First in a bold, sexy new small-town Alaska contemporary romance series from Jackie Ashenden
Deep River, Alaska boasts a fiercely independent though small population. The people who live here love it, and they don’t much care what anyone else thinks. Until the day Silas Quinn comes back and tells them an oil reserve has been found below the town and now it’s neighbor vs. neighbor. Some want to … vs. neighbor. Some want to take the money and run, while others want to tell the oil company to put its rigs where the sun don’t shine.
Hope Dawson never expected to leave Deep River. Her mom needs her. Her grandfather died and left her the local hangout to run. Her dreams of college and adventure died long ago. Until Silas comes back to town, holding the key to set her free. But freedom means she loses him again, and he’s the one she’s really always wanted.
“Tantalizing and explosive.”—Publishers Weekly Starred review for Mine to Take
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I’ve been eagerly awaiting a chance to read Come Home to Deep River, the first book in Jackie Ashenden’s Alaska Homecoming series because she hasn’t disappointed me yet, nor did she in this contemporary, friends to lovers, second chance romance novel with a deep sense of place, well-drawn characters with real history, real depth, and deeply conflicted emotions, and it gets 4.5 stars from this reader.
Silas Quinn, who was born and raised in Deep River, a tiny, remote town in the Alaskan wilderness, left it for a military career 13 years ago and hasn’t been back since. Now, he and a couple of his former military buddies own a private airplane charter company based in Juneau, but an accident ended the life of Caleb West, his best friend, whose family founded and owned the town of Deep River, which eventually was passed down to Caleb. Surprisingly, when Caleb’s will was read, instead of leaving Deep River to his sister, the current town police chief, Caleb left it to Silas and the remaining two friends and partners in the charter company. The friends wanted no part of it, and Silas doesn’t either, and his plans for what to do with the town, and the rich oil reserves Caleb discovered there and told no one about, form the background and plot of this story, but there’s more.
Silas and Caleb had a third friend who was born and raised in Deep River, Hope Dawson, who had a serious crush on Caleb and who was devastated when he and Caleb planned to leave her and Deep River behind. Silas was as deeply in love with Hope as a young man can be, but never let on because it was clear that Hope preferred Caleb, and when Caleb didn’t seem to care, Silas offered to stay in town, but young Hope told him to go and was devastated when she never, in the ensuing 13 years, heard from him, although Caleb had been back a few times before his untimely death.
Since neither Caleb’ sister, Silas nor his buddies want to stay in Deep River, a proviso of town ownership, he’s decided to sign over the town to the person there he trusts the most, Hope, who is now running the only watering hole in town, The Happy Moose, which was passed down to her fragile mother upon her grandfather’s untimely death, which occurred when he tried to rescue Silas’ drunken father who’d fallen in the river. As I said at the outset, not only do these characters have history, they have deeply felt guilt, angst, and deep emotions about the town, its future, and about each other. Hope has had both bitterness and regret at being left behind by her two best friends. Her mother’s fragile psyche was her reason for giving up her own dreams of leaving for college, a career and travel, and to say she isn’t really happy to see Silas after all these years and to learn what he plans to dump on her shoulders and return to Juneau ASAP is putting it mildly. She also cannot ignore her attraction to her gorgeous former best friend, who has kept his feelings for her a secret all along, but do these two characters ever generate a lot of heat when they aren’t sniping at each other, as they decide on a no-commitment, short-term, sex-only relationship. for the duration of Silas’ visit
When Silas and Hope aren’t otherwise occupied with each other, they need to find a way to let everyone in town, which is and has been operated on a leasehold basis, that they are sitting on a fortune in oil, and to find a way to come to terms with the promise of wealth and what it will mean for this small town and its inhabitants, how it will change the town’s hundred plus year history, the environmental impact of drilling for oil, and the changes that will come if some decide to take the money the oil company is offering and run, are the thread that runs through this complicated story, and there are plenty of decisions and deeper emotions to come, for both main characters and for everyone else in town.
How will it all turn out? Having found each other again after 13 years, will Silas fly off and leave Hope behind again? Will Hope see the oil money and her chance at wealth as the opportunity to finally leave town and pursue her dreams? What will the townspeople decide to do? To find the answers to these questions, you’ll need to read this well-written, deeply emotional, steamy and intriguing novel yourself, since I don’t do spoilers. I will, however, tell you that there is indeed an HEA ending to this story, which was my only issue with the book, since I felt it came far too abruptly at the very end of this novel, which I thought was otherwise an excellent, and moving read, and which I highly recommend. Frankly, I am looking forward to seeing more of Deep River and it’s characters in the future.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
There were a lot of ups and downs for me in this story, but overall I enjoyed the read. I found the world building to be intriguing. The way and reason this small Alaska town is founded lends itself to some interesting characters and scenarios. One of my favorites being the townspeople electing residents as mayor as a kind of punk. It’s an actual running gag to elect people as mayor who don’t want to be mayor. I don’t know what it says about me that I found that delightful.
For the most part, I liked the hero Silas. He was hurt years ago by Hope, even if she didn’t realize how deeply her rejection affected him. For his part, he also hurt Hope by leaving their small town and, in her mind, never looking back. Of course, the rejection and along with other bad memories kept him away. But from where she was standing, her two best friends abandoned her for greener pastures. What bothered me is that she seemed to have so much animosity toward Silas where she was still friendly with Cal. And he was the one who rejected her all those years ago. While I understood the root of her reasons, it bothered me that she didn’t realize for a very long time that she was even doing it. So it took me quite a bit longer to warm up to Hope.
Hope’s mom is a catalyst for many realizations that Hope has, but that woman is horrible. I think, on some level, the reader is meant to have some sort of sympathy for her by the end of the book. I can’t, though. This woman is NOT a good mother. I get mental health issues, I’ve had depression issues myself. If this woman had truly gotten help and was on the other end of things she would not allow her daughter to continue blaming herself for everything. It left me feeling sad for Hope and an all-around icky feeling that everyone seemed to make excuses for the woman.
When it came to the actual love story part of this book, I liked the progression. Best friends, secret feelings, years apart, instant sparks after years apart, the inevitable giving in to their feelings. Hope and Silas do have good chemistry and I enjoyed most of their interactions. My issues with this story had nothing to do with the core romance of the book.
Silas did not act as I would expect an adult man to act toward his business partners. We only really meet one of them, and he was not very understanding to Silas so it was extremely hard for me to imagine them as being best friends and buddies who went through some much together over the last 13 years. I already mentioned my issues with Hope’s mom. And where the heck is Cal’s sister. The only law enforcement in the whole town, during this very uncertain time. So, like I said in the beginning, ups and downs. It’s worth a read if you’re a fan of small-town romance, though. It also made me curious enough about why Cal did what he did and what’s going on with Damon to want to read the next story.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
This is the start of a new series set in a small village on the Inside Passage in Alaska. Silas grew up in Deep River along with his best friends, Cal and Hope. Cal’s dad “owned” all of the land in town but it is all leased out to various leaseholders who wanted to get away from civilization and make their own place where outsiders weren’t particularly welcome. Cal decided to leave at 18 and Silas went with him, leaving Hope behind. He offered to stay, but Hope basically told him to leave. Thirteen years later, after inheriting the town, Cal recently died and left it all to Silas and two other Army buddies. Silas had been living in Juneau but reluctantly agrees to go back to Deep River to figure out what to do about oil that’s been discovered underneath the town, knowing that if it isn’t properly managed, the whole town could be ruined. While back in Deep River, he not only has to resolve his long buried feelings about the town, but also his long buried feelings toward Hope, whom he’s always had a crush on.
I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere for this romance, but found that the pace was rather slow and although they had once been best friends, I never felt a strong connection between Hope and Silas. She was angry with him, yet she’s the one who rejected him when they were teens so I didn’t really understand why she treated him poorly when he first showed up. There didn’t seem to be any real sparks or heat between them. Nonetheless, there were enough plot threads about the books to come that I’m interested to see what comes next. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
So I have to say after reading up to 37% of the book, I basically skimmed to the end. Hope was getting annoying and there was a lot of push and pull between Silas and Hope. It just wasn’t moving fast enough for me and nothing was really happening. Plus it was getting a bit repetitive.
I love this cover though.
I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Silas Quinn is flying back to a remote small town in the backcountry of Alaska, Deep River, which is privately owned. Silas (Si) left thirteen years ago, with one of his best friends, Caleb West, and is about to upset his second best friend, Hope Dawson.
Caleb died in an accident, and left the ownership of the town to Silas and two other buddies. Silas wants no part of owning the town, which comes with the clause that he’d have to live there. He left for a reason.
Hope Dawson is the owner of The Happy Moose, that she inherited from her grandfather. Hope had dreams of going to see the world and going to college for a degree. She put her life on hold to stay to take care of her mother and run The Moose.
When Si walks into the bar, Hope tampers down an urge to go run into his arms to welcome him, but instead focuses her anger on how Caleb and Si left her all those years ago. Not once did Si come back. After hearing Si out, Hope is blindsided regarding the news that has the potential to uproot the entire town.
While Si and Hope work together to come up with a solution, they can’t fight the attraction they have towards one another. The problem is Si doesn’t plan to stay very long, he’s got a business to get back to. Hope’s mother just threw gas on the fire, and Hope might be able to reach for her dreams once again, if her mother has her way.
Coming home to Deep River, leads Silas to remember what he left behind and it’s going to take an old friend with wisdom that helps Silas find the true meaning of what Silas doesn’t believe in. Hope’s mother shares a secret that allows Hope to see that it’s past time for her to stop being afraid and have courage to go after what she truly wanted.
This is a new author for me. From the first page, I was intrigued by the man on a mission and returning to a hometown that might not welcome him. I love the chemistry between Si and Hope. Throughout the story, there is back and forth between Si and one of the other buddies, who is also willed the town, but left to run the business. He flies in to confront Silas. There’s a nice plug for another story that hopefully involves this man. Amazing start to wonderful new series!
I received an ARC from NetGalley via SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.