs from her so I cannot even express how excited I am for this chance to review.
Check out the Goodreads synopsis…
“At eighteen, I walked away from Willow Creek Valley for good.
I was young, scared, and stupid, and it cost me the love of my life— Grayson Parkerson.
Fourteen years later, a crash sends me back home to recover.
Back to where we met, fell in love, and planned a future.
The one he’s now living as a single dad to his daughter.
Working at The Park Inn together gives us a chance to reconnect, and seeing him with his little girl makes me long for the days when he was mine. One look in his gorgeous blue-green eyes, and it’s like I never left. One kiss, and my world is upside down. One night together, and I know without a doubt, in his arms is where I belong.
I’m not the girl I was—intimidated by his wealthy family and desperate to escape our small town. I can imagine a new life for us here.
But he’s learned to guard his heart, and trust won’t come easily.
How can I convince him to give first love a second chance?”
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: Grayson Parkerson and Jessica Walker are the main characters of this heartbreaking love story. You may remember Jessica if you read the final instalment in the Arrowood Brothers series. Jessica was in the plane crash with Jacob and it had been teased that we would be getting her story next. While Jacob’s thoughts had been on Breanna as the plane descended Jessica thought about the one that got away, Grayson. He was her high school sweetheart and upon deciding to go out of state for school she broke it off with him. Much of this was fuelled by Grayson’s family that was always unsupportive of the couple, Jess was poor and her mother was a housekeeper at one of the Parkerson’s successful Inn locations. Jessica was shaped early on in life by her dad leaving her, her mom, and her sister Winnie. Her mom quickly took up three separate jobs to leave them afloat. After high school was overall Jess wanted to do was leave town, explore the world and leave Grayson before he left her. In contrast, Grayson never left Willow Creek Valley and became an integral member of the family business. He also volunteers as a community firefighter. Upon a not-so-successful relationship with a woman named Yvonne, Grayson is left as the single dad to four-year-old Amelia. Grayson and Amelia have the cutest father-daughter relationship as he went well out of his way to fill the mother-less void in Amelia’s life.
- Setting: Willow Creek Valley is the setting and it is a very insulated gossip-heavy small town. Jessica must return after the plane crash in order to recover both physically and mentally from what she endured. She can’t drive while she recovers from the head injury so we see small snippets of the town as Winnie takes her places or as she ventures out more after her recovery progresses. It is very clear early on that Jessica sees her return as a failure, as she vowed never to return to her hometown. A town divided between rich and poor and a steady stream of gossip about her once she arrives back in town.
- Pacing: The story is paced quite well as an integral part of the story, Jessica’s recovery never ever felt rushed. Corinne spends pages upon pages on Jessica’s therapy sessions with Dr. Warvel, the nightmares, and the migraines. Her process to getting cleared to fly and to drive was not sudden, rather it took months and progressed naturally with the story. How this all was depicted as one of my fave parts of the story.
- Romance: Grayson and Jessica have a second chance love story of epic proportions. They are definitely each other’s ones that got away and despite other attempts at relationships; they both never fully moved on from one another. Much of this love story was focused on understanding that risks are worthy in love and that you cannot live your life fearful that it all might crash and burn. Falling in love with each other came naturally to them, and Jessica also found herself loving Amelia with the fierceness she deserved. Their chemistry was off the wall so in the early chapters they had to be wary of all the time spent together. Giving in to each other was a scary thought for both Gray and Jess, but in doing so they opened up the chance for a lifetime of happiness with each other. All it took was some near-death experiences to prove to them, that they had a love worthy of a fight.
Return to Us receives five out of five stars.
You can pick up the story below…
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3uaYe2q
Apple Books: http://apple.co/2ZwV5ff
Nook: https://bit.ly/3jNQZHb
Kobo: http://bit.ly/3ds1OiS
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2NCgYHd
Audible: https://amzn.to/3pCzdJL (Narrated by Andi Arndt & Sebastian York)
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Thank you again to Corinne and Valentine PR for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
