Review: Coming Home

Coming Home
Christine S. Feldman
Contemporary Romance
Crimson Romance/March 25, 2013

No woman ever really forgets her first love. Callie Sorenson is no exception. Hers was tall, tanned, and—as her older brother’s best friend—completely off limits.

Danny McCutcheon.

It’s a name that Callie hasn’t spoken in years, even if the man to whom it belongs has never really been all that far from her thoughts. Or her heart.  But now a twist of fate will bring her back to the childhood home she left behind years ago, and to the hometown boy for whom she secretly longed.

When her mother takes a bad fall and breaks her hip, Callie leaves the bright lights of New York City to fly back west and help with the rehabilitation. It’s a tense homecoming due to a long time estrangement between mother and daughter, and it drives Callie to confront both a painful personal loss and her unanswered questions about the father who abandoned her when she was just a child.

It also brings her face to face with Danny again, and Callie quickly realizes that old feelings die hard.

But for Danny, it’s new feelings that are a problem. Callie is not the young girl he remembers but a woman now, and a very desirable one. They both have reasons to fight the growing attraction between them, but the temptation may just prove to be too much to resist, despite some very real risk to their hearts. The past casts a long shadow over the future, though, and Callie will have to overcome it or else face losing the one man who means the most to her.

Callie and Danny's romance is a sweet romance of a life long friendship finally turning to something more.  But it takes getting to really know each other and themselves before the tentative romance can become something deeper.

When we first meet Callie, she is living the life she thought she wanted.  No real ties to anywhere, just going where she wants and living how she wants to live.  But you can tell something is missing in her life.  Callie rushes back to her hometown when her mom needs her help after an accident.  Ms. Feldman does well in developing Callie and her need for moving around and lack of desire to put down roots anywhere.

I'm really glad we get Danny's POV.  His insight into Callie gave a different perspective that would have been missed and left me wondering how others close to Callie viewed her.  Instead, we see Danny's faith in Callie and how it affects not only her but him.  Danny is a strong hero who doesn't push Callie, instead he's there when she needs him.

As Callie's homecoming progresses, she sees her hometown in a new light and Danny as more than just the guy she had a crush on.  I genuinely enjoyed how Callie and Danny's relationship developed from childhood friends to romantic couple.  It didn't feel rushed at all but solid by the end.

This is a sweet, gentle romance showing how one woman can go back home a make a life for herself where she thought it wasn't possible.  It was a bit slow at times, making me wish the pace would pick up but overall an enjoyable story.

Rating: B+