BACK TO YOU BLOG TOUR ~ REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the Back to You Blog Tour! The tour is being hosted by AToMR Tours, you can find the complete tour schedule here. My stop includes a review and tour giveaway.



 Series: Stand alone
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: 10/20/12
Format: ebook
Pages: 328
Source: Received from author for review.

When Lauren Monroe first laid eyes on Michael Delaney back in high school, she had every reason to stay away from him; within minutes of their first encounter, his volatile actions confirmed his notorious reputation. But Lauren saw something in him that caused her to question his bad-boy persona, and against her better judgment, she took a chance. She had no way of knowing that the unlikely friendship they formed would become so important to her.

Or that it would end so painfully.

Eight years later, when Lauren begins her new job at Learn and Grow Day Care, Michael is the last person she expects to see. Refusing to revisit the hurt and confusion of their past, Lauren vows to keep her distance from him. But staying away from Michael proves to be more difficult than she thought, despite her lingering grief and her instincts for self-preservation.

As Lauren and Michael recall the friendship that changed them forever and the events that tore them apart, will they finally be able to heal? Or will the ghosts of Michael’s past prove to be too much to overcome?

A emotionally wrenching story of First Love and Second Chances.  

Michael and Lauren were the best of friends. Michael is the school's bad boy, with a demeanor meant to cover his private pain. Hostile, quiet, and seemingly dangerous, only Lauren can see the boy behind the facade. As the two become friends, against the odds, Lauren becomes Michael's safe place, a girl who sees his pain without pity, and keeps him in check. Michael becomes the boy who owns Lauren's heart, as she quietly and slowly falls in love with him. In a desperate move to get away from the home, the life, that has caused him such pain, Michael leaves Lauren behind, never to be heard from again. Until...eight years later, when Lauren and Michael again cross paths. Michael is a changed man, with a small daughter and years of regret. Lauren is also changed, determined to keep Michael at bay, and spare her heart another devastating break. Back to You is a love story, told in the past and the present, and is a story of a love that won't be denied.

I have a soft place in my heart for stories of friends who fall in love. I also have a soft spot for stories in which, after a bad split and many years apart, two people reconnect and rediscover love. Back to You gave me both. Instead of just telling the reading what happened in the past, author Priscilla Glenn did a lovely job of moving between the present and the past, and letting Michael and Lauren's story unfold.


Michael and Lauren both stole my heart. I am an easy sell for broken boys, which makes me seem kind of cruel! I guess it's that I can relate to loving someone a bit like Michael. The pain he experienced as a child and teen made me want to love and shield him.

"His face, like everything she knew about him, was purely contradictory. That cherubic mouth with those penetrating eyes: he was too lovely to be menacing, but too intense to be innocent."

Then, to see what kind of man Michael became made me love him even more. I also loved Lauren. Quiet, but strong, she is a girl who almost always does the right thing.

"She was one of the most genuine people he'd ever met, and he knew at that moment that if he did nothing else in his life, he wanted to be friends with Lauren Monroe."

Lauren could have easily been a bland character, but she wasn't in the least. Her huge heart, understanding nature, and determination made her completely endearing.


I'm so happy that I took the time and had the opportunity to read Back to You. It was a beautifully written, engaging story that made me feel so much. For lovers of Contemporary Romance, or those who simply love a sweet, emotional story full of  love and redemption, Back to You is a must-read.

Favorite Quote:


  Because something about him, something in his eyes, divulged the secret; there was a whole world in there somewhere, thriving just below the surface where no one could see it.


  He looked so young in that moment.
  So vulnerable.
  And right then, her heart broke for the little boy who wasn't taken care of, but it swelled for the person who, despite everything was able to maintain such kindness inside him, regardless of what everyone else thought they knew about him.
  And she realized right then, even if she never felt it again for the rest of her life, she knew what true, unadulterated love felt like.


  She closed her eyes, remembering the incapacitating pain. The double loss. Not only was her love unrequited, that in itself would have been painful enough to deal with, but in the same shot, she also lost her best friend in the world.
  And she never could figure out which one hurt more.  

Purchase Back to You at Amazon.

Priscilla Glenn lives in New York with her husband and three beautiful children. She has been teaching English Language Arts at the middle and high school levels for the past eleven years. Glenn has written three books, although Back to You is her first published novel. Her guilty pleasures include great books, good wine, anything chocolate, and Robert Pattinson :)

Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway