The Way Back Home by Carmen Jenner

Blurb:

August Cotton shouldn’t be here. When a tragic accident calls him home to Magnolia Springs, this returned Veteran adds his parents to the list of things he’s lost in recent years, right along with his IED detection dog and his left leg. As the sole guardian of his four-year-old sister, August must rely on his Marine training in raising a tiny hellion who’s as stubborn as he is. But the Corps could never prepare him for this. Nor could they prepare him for Olivia Anders, a woman who’ll stop at nothing to get her way.

As owner of Paws for Cause, Olivia is no stranger to the broken men and women who return home from war. She’s no stranger to broken dogs either. In fact, she’s made it her mission to pair the two and enrich both of their lives, but pairing ornery and aloof August Cotton will take some work. The last thing August wants is some pushy southern woman occupying his parents’ bed and breakfast and forcing him to open up about the hell he narrowly escaped, but that’s exactly what Olivia intends.

They complete one another, and yet they can’t stand to be in the same room.

Can Olivia make this hardened Marine feel again and finally show his heart the way back home?

*** Intended for a mature 18+ audience only. This book may contain triggers for some readers.***

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Purchase Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2rnXQiX

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2slNrBR

Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2qA7qQU

Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2rjIwSC

Kristine's Review:
Reviewed: May 2017.

When I read my first Carmen Jenner book I remember thinking, wow she writes tattooed bad boys so well, then when she turned her hand to rock stars I again had the same thought, would you believe it, with each of the new tropes she tackled, from motorcycle gangs, to small town factory workers, to returned veterans, she has captured the very essence of characterisation that allows the hero and heroine to exist in a real state, off the page, and in our hearts.

"There's nothing like feeling lonely when you're surrounded by a crowd."

When I first met Olivia Anders, it was her take no sh*t attitude and resilience I adored, she was strong and feisty, determined to do her part to keep making the world a better place. There was a sense of someone who had seen and experienced far more than she had let on, and it was both endearing and inspired.

"Every day I tell myself I'm brave, I'm strong, that the past does not dictate who I am or the woman I've become. I keep hoping that one day it'll stick."

August Cotton has had a pretty crap run, he enlisted and went off to war, never really expecting to return to the life he left behind, returning home under the worst of circumstances has left the brittle and battered man even more determined to steer of everyone and everything in his small town. August has lost too much, left to rear his baby sister, the last thing he needs or wants is a pushy Olivia telling him what he needs and wants.

"Because wounds on the inside can be so much harder to heal than those of the flesh."

In true Jenner style, The Way Back Home is full of angst and emotion, everything about Olivia drawing you in, while August resolutely pushes you away, the building tension and blinding chemistry make this story impossible to put down, but its true beauty comes from those unparalleled moments of raw and real anguish, the moments that we watch as the walls these two people painstakingly built come crashing down, it's in those moments that Carmen Jenner truly shines, as she tugs and pulls at your heart, bruising it, battering it, before piecing it back together slowly and surely and sending you on your way.

About Carmen Jenner:

Carmen Jenner is a thirty-something, USA Today and international bestselling author.

Her dark romance, KICK (Savage Saints MC #1), won Best Dark Romance Read in the Reader’s Choice Awards at RWDU, 2015.

A tattoo enthusiast, hardcore makeup addict and zombie fangirl, Carmen lives on the sunny North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she spends her time indoors wrangling her two wildling children, a dog named Pikelet, and her very own man-child.

A romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first … because what’s a happily ever after without a little torture?

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