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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*5 Stars*
Whoa. This is an intense book, and a very interesting look into life for soldiers after war, dealing with injuries and PTSD.
August Cotton is one hell of a gruff man, and a real asshole to start with, to be frank. Olivia plops onto his doorstep at the very worst time (unknown to her), and things get off to a really rocky start, to say the least.
Liv has runs Paws for Cause, a company that rescues and trains dogs, and pairs them up as emotional support dogs, and August is next in her sights to try to help and get into her program. Whilst running into many obstacles, she stands tall and proud, and strong through everything. She’s a really great female lead, and when you find out even more detail about her past, you realise just how strong she has turned out to be.
Of course, we also learn more and more about August’s story as we go, and one can only imagine what that would be like for a soldier/Marine to deal with. But August is still here, and with his 4 year old sister to care for at that. Little Bett is a damned adorable character in this, and one of the highlights of the story. She is so precious!
We get a bunch of other secondary characters who turn out to be different people by the end, and quite a few serious events take place in the novel as well. At times, this can be quite hard to read and contemplate how one deals with these issues. Everything in this book is very real, and the fact that people really do have to go through these things is hard as a reader to take in.
I really loved how everything played out in this story (give or take a couple of parts, which you will understand as you go), and these two have a depth to them that makes them really great characters. I really enjoyed this book, and I devoured it in under 24 hours. There is something so real about it, and I just couldn’t wait to find out how things would end.
Highly recommend.
The Way Back Home is a great military romance. The heroine Olivia is fantastic and is the one who carries the story. She’s experienced her own trauma, fought back and now trying do some good by helping war veterans finding their new normalcy. August is a marine veteran who struggles with his past demons and guilt. He doesn’t make it easy for Olivia.
These two has their own push and pull game going on. Olivia wanting to help and August pushing her and everyone away. Except his kid sister Bettina.
I enjoyed the story but I felt it went in circles and repeated itself. Especially when it came to August and Olivia.
Overall I enjoyed The Way Back Home and the epilogue tied it all together.
3 Piglet Stars
After just reading Towards the sounds of chaos I was so excited to read Olivia’s story, I really loved her in the first book so I was super excited to see if she got her happy ending.
The thing about this book was when I was not reading it then I was thinking about it and just wanted to finish it and see what happened to these broken characters.
With Olivia she was in the first book a lot but we never really knew her background all we knew was she ran a non profit organisation that helped ex marines and dogs and she loved what she did, she loved that she helped men that served her country and also trained dogs to help them or homed dogs that were from the military. Olivia had certainly been through a hard live but no one knew and being through those hard times she lived life and loved what she did, especially helping people especially when she never had anyone when she needed it.
August was a very angry and lost ex marine who really didn’t know how to feel, he felt he didn’t deserve to live after he felt he let so many people down and was really just trying to be there for his 4 year old sister who were both struck down with tragedy. August was such a fantastic character, even though I wanted to yell at him many times during the book cause I wanted him to pull his head out of his ass, but at the same time I had such sympathy for him and just wanted him to see how happy his life could be if he just looked at what was in front of him.
I loved everything about this book, I loved how selfless Olivia was and how strong August was and how they really liked each other unconditionally. I think the first 30% of this book I just wanted to sob but not cause it was really sad but because Carmen Jenner knows how to make you feel and to really get into a story and feel like you are right in there.
If you like a book that is beautiful and has the feels and really gets you hooked and wanting to know what happens between these two characters then this is the one for you, it isn’t smooth sailing and there are obstacles that these characters face. I remember seeing Carmen on Facebook getting writers block over this book and I am so glad she didn’t rush it. I would rather be kept waiting and produce the best book possible and thank god she took her time this was an amazing 5 star read and so grateful I got to read it early.
*4,5 stars*
A story that will touch your heart in every way. This book had everything. The way it was written and how it was portrayed, it won’t leave you unsatisfied. A definite must read for me.
August returns home to take care of his little sister after losing his parents. Not only does he need to deal with the loss, he’s a returned marine veteran after losing his leg and his dog. He suffers from PSTD and tries to deal with it all on his own. When Olivia comes to town, she is starting up the Paws for Cause there but it’s not that easy when everyone in town seems to be against her.
She’s no stranger to helping lost men and finding them a suitable dog to get them somehow back on their feet. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to help August but will she be in over her head? Can Olivia help August find his way back?..