One year ago, the boy next door was captured as a prisoner of war.The boy whose window faces mine.The backyard buddy who bandaged up my skinned knees.The childhood crush that kept me up at night, wondering if he’d ever be my boyfriend.The town hero I wrote endless letters to after he shipped out.The green-eyed charmer who promised me a kiss the day I turned eighteen.And now, he’s home.But he … eighteen.
And now, he’s home.
But he didn’t come back as the boy I once knew.
He’s a man now, one with demons I can’t comprehend.
The damaged soldier keeps telling me I’m not his anymore.
That the war took him, turned him into someone unrecognizable.
What he hasn’t considered is that it took me, too.
He swears there is nothing left between us, that his heart died overseas. But with each look through our windows, we both know his lies are just that. With each fated meeting, the truth only becomes more evident.
Everett Brock occupies the shadows now.
And as much as I try to pull him into the light, it seems the switch is permanent.
What he doesn’t realize is that I’m willing to follow him into the darkness.
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Carrie hit me in the feels with this book, it was an incredible story and the characters were incredible! I had to read it in one sitting because the hero pulled at my heartstrings and didn’t let me go until the very end, simply amazing.
4.5-stars!
Hometown Heartless by Carrie Aarons was emotional and heartbreaking and captivating. I loved it. It was so much more than I expected. It was a story about loss, grief, hope and second chances and Everett and Kennedy were wonderful characters. Kennedy and Everett have always shared something, but never really acted on it. Then he leaves to serve his country and they begin to share so much in their writing. Then something horrible happens and Everett comes back a different man. He no longer thinks he is the man for Kennedy, but she knows otherwise. Their journey was not easy, it was poignant and angst-filled and so worth the read!
Read and reviewed for Sultry Sirens Book Blog.
Happy reading!
I absolutely LOVED this book! Kennedy and Everett had me laughing, crying, swooning, wanting to throw my kindle…ALL the emotions! I really felt like I was right there in Brentwick with Kennedy and her crew. I felt what she was feeling. Saw what she saw. And I loved that we got Everett’s point of view as well. I HIGHLY recommend this book-you will not regret one clicking it!
Kennedy and Everett were friends from childhood at 18 he goes into the marines. Kennedy waits for him and they write letters to each other. Everett gets capture and presumed dead. But a year later he’s rescued and return home. He has anger issues and PTSD. Everett won’t let Kennedy get close but can’t leave her alone. Can he let her in? Great characters and storyline. Highly recommended. Love this book.
Carrie Aarons’ latest is her best yet. Hometown Heartless brings all the emotion. CA has us feeling all the emotions as we experience Everett and Kennedy’s story. I was feeling the heartache and the hope as I was reading. It may have been some time since I last felt like I needed a story to end a certain way and I admit I had that wil Hometown Heartless.
Oh my lanta! There’s something so emotional about military romances. Perhaps it’s because we get an up close and personal look at military lives and it’s emotional to “see” the sacrifices they make for our country and the people in it. Not to mention their family who suffer just because they love said military men/women. So while for the most part we get generic glimpses of those lives. It felt as if we were right there with Everett and Kennedy every painful step of the way. Carrie Aarons pulls together so much emotion that this story left my heart aching at times. It’s a difficult story but Aarons has a way of writing that makes a difficult story, beautiful.
I’ve been reading Carrie Aarons right after she released her third book so it’s been several years. I love to see how she’s progressed over time. It’s a joy to see the different genres she tackles and how she executes every single one flawlessly. The characters she creates are unique and damaged. Love always fixes them; it seems to always cut directly to the problem. Aarons shows how love can cut through any tough spot. Kennedy and Everett have shared an entire lifetime together. Aarons hasn’t created another couple who deserved a clean slate more than these two. Their lives have changed so much from the days of their youthful days. Aarons created something special here… hope and love flowing from the pages.
I received an ARC of this book with the hope that I would leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… my opinions.
Hometown Heartless by Carrie Aarons was a gripping tale of young love and devastating effects of war set in a cute small town background.
Everett and Kennedy were great friends and neighbours since childhood who developed more powerful feelings gradually. But then Everett left for army and Kennedy stayed in their hometown. They sent letters every day so that their connection got stronger every day. And then the whole world tilts. Everett is captured by enemies. And when he returns after suffering unimaginable horrors and inhuman tortures, he can no longer be recognized as the caring, fun loving and cheerful boy. He is a broken man who can no longer keep his promises to Kennedy. So is it the end or a new beginning?
The premises of the story was good. The struggles and heartbreaking pain of Everett captured my heart. I was transfixed by the angst filled moments between Kennedy and Everett. But I feel Everett pushed her too hard and not all his behaviors can be forgiven just because he had a major trauma. I feel Kennedy invested a lot more than him. His guilt, shame, fear and regrets made him behave cruelly but Kennedy never stopped believing in their love. This girl is so amazing! I am Team Kennedy in this one. This was an intense, chaotic, tragedy filled and emotional story. But the conflict resolution felt too easy and a bit unrealistic for me. This story has some truly memorable tear- streaked moments but over all something was missing.
Hometown Heartless by Carrie Aarons is something unique and heartaching. It’s not your regular small town romance. It was a beautiful story of love, loss and friendship!
Received ARC for Honest review
Hometown Heartless by Carrie Aarons is an amazing story that will make you feel so many things. is a highschool romance but that the characters have to pass so many difficult situations that sometimes you think they are older. Everett and Kennedy story is not an easy one and if they want to have their HEA they need to be strong and overcome all the situations that they have to, especially for Everett that suffered for his last time in the military life. This is the story about 2 characters that no matter what their love is strong and will help them to overcome whatever life has prepare to them!
Carrie wrote an amazing angsty and full of drama romantic story that you will read in one day, because once you started reading it you can stop!!
Hometown Heartless is the best book I’ve read by Carrie Aarons. She is an author who strives to improve her art with each story she writes.
This is a gritty, gripping and emotional story told in dual POV, thankfully, as a lot of the internal angst from Everett. Kennedy’s too.
This rawness of the psychological harm that’s inflicted on members of the military was captured well. I felt Everett’s pain and dislocation from life. It’s not a sunshine and rainbows tale, there’s a lot of pain and pushing away before any of the niceness gets a look in. PTSD isn’t pretty, it ugly and heart-breaking and Carrie didn’t hold back in showing that.
But, even though he tries to spare Kennedy in his own hurtful way, Everrett still needs her. The connection they shared before hasn’t lessened. It’s only grown and that is his ultimate saving grace.
Fate meant for these two to find one another and you can’t mess with that.
This was a soul-searching, raw and gritty story you really need to read, One-Click your copy today.
Everett and Kennedy are reunited after two years apart when Everett went away for the Marines and was caught by the enemy. He returns to his hometown to find Kennedy ready to pick up where they left off. But, Everett just isn’t the same person he was before he left. Kennedy is exactly who Everett needs to heal from his emotional wounds and to find he can continue to live a happy life! This story was so well done! You feel the heartbreak, love, forgiveness, happiness, frustration and sadness of these characters.
Get your tissues ready because this book is a tearjerker and I loved every minute of it! Everette, I just want to hug him and not let him go. Everette was the popular boy, quarterback for the football, the all American kid who was going to go far. When he decides he’s going to join the Marines and fight for his country he was expecting what he saw. Kennedy grew up next door to Everette ever since she was a little girl. Even though he was older than her she knew he was the one. When he left to the Marines they made promises to each other and wrote to each other, but then the unimaginable happens. Never have I rooted for a couple more than I have for these two. Leave it to Carrie Aarons to pull at your emotions that will tug at your heart. I loved this book from start to finish!!
When Everett decided to join the military his dreams of helping his country didn’t involve being taken prison and tortured for the last year. Everyone thought he was dead and at times he begins to wonder if that would have been better. He has returned home to find that life around him hadn’t changed but he had, and he knows that the best thing he can do for the girl he loved is to keep his distance.
Kennedy is in her final year of high school and was devastated when she believed he was dead. She picked up the pieces and moved on but now that he is back they are close physically but emotionally they couldn’t be farther apart.
This is an emotional slow burning love story about healing, forgiveness and second chances.
It’s fair to say that I’m a bit of an angst addict, and this book? Well, it’s got a whole lot of angst, but that’s not the only reason why I’m so affected by it. This is every bit a Carrie Aarons novel but on a different scale, pushing beyond what could be considered the norm for her and taking it to an even higher level. She’s given fans and readers a complex story, and while I’ve read my fair share of romances that have a main character suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by their military service, this was the first one that had veteran who was as young as Everett. His time as a marine may have been short, but no one should prescribe a set duration of time in which to be declared a veteran, a hero, or sufferer of PTSD, and Everett was all three. My heart went out to him, even when he was treating Kennedy in the manner that he did after he was discharged. Speaking of Kennedy, she may have still been a teenager when the boy she loved returned, but she grew up quickly and endured and overcame her own challenges. She stood up for herself when needed and loved fiercely and stayed loyal to that love. I’ve enjoyed all of my past reads from this author, but Hometown Heartless is in a class all its own. Five-plus stars.
Hometown Heartless shattered me and gently put me back together again. Everett’s story is real, and this author gives us glimpses of his struggles and pain. Kennedy is young and a senior in high school but that doesn’t mean her love for Everett is any less than someone who has loved and loss. The emotional roller coaster that Everett has Kennedy on is unforgiving and relentless. These two childhood friends have never acted on their feeling towards each other until he is deployed and even then, they make promises through letters. But when the unthinkable happens, Kennedy’s life will never be the same and Everett is no longer the boy she once knew.
Hometown Heartless kept me up late into the night because I had to know how their love could survive. I know this group of friends that support this couple have stories of their own and I really need more. Hometown Heartless is by far, the best of 2020.
High school crushes do not always end in heartbreak, but when Everett Brock is assumed dead Kennedy’s hopes and dreams are shattered. When he is found alive after being a prisoner of war, he returns home broken and not the same person that left. Can the two reunite and fix each other’s broken pieces? Can the letters that they wrote to each other while he was overseas be the catalyst to a new beginning or will they only be a memory of what was supposed to be? Completely heart wrenching and at times overwhelming this storyline had me wiping tears from my cheeks. With beautifully written characters and emotions that run high this deserves more than 5 stars.
Hometown Heartless is Carrie Aarons’ newest standalone novel. Just like any of her books, I didn’t read the synopsis so I had no idea what I was about to start and wow! The few quotes I have seen about the book let me know it was going to be an emotional ride and it definitely was. I do however always read the synopsis before I write my reviews so I don’t spoil anything. This one is spectacular so I will try to make this fast.
One year ago, Kennedy was told that her one and only crush was missing in action. Nine months ago, she was told that he was dead. And for six months, she went through the motions. For one year, she mourned the loss of her future with him. And now, he was back. He was home. She dreamed about him coming home even when he was buried. She couldn’t wait to hold him. She couldn’t wait for their reunion. Couldn’t wait for the future they talked about in their letters. Then it happened. And it was nothing like she dreamed of. It was the complete opposite. He was the boy who left two years ago for boot camp. He was now a man who couldn’t be touched. He was a man who was fighting the darkness within himself.
Everett left an eighteen year old who was cocky and ready to do whatever the Marines asked of him. He was now a twenty year old who couldn’t leave his room. A man who didn’t see a future. A man who didn’t think he deserved Kennedy. He knew she deserved to be happy and with a man who didn’t play games with her heart. He wanted to be the man for her but he didn’t know how to be that man after what he went through.
I can’t really say anymore than that about the story. What I can say is that it was a story that needed to be told. Their story isn’t easy. At all. It’s an emotional ride that Carrie took me on and I loved it! It has real life issues that military men and women go through every day. It’s raw, heartbreaking, and real. I know this is fiction but PTSD is a serious condition that could happen to any one. Military or not. It’s a hard subject to write and I thought Carrie did a fantastic job telling their story.
Overall…it’s a emotional rollercoaster from the start until the very end. I laughed. I cried. I got angry. I cried again. I got frustrated. I laughed. I swooned. I was all over the place. I think it was the most emotional ride Carrie has took me on.
Quotes:
His morbid words, the venom in his tone … I had no idea who I was dealing with when I wished for a reunion with Everett.
“What the hell were you doing back there, Kennedy?” I demand.
“You’re not the only one who sees dead people.” Her voice takes on a singsong quality.
“What is this, comparing our Sixth Sense abilities?”
“You’re so beautiful, sometimes it hurts to look at you.”
Carrie Aaron’s tells a tumultuous tale about a war stricken Marine returning to his hometown after a year held in captivity. Leaving his childhood friend and his forever girl behind, Everett Brock was determined to do be noble and fight for his country after graduating highschool. Although he left , Kennedy, the girl next door and unrealized love of his life behind in their hometown, their love only builds as time keeps them apart. Until life unexpectedly throws Everett a curve ball by choosing to live by his morals or the girl he left behind.
Aarons creates a whirl of emotions with this one. With every turn of the page you could feel Everett’s internal turmoil. His emotions both visibly and emotionally slap you as you read his and Kennedy’s story. Her forgiveness, love, and devotion are all charismatic traits that draw you to their romance. This novel isn’t for the faint of heart. While it’s hard to imagine a high school senior dealing with these life choices, Aaron’s somehow manages to make it work. My only critique would have been to make Kennedy a little older, a little less self involved.
I am a HUGE fan of Carrie Aarons and have pretty much devoured all of her books and while The Rogue Academy delighted me and I feel in love with the Nash Brothers, Hometown Heartless is hands down one of the best books I have read by her.
This book is so full of heart, sadness, betrayal, PAIN that you have no clue what is going to happen next and it breaks your heart a bit. Of course it wouldn’t be easy when the easygoing boy next door you had a crush on was a POW for over a year and has now returned, but way different. Our leading lady is not some flighty bird, though, she has a lot of substance and the two of them are freaking fireworks together!
All in all, I loved EVERYTHING about this book and I am still having a bit of a book hangover after reading it. Know that this book is special, the characters and the story, and it is one that you will not want to miss! 5 outta 5 stars.
Recommended for those that enjoy New Adult Second Chance Romances!
From page one, this book sucked me in, and I couldn’t put it down until I finished. I read this book in one sitting that is how amazing it is.
Everett and Kennedy were neighbors who both harbored childhood crushes on each other. When he joined the military after high school the two exchanged letters, until he was captured by the enemy and held as a prisoner of war. Now he’s home, and the boy that Kennedy once knew is nowhere to be found. Everett has demons that are hard for anyone to understand. He swears that he has no feelings for Kennedy, but sometimes his actions say something different. Can Kennedy bring back the boy she once knew, or will she follow him into the darkness?
Carrie Aarons has a way with words. I don’t think there is any better way to describe it. She has a way of drawing you in and pulling out every type of emotion from you. The way that she writes, you can picture perfectly what is happening and you can feel the emotions her characters are feeling. ‘Hometown Heartless’ is by far one of my favorite books by Carrie because it delves deeper into how traumas can affect people, and how it affects the people around them. I feel like this is a different kind of book than what Carrie typically writes, but in the best way possibly. She is definitely starting out her 2020 writing with a bang!
Blown away! This book was a non stop read for me! I’m not sure what I expected from this book, besides greatness (obviously), but it was amazing!
Hometown Heartless follows Kennedy through her senior year of high school. Captain of the cheerleading squad, taking Advanced Placement courses, applying to colleges, and knowing that the boy next door has come home.
Everett left to serve his country right out of high school. After a mission goes bad and he is a prisoner of war, he escapes and is brought back home. But what now? How is he supposed to live with himself?
Everett and Kennedy have a long history of waiting. What happens when the waiting is over? Being in two different “places,” can they find each other through it all?
This novel was full of emotion and I literally didnt want to put it down. Another great novel from Carrie Aarons!