ARC Review: The Way Back Home by Carmen Jenner

This is not my first Carmen Jenner book. I read a couple of her MC books and two of her other small town books. What is never in question with Jenner is whether she is up to the task of putting together a completely engrossing novel with complete character development- she absolutely is and she does it every time. This book is no exception on that front. Overall, if you like Carmen Jenner's storytelling, I think you will really like this book. For me, this was a good book but not the best suited for my taste so it stays on my good but not great list.

This is another small town offering from Jenner. In this book Olivia is the operator of a non-profit organization with laudable goals and a very worthwhile mission. Olivia travels all over setting up kennels from which she houses dogs that will become companion animals for war vets who are often suffering from PTSD. August is a vet who returned home to Magnolia Springs to care for his baby sister after losing his leg in combat. August has more issues than Vogue. Beyond his serious PTSD, he is parenting a little girl and clearly has no idea what he is doing. August has just lost BOTH of his parents and he's dealing with that. And oh, did I mention that Magnolia Springs is populated by absolute jerk face A holes? The good folks of MS view war vets as freaks who can't just "get over it."

In addition to their poor outlook on the men and women who sacrifice themselves for our country, the Magnolia folks are also deeply suspicious of Olivia and her mission. Olivia is my kind of character. She tries to be nice but she veers towards the confrontational end of the spectrum often losing her cool and telling people exactly what she thinks of them. This attribute does not endear her to the people of Magnolia Springs. Olivia and August are thrust together because August's parents, prior to their untimely demise, were working with Olivia to open up her service dog facility. When Olivia arrives in Magnolia Springs she is expecting to find August's parents to welcome her with open arms. Instead she finds August, an orphaned little girl and August's terrible attitude.

August and Olivia have one of those hate/attraction relationships throughout the entire book. Olivia finds herself more and more drawn to the surly August. August can't believe anybody would want his broken pieces and he continuously tries to push Olivia away. Olivia, is complicated. August has her all wrong. She had been through some ish which created in her a spine of steel that August didn't see coming. The thing I like about this relationship is that I felt like these two were made for each other. No one else could have just stepped in and been in a relationship with either of these two, they were clearly made for one another. The only issue for me in this book was the angst level. It was just a lot of angst, A LOT. Other than that, this is a really good book that I think you contemporary romance lovers will really appreciate.

**ARC provided by TRSoR Promotions**

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