COURTNEY REVIEWS: CALIFORNIA HOMECOMING by CASEY DAWES

Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Publication Date: 6/24/13
Format: ebook 
Source: Received from author for review

Pregnant and alone, Sarah Ladina wants to regain her independence and do what’s best for her soon-to-be-born baby, but buying a run-down Victorian for an inn wasn’t her brightest idea. An inability to cook or fix a leaky faucet will make the job even harder. When a friendly golden retriever, disabled vet, and potential cook show up on the first day, she knows her life is going to get a lot more complicated. When her ex tries to get back into her life and her doctor orders modified bed rest, Sarah wonders if she’ll ever be able to stand on her own.

After returning from duty in the Middle East wounded in both body and spirit, Hunter Evans is in search of employment and a home. Finding a job has been tough and housing doesn’t come cheap in Costanoa, the town that he loves most on the California coast. His prosthetic leg allows him to run, but keeps him from his childhood passion, surfing. With a low-level job and a transient motel for a home, Hunter isn’t sure life is worth living.

But spring is coming in Costanoa and love is in the air. With the help of good friends, Sarah and Hunter may be able to get beyond the painful past and complicated present to find the love and respect they want and deserve.

 

Sarah and Hunter's story was one of two people who have hurt in their past and present and have to find themselves again. Sarah finds herself alone and pregnant...having to quit school to move back close to her mother when she gets a less than enthusiastic response from her baby daddy. Hunter is an injured veteran, both body and mind...who is struggling to find his place in the civilian world without his leg. So of course, since post-war military stories are a favorite trope of mine I went full steam ahead into reading it.


Sarah buys an old Victorian house that it is her dream to turn into an Inn. This house happens to be Hunter's childhood home so they meet when he wants to but it from her. They hit it off but because of her meddling mother, the baby daddy from hell makes a reappearance. This would be a cautionary tale of what not to effing do when your girlfriend tells you she is pregnant unexpectedly...ggrrr what a douche. Anyways, Sarah does her best to figure out what she wants...mostly to find out she has no clue.


Hunter lost a lot while in the Marines..the least of which being his leg, but also his friend/maybe something more Lauren. He questions a lot of choices when all kinds of new information comes to light, and becomes jaded to all women's intentions. He is still struggling with PTSD and getting back to life as he wants it, but had a lot of drama with his father and trying to get a steady job in construction.

So I liked it a lot, but I felt like it could have been at least 25% longer to flesh out a few more things to make me satisfied. Sarah's issues were a lot more finished than Hunter's in my opinion, meaning there is never any clear resolution with his father...which could also mean daddio will never change and Hunter accepts this fact and moves on. Things with baby daddy are sort of unresolved too. While a lot of stuff seems fast, it was surprisingly not too rushed in the way things are told. I think this comes from getting information in dialogue and not being talked at...so that was nice! I didn't realize until a note at the end that this is part of a series...but I wasn't lost so I think they're unrelated companions or just all set in California. Check this out for a quick, sweet beach read!



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