Monday, April 15, 2013

Review - - The Summer He Came Home

The Summer He Came Home
Bad Boys of Crystal Lake - Book 1
By Juliana Stone
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date:  April 2, 2013





I'm a creature of habit.  I go to bed early and get up with the birds...or in my case, the dogs.  It takes something special to convince me to forego sleep until 2:15 am.  In this case, that something special is Juliana Stone's wonderful new contemporary romance and its I-want-one-of-my-own bad boy hero, Cain Black.

They were the Bad Boys of Crystal Lake, a small town in northern Michigan; more brothers than friends. After high school, they went their separate ways:  Mac to New York City, twins Jesse and Jake to the military and Cain to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of making it in the music business.  More than ten years later, the loss of one of their own brings them home to Crystal Lake for the funeral.  After pursuing their dreams in faraway places, will they ultimately discover that what brings them the greatest happiness is in the little town where it all began?

Cain Black certainly didn't intend to find his future happiness at a funeral.  His life at a crossroads, Cain comes home for the first time in ten years to bury one of his best friends.  Cain's band is on the verge of the success they've been chasing but his personal life has put everything in jeopardy thanks to his cheating ex-wife and his writing partner.  He's no angel but his rock star reputation far exceeds his actual exploits.  At heart, he's a one-woman man and loyal to a fault.  When he meets single mom, Maggie O'Rourke and her  six year old son Michael, Cain decides to stick around Crystal Lake for a while.  Those who believe the publicity machines warn him off sweet Maggie, concerned he's only looking for some summer fun.  However, it soon becomes apparent to Cain that the desire he feels for Maggie is deepening into something more permanent and her adorable son has a firm hold on his heart.  He's ready to consider a commitment to them both but if he can't find a way to break down the walls protecting Maggie's wounded soul and convince her to trust him with her secrets, by summer's end it could be Cain who's nursing a broken heart.

Maggie O'Rourke has finally found peace and security in the small town of Crystal Lake.  The residents have warmly welcomed the single mom and, though they know nothing about her life before appearing in their small town, they accept her at face value and hold her in high esteem. With her business and taking care of an active son, Maggie has no time for romance and the wounds of her past keep her from pursuing any kind of a relationship.  But Cain Black is a man who is slowly breaking down the barriers around Maggie's heart.  Will she learn to trust Cain with her heart and, more importantly, her secrets?  Can a small-town mom who guards her privacy ferociously find happiness with a rock singer who has paparazzi trailing him around the world?

I've been a fan of Juliana Stone's writing since the publication of her debut book.  While I love her paranormal stories, I happily followed her into contemporary with The Summer He Came Home and was not disappointed.  I adore bad boys with a heart of gold and Cain is one of my favorites. By the midway point of the book, I was ready to tell Maggie to take a hike and keep him for myself.  But, alas, I also like Maggie and her son.  The bond that connects the three is so strong that I had to relent and let Maggie keep him. :grin::

Stone has a talent for creating a sense of place in her books.  In her Jaguar Warrior series, she made me feel as if I was in the center of a Central American jungle but with The Summer He Came Home, she took me on a journey of nostalgia by transporting me to the summers of my youth.  I grew up on a lake just outside a small Michigan town and know the sights, sounds and smells of a Michigan summer well.  Stone captures them perfectly.

Stone also excels at creating flawed, intriguing characters who readers want to know better.  In this first book of her new series, she introduces us to a cast of characters who we will come to know better in future books.  Already, I'm invested in their stories and can't wait to travel their journeys with them.

This book was close to a 5 star read for me.  The only thing that kept it from that score was a scene near the end of the book where Maggie and her son are forced to face their past.  While I felt that the scene was necessary, it was too rushed for me; the resolution too quick and too easily moved beyond to be completely believable.  But, that aside, this was a wonderful beginning to what is sure to be another terrific series from Juliana Stone.  I highly recommend that you join me in Crystal Lake!

Do you like bad-boy heroes?  Tell me about your favorites.  I'm giving away a copy of The Summer He Came Home to one randomly chosen person who leaves a comment.  (open internationally to any country where bookdepository.com delivers)

~PJ

28 comments:

  1. I would love to win this - have been seeing it all over various blogs. Thanks for offering it.

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  2. I do like bad boy heroes. Especially in books! :) I like bones...

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    1. They're much more appealing in books than in real life, aren't they? ;-)

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  3. I loved Juliana's paranormal series. This book sounds fabulous!

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    1. I love her paranormals too, Kellie but her contemps are promising to be just as good!

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  4. PJ, I read TSHCH after you recommended it and really enjoyed it. I agree with your quibble too. The rush made me less enthusiastic about the ending because of what it meant for the heroine's legal status. It cast a shadow on the HEA for me. Still, overall, I thought it was a great read.


    Now I'm looking forward to Jake and Raine's story (The Christmas He Loved Her) in early October and desperately longing for Mac's story (The Day He Kissed Her), which is supposed to be released April 2014.

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Janga. Like you, I'm counting down the weeks until the next two are released!

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  5. I like bad boy heroes, but sometimes they work better in an historical than in a contemporary. As a reader, I give more leeway to a character from the 1800s, such as Sebastian in Devil in Winter, than a contemporary hero. I think that the key is that the heroine has to be strong enough to stand up to the hero and not be subservient.

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    1. You have a point, Kim. If written well though, a bad-boy hero in a contemporary works just as well for me.

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  6. We all love to read about character growth. Bad boys have so much room to grow, they are overwhelmingly compelling. One of my favorites is Dain, from Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels.

    Juliana is a new author for me. I look forward to reading more. Thanks for the post.

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    1. I was waiting for Dain to show up! :)

      Hope you give Juliana a try. She's a very talented writer.

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  7. I like bad boys in books. Some of my favorites are from Sarah MacLean's "Rules of Scoundrels" series.

    This book intrigues me because it's set in Michigan (my state) and I rarely see that. :)

    Marcy Shuler
    bmndshuler(at)hotmail(dot)com

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    1. I hope you enjoy it, Marcy. It will be interesting to see if it evokes the same "feel" of Michigan in you that it did for me.

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  8. This is a new author to me but I love find new authors. I read a LOT. This book sounds so good. I have read several blogs and they have loved it. it is on my wish list.

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  9. Tall quiet drink of water and a rascal to boot from Linda Lael Miller's McKettrick series Clay McKettrick comes to mind for me as I love bad boy cowboys; and cannot ever forget Juliana Stone's "Bad Boy of Crystal Lake" Cain Black as he epitomizes my rocker bad boy; In Anne Marsh's "Smoke Jumper" series Evan Donovan fits the bill because he is a firefighter but he has that edge that makes him a very bad boy indeed, Travis Maddox from Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Series is one that with his tattoo's, his no holds barred pit fighting and his killer grin just makes me grit my teeth but there is something about him that also appeals; Vampire Diaries Damon Salvatore will always hold the record for my Vampire bad boy choice right after Bones from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress books. Many more but those are my favorites.

    PJ, Juliana really caught me by surprise with the start to this series when I got it off Netgalley to read the EARC it just grabbed me from the start of the story too and I could hardly put it down myself and am looking forward to the rest of the series now as this is the first book of hers that I have had the pleasure to read so far.

    I would love to have a real copy of the book so thanks for the chance.

    jacabur2008(@)gmail(.)com

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    1. Anne Marsh's "Smoke Jumper" series Evan Donovan fits the bill because he is a firefighter but he has that edge that makes him a very bad boy indeed

      I have those books on my tbr. Might be time to move them up the reading list!

      Jackie, if you like shapeshifters, I highly recommend Juliana's Jaguar Warriors series too but be prepared to lose some sleep. They kept me up reading half the night! :)

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    2. I have the first one on my Kindle that got after the fire in 2011 burned up my MNPB copies of first 2 in Jaguar series, however have so many digital and physical books now just have not gotten to it yet PJ. Paranormal Romance is starting to take a backseat this year as have rediscovered my love of a good Contemporary or Suspense Romance thanks to Netgalley and books off my shelves by different authors I am growing to love more and more.

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  10. I like bad boy hero's, as long as they have a soft side eventually. How about Susan Elizabeth Phillips' "Panda" from the Great Escape?

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  11. I love the sound of this book, PJ!! Thanks for sharing your review with us.

    And thanks for giving me a reason to talk about Saint! Heh. You know he is the fictional bad boy who holds my heart. Love him! :)

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  12. Oh, Sharlene, you read my mind! I was going to say that I liked big softies who look like bad boys from the outside, and I was going to suggest Panda, too!!

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  13. I have to agree with Sharlene...softie on the inside and bad from the outside...like Panda!
    Mickey MacDougall

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  14. Yes, I do like bad-boy heroes! I can't be specific, but in any romance I've read (and I've read many by many authors) I like the idea of the bad-boy hero who achieves redemption and finds true love by the happy-ever-after ending. I think the reason is because there are skeletons in my family closet (like many families) and not all have achieved redemption, thus some of the bad habits/problems have gone down through the generations. If some of the skeletons are to die and go back into the grave where they belong, then there needs to be redemption. I like romances where the bad-boy heroes achieve that by the end of the story. This sounds like a great story...and I already know I like Juliana Stone. jdh2690@gmail.com

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  15. I like bad-boy heroes, too. Especially if they are softies on the inside. :)

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  16. Bad boy heroes sound intriguing, the book cover is easy on the eyes def.
    Karen T
    kt91805@yahoo.com

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  17. I have not had the pleasure of reading Juliana Stone yet; you make her sound like a good choice for a new to me author; Thanks!

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  18. I have not read this author either, but this book sounds wonderful; will have to check out her other work.

    I love bad boys - who doenst. LOL.

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  19. Am going to check out this authors books; I have not read her unfortunately. This was sounds great and as long as it is a print copy, I am in.

    I do love bad boys- Yup SEP's Panda, the Kowalskis are all bad boys - Shannon Stacey.

    LRMEGTOM
    lrmegtom@gmail.com

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