Sunday, March 1, 2015

review || RETURN TO YOU { spotlight tour }


23167025




Return to You by Samantha Chase

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (3/3/2015)
Series: Montgomery Brothers, book 4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley/Publisher
Purchase links || amazon | bn | kobo | indiebound || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★1/2


She will never forget their past...
He can't stop thinking about their future...
James Montgomery has achieved everything he'd hoped for in life...except marrying the girl of his dreams. After a terrible accident, Selena Ainsley left ten years ago. She took his heart with her and she's never coming back. But it's becoming harder and harder for him to forget their precious time together, and James can't help but wonder what he would do if they could ever meet again.



about Samantha || New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well. 

When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.
{ excerpt } .
It was near midnight and Selena’s eyes felt heavy. With her head resting on James’s shoulder, she tried to focus on the ending of The Philadelphia Story. Back when they were dating, they used to enjoy watching classic movies, and finding one on the television seemed like the perfect way for them to relax after such an emotional evening.
James looked over at Selena and smiled to himself. If he could freeze this moment in time, he would. For years he had wondered if he’d ever find a woman he could come home to, with whom he could sit like this and simply relax. The woman half-asleep beside him was the only woman he wanted to fit that bill. The credits were beginning to roll, and he gently nudged her with his shoulder. “Hey,” he said softly, “are you still awake?”

“Mmm…barely,” she whispered and then yawned. As much as Selena knew that the bed would be a far more comfortable place to sleep, she didn’t want to leave the security of James’s side. She jumped when he shifted beside her to stand up. A wave of panic hit her as she prayed that he wasn’t getting up to leave. Before she could even voice her concern, James turned off the television and then scooped her up into his arms. “Oh!”

“Don’t get me wrong. I was completely enjoying being curled up with you on the sofa, but I had a feeling your neck was going to kill you tomorrow.” He walked through to the bedroom and carefully held her close as he pulled back the comforter and gently placed Selena down. Without a word, he walked back out to the living room and locked the door and turned out the lights before returning to her.

He didn’t ask permission.

She didn’t extend an invitation.

Neither seemed necessary.


{ review } .
This was my first 'foray' into the world of those Montgomerys (err... or the world of a certain William Montgomery) and oh, how enjoyable it was!

One of my favorite romance book styles is the meddling [grand]parent who plays matchmaker. I think it's fun and keeps them young. William has matched up all three of his sons and now he's on his way to his nephews, and even though his one nephew denies it, William takes all the credit in the coupling of Ryder and Casey.

James and Selena were sweethearts back in the day. Although years separated them and they didn't attend school together, they met through Kent, Selena's friend and James's cousin. However, their plans came to an abrupt stop and their lives would be separate for the next ten years.

Both harbor hurt. Neither really wants to deal with the pain the other brought them, so they both figure the best way to deal with it is to not deal with it.

Thanks to the meddling of William and Ryder, as well as Selena's best friend, Jen, they're going to have no choice but to deal with it.

Even without knowing the full and true story, Selena knows her father played a vital role in James's disappearing act. Between that and other aspects of her life, she has estranged herself from her father. However, that does not stop his menacing words from echoing in her head whenever she does something wrong. Girl has some trust issues.

Selena refuses to forgive James... but the version that James was told? It's no wonder he refuses to forgive Selena.

Trying to distance himself from his family, James gives up his dreams of landscape and goes into police work. Said police work leads him right to Selena, when she's staying at Jen's and Jen's stalker lurks by.

I enjoyed the fumbling between James and Selena. Just when Selena thinks she's going to be able to forgive and move on, James (accidentally) misses their meeting and they're back at square one. These two have many missed opportunities but they all combine to make a sweet love.

What these two had was immature in a sense that it was very much puppy-love. Things happened, they made plans on a dime. They were head over heels, to the moon and back, in love with each other. And as hard as those 10 years apart were, they very much needed them to grow up and into themselves. They became different people, yet still the same, and their love was much more mature this time around.

I loved every little bit of Selena and James's story. Re-finding love can be extremely sweet, and Samantha nailed this one on the head. I look forward to my other adventures with the Montgomery family (I have 3 other books just waiting to be read!!).








{ giveaway } .

No comments:

Post a Comment