A friends-to-lovers second-chance romance…Fourteen years ago, my life changed forever.My sister disappeared. That day I was selfish. That day I chose myself over her. And that day, I lost everything. Including Nikki Walters. She’s the girl I’ve loved my whole life. She’s gorgeous. Caring. Every single thing I’ve ever wanted but denied myself. She was my sister’s best friend, and I destroyed any … sister’s best friend, and I destroyed any chance of keeping her.
When her safety is threatened, I have a second chance to do the right thing. But as soon as she moves in, I want her in all the wrong ways.
All it takes is a brush of her hand, and I’m losing all control.
The fire between us is only burning hotter.
But neither of us saw what was coming.
And it just might be Nikki Walters who destroys me in the end.
The highly anticipated sexy, suspenseful stand-alone second-chance romance from NYT Bestselling Author, A.L. Jackson.
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I am not surprised in the least that I love this book. Lead Me Home is not only a beautifully written love story, but it is one of self forgiveness and recognizing your worth.
Like most of A.L. Jackson’s books, Ollie and Nikki’s story focuses on broken characters who want to be together, but their pasts stop them. Ollie will absolutely break your heart. From the moment readers meet him, it is clear that his predominate characteristic is his protective nature, which stems from losing his sister and the responsibility he harbors for her loss. His self loathing of his failed attempts to protect her makes him feel unworthy of love, particularly that of Nikki; however, it is clear that he has a good heart and soul and that he is worthy of love. Readers want him to recognize that he is capable of love and of living a full and complete life with Nikki. Like Ollie, Nikki has spent years trying to move on from the loss of her best friend, because not only did she lose Sydney but she also lost Ollie in the process. There relationship is one of push and pull, as he battles his need to stay away from her and his need to protect her and she fights to keep her heart safe. Both, though, seem to be stuck in this stall pattern, unable to move on from each other and to let go of the past, but readers will want them to start living because these characters are honorable and good.
A.L. Jackson doesn’t start slow with this story; she throws you right into the plot with a bit of danger and intense sexual attraction. With the dual point of view, it is clear from the very beginning that these two are undeniably attracted to each other, and readers also get to see Ollie’s struggle with denying his feelings and Nikki’s fear of him shattering her heart again. There is also this outside element of danger that is lurking, adding an impetus for these two to get together. There is a bit of surprise to their story that I didn’t see coming, but I enjoyed how it plays out and that the conflict comes from an outside source versus within the couple since they have struggled to come together for years. The ending of the story is perfection. Jackson really exemplifies that people need to be able to take chances, trust their hearts, and fight to live a life they want, to live a full life.
A.L. Jackson’s Fight for Me series has been one of redemption and love. She has shown that we are capable of healing, that second chances are possible, and that we can find our happily ever afters, no matter how hard or difficult life has been, and Ollie and Nikki’s story fully encompasses everything this series has taught readers throughout all three books.
I cannot even begin to form the right words to give this book the praise it deserves! From beginning to end, I was riveted, completely enthralled by Ollie and Nikki’s story.
If you’ve read the other books in the series then you’ve gotten a little peek into the heartache of Ollie’s past, but what unfolds as this story is told will shock and amaze you. AL Jackson is an amazing writer and the buildup from book one in this series to this final chapter in the series is so emotionally moving, I dare you not to shed a tear or two.
“Oliver Preston was armor and stone. Bitterness and venom. Broken fragments. Shrapnel waiting to burst” This quote stuck out to me when I read it because it at first made me think of Ollie as a weapon, or something really strong and scary. But then I thought about it from another perspective. Ollie was hard and he was strong on the outside, but on the inside he was broken, held together by a pin. There was a pin in place, a last drop of hope so to speak, that he’d one day get the answers to his tragic past that he so clearly needed. Either the pin would hold or it would burst. No one shook the pin around like Nikki did.
Knowing Nikki from the earlier books in the series you’d never guess the pain she holds inside. She’s quite literally one of the strongest female characters I’ve read. To go through so much at a young age and keep on such a brave face was commendable. The type of person she grew up to be from childhood was a nurturing one, a compassionate one, a positive ray of sunshine in other people’s lives. But there was one thing that weakened her. It was the way she felt for him, for Ollie. The way she’d always felt for him. “Attraction trembled around us like a magnified force. Like the world still spun while we stood still. The two of us no longer in orbit, and instead, we were strung up in an endless oblivion.” “… this man would be my complete undoing. My beautiful beast” “one look, and I was yours”… “one touch, and you owned my soul” Those words are just a fraction of the words written to describe what the chemistry was like between Nikki and Ollie. “It was like finding peace in the darkest night” But, chemistry or not, they both have a lot of inner demons to battle. The past is too strong to ignore, too many things have happened, and too much is left unanswered. When the pieces of the past start to become clear it’s like a shockwave hitting everyone all at once. The scene in the book where Rex confronts Ollie was such a gut wrenching moment, I literally highlighted the entire thing. My heart broke for these men who lost so much. For all of them who lost so much. Moving forward after we found out the answers of the past was hard but they find the strength to do it. To move forward. “I want to try to be the kind of guy you deserve” … “Sunshine”…”you are light and life. My life. My everything. Let me be yours.” “Forever and ever, you and me” I will never forget this book. The way the story moved and the emotions felt while reading it were so profound. Amy has such an amazing way of writing her stories to make you feel the characters and know them, truly know them. You feel their love and joy, their heartbreak and sorrow. And their genuine realness. I highly recommend any book by AL Jackson, she’s an amazing author and her books will make a mark on you for a long time after you’re done reading. You’ll want to go back again and again just to reread and reenter the worlds she creates.
Heart breaking and emotional journey to forgiveness, love and second chances.
I knew going into Lead Me Home that my heart was going to break into a million pieces for Ollie, but I hadn’t expected Nikki, Rex and Kale to all be involved. Oh man, they all crushed my heart into a bizillion pieces and honestly it took a while for my heart to get back to normal.
Another amazing story that was written by A.L. Jackson and everybody needs to read Ollie’s book.
I don’t know what to say that would make this book better than it is. I knew, somehow, this story was gonna break me and it did. I fell for all these guys, knowing Kale was my favorite but damn, Ollie took his place. I’m so happy, after 14 yrs, Nikki and Ollie finally got their HEA. This story broke my heart and could feel the pain Ollie, Rex and Nikki were feeling. I cried throughout this whole book for Ollie and Nikki. These two have become my new favorite couple. What a freaking story! A beautiful ending to an amazing group of friends, who no matter what obstacles they faced, were always there for each other with love, understanding and hope. Great book!
I have ABSOLUTELY loved the Fight for Me series by A.L. Jackson and it has been an emotional and heartwarming journey to get us to this point of the series. And now, we FINALLY get to Ollie and Nikki’s story. The books in the series are COMPLETE standalones with interconnected characters who are all friends. Though we have had some backstory on Ollie and Nikki in the previous books in the series, but the author does a great job on ensuring that the readers of the series do NOT feel lost and can be read as a standalone without having to go back to get caught up with Nikki and Ollie. After reading the first two books in the series, I could have NEVER imagined that this would be Ollie & Nikki’s story and what I knew about them did NOT prepare me for the emotional enormity of this book which is an epic epic epic love story. I could sit here and tell you about their journey, as individuals as well as a couple, but my words could NEVER do this book justice. Lead Me Home is the type book that you need to read straight through for a few uninterrupted hours. It will completely take you hostage…. I LIVED and LOVED it!!!! YOU just need to prepare yourself for Oliver Preston!!!! This beautiful tortured man is EVERYTHING!!!! I have loved all of the books in this series, but this one is by far my favorite so far!!!!
“I’d always wondered why people set themselves up for disaster. Why they put their heart on the line when they knew it would only be crushed. Why they led themselves toward the slaughter like a blind, ignorant lamb. Willingly.”
This prologue had me shaking my head in agreement from the very beginning. It’s a natural instinct to guard our heart and hide our true feelings, when we are in survival mode. Oliver Preston and Nikki Walters are the epitome of two humans being stuck in survival mode. Second chance romances are my absolute favorite to read, throw in some angst, and I am a happy girl. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the books in the Fight For Me series, without a doubt Lead Me Home is my favorite. From the very beginning, I couldn’t stop thinking about poor tortured Ollie. I wanted to know everything about this man, he was shrouded in mystery, and I wanted to unravel his story and feel his pain.
“Oliver Preston was armor and stone. Bitterness and venom. Broken fragments. Shrapnel waiting to burst.”
Ollie carries a very heavy burden and a huge dose of guilt on his broad, wide shoulders. From a very young age, he felt responsible for his sister Sydney, and her best friend Nikki Walters. They was the best of friends, and Ollie was their protector. As teenagers they are just enjoying life, having fun, but one fateful night Sydney disappears. This changes everything, Ollie’s outlook on life, he feels as though he does not deserve any kind of happiness. How could he be happy, when he had failed his sister? He continues to hold hope and search for Sydney spanning fourteen years. In the process, he pushes the one person who understands, and feels the loss just as deeply as him, to the side or actually behind him. Nikki lost her best friend Sydney, and only she can fully grasp how Ollie feels, the three of them were inseparable.
“She was beauty and belief and the sun. Made up of her own mistakes and her own regrets. She was fear and challenge and perseverance.”
Nikki has loved Ollie ever since she could remember. They have the same group of friends, so they are constantly around each other. Seems like our first love imprints across our heart so strongly, that we find ourselves circling back to that person, time and time again. Nikki finds herself in a bit of trouble, and Ollie is right there to protect her, and help her in any manner needed. Due to the circumstances of the trouble Nikki is having, she has to stay with Ollie, so that she is safe, and he can keep an eye out for any trouble coming her way. Once they are forced to be around each other, without their friends being there, they both realize that they never stopped caring for each other.
“We do our best. We live and love. We cherish and we hold. We fight with everything we have, even when we know we might lose.”
This book was so full of emotions, passion, life lessons, but more than all of that it was brimming with hope and love. It’s hard to forgive yourself when you feel undeserving, but it’s so much easier to do if you have the right person by your side.
If you are a fan of the series, you know this story won’t be pretty. Newcomers will be able to follow along but I strongly recommend starting at the beginning.
Beginnings almost always get smiles. The meet cute. Happy kids and lifelong friends. But life isn’t only smiles. This story is lots of heartbreak and pain. Loss. Ollie’s story has always intrigued me. He is the enigma of the group. His love clear as day but yet he refuses to acknowledge it. So lost in the past, he can’t accept the present.
Lead Me Home will break your heart. It will hurt. It will claw at your subconscious. It will lead you exactly where you need to go. But sadly, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
She has spent her entire life loving him. And it’s never been enough. She has never been enough…
A.L. Jackson has yet to write a book that doesn’t turn me into a sloppy, tear stained mess at one point or another. It’s a gift or a curse, depending on whose side you are on. The beauty of it is she makes me feel EVERY single time. She is the puppet master pulling my heart strings. And never more so than with this section. I had to share it. I still ache with the reverberating feelings shifting inside me.
“They say heartbreak isn’t physical.
I believed it was a lie.
Because I could feel it. Could feel [it]. Just as I could feel the same crack running right down the center of me. Everything adding up and becoming this weight I didn’t know how to bear.
It was a rending of my chest.
A splintering of my soul.”
I’m not sure how A.L. Jackson feels about compliments but her words are poetic and invoke some of the most intense reactions. And to me, that makes an incredible book. So, I tip my hat to the puppet master and bow while I await her next performance.
Reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood
Lead Me Home is the third and final book in AL Jackson’s Fight for Me Series. Book three.
“We are three. Forever and ever, you and me.”
Lead Me Home is a beautiful story filled with love, regret and guilt. Ollie, as we have learned from the previous books, is a sexy bar owner with a lot of guilt for the disappearance of his younger sister. Nikki is a fun, “Orgasm Fairy” with the biggest crush on Ollie that wants everyone around her to be happy. Turns out these two have a history from the very beginning. Ollie, Nikki and Sydney (Ollie’s sister) were best friends and then tragic strucks.
“We are three. Forever and ever, you and me.”
Lead Me Home tells us the story on how two best friends cope with the tragedy of losing the third person in their trio…a best friend and sister. This tragedy changes both characters. Ollie lives his life full of guilt. Nikki embraces life just as Sydney encouraged her when they were young. It’s obvious Ollie and Nikki are perfect for one another but can they act on their attraction without bringing up memories of the tragedy?
“We are three. Forever and ever, you and me.”
I loved this book!!! Like any AL Jackson’s novels, this book will destroy you. You will cry. You will feel. Every. Single. Word. Everyone should experience Ollie and Nikki’s love story. It’s a must read book. And let’s not forget about the most anticipated chapter, if you read this series before, when Rex confronts Ollie……AL Jackson. Ripped. My. Heart. Out.
I can’t stop thinking about this book. It will forever live in my heart. Thank you AL Jackson for sharing this beautiful story with us.
“We are three. Forever and every, you and me.”
Format: Kindle Edition
I don’t know how this author makes me feel everything so richly, even in the prologue. I hated to keep reading this book because I knew it would hurt, but I also needed answers. Ollie and Rex are so heart-breaking and it killed me. Nikki was so strong, and yet they were all haunted by the past. This book tore me apart, but it was so satisfying to get answers and the ending was perfect. Loved this book so hard!
I think that Ollie and Nikki’s book was the perfect way to end this series. I had a soft spot for Ollie since him being introduced in the first book. I tend to like the tortured souls and Oliver Preston is haunted in the worst way…..with guilt and not knowing. Ollie and Nikki have known each since childhood. Their lives intertwined so deeply that they are a part of each other and can see through the facades portrayed to the depths of their souls.
Nikki’s love for Ollie is deep but her self preservation forces her to love him from afar. It is so easy for her to fall under his spell and be there for him but she wants more than just his affection. She wants his whole heart, splintered as it may be. I could help but pull for these two to find their way. Hoping with the turn of each page that they could finally move passed the past and live.
I felt for Ollie. His purpose had always been to protect his sister Sydney and her best friend, Nikki, Guilt for his actions years ago holding him captive in his own prison. So when he fears that Nikki has put herself in harms way he takes matters into his own hands. But keeping her safe and with him may just be his undoing.
This story has “flashbacks” which gives your insight into what things were like for Sydney, Nikki and Ollie when they were younger. For me they were very important in unveiling the end of this story. I will say that I had hoped, just like Ollie, for a different turn of events but that’s because AL Jackson makes you so vested in the characters that you always want the best for them.
This book like all other books I have read from AL Jackson is full of a wide range of emotions. You will most definitely enjoy getting lost in the banter between the characters as well as the super steamy scenes. But you will also smile at the tenderness and maybe shed a tear or two. “Fly, Fly Dragonfly” Although it is said that this book can be read as a standalone, I highly recommend that you read this series from the beginning. You will definitely have a better understanding of all of the secondary characters in this book and feel more connected to the story.
Lead Me Home by AL Jackson wrapped up all of the loose ends of the Fight For Me series. Ollie and Nikki’s story was full of devastating upheaval from the first page due to a love that collapsed on a devastating night so long ago.
Their connection is deep; their guilt deeper. Their grief is etched into their souls and surviving the only way they know how, is there any force strong enough to bring them together?
“fly, fly, dragonfy”…
This emotional, beautiful written story drives home the amazing healing powers of love and time on the human heart.
Another winner for AL Jackson!
4.5 stars for – Lead Me Home – book three in the Fight For Me series by A.L. Jackson. While this book can be read as a complete stand-alone with little to no spoilers, I highly recommend the others in the series to really get a better understanding for all the characters in these books. Ms. Jackson truly outdid herself with this one as she takes us on one heck of a journey between the past and the present told from dual POV’s.
Nikki Walters fell in love when she was just a teenager when one fateful evening her entire world changed and she lost the man she loved and her best friend on the very same night. Nikki was heartbroken especially when she had to go on still seeing him in town and at functions but never being able to be with him the way they once were. Nikki did what she had to do though and faked a smile while trying to go about her days . She was glad that her faking it seemed to work for the most part until out of no where a knock at her door in the middle of the night brings her face to face with him.
Oliver Preston has always been in love with the same person but losing his sister and not ever knowing what happened to her created a hole so deep inside him he never thought he could find his way out. Going to Nikki at his darkest hour was a moment of weakness he couldn’t afford and now he is paying for it every chance he gets with all the attitude and looks she’s been throwing him. Lord help any man that dares try and hit on her with him around, he will be lucky to still have any teeth left once he’s through with him. Ollie just needs to build back up those walls he hides behind and hope Nikki can’t figure out how he’s really feeling.
This was by far the most intense and mysterious of the three books with tons of emotion and angst it keeps you invested right from the very first page straight through until the very end. The lifelong love affair of two people that literally run the gamut of emotions and the trials of what no two people should ever have to overcome was beautifully written with characters that are both charismatic and endearing. Rex and Kale (along with their families) make lots of appearances along with a few new characters too and while this is the last planned book in the series who knows what Amy could write down the road.
Favorite Quotes:
My attraction to him was so intense I wondered how he didn’t taste it in the air.
Human emotions were such tricky little things. They could be fleeting and fast, forgotten before we gave ourselves time to ponder them, or they wiggled their way in, so deep that it was impossible to imagine they hadn’t been part of us all along.
Lily was looking at me as if she were chipping pieces of me away and labeling each one as evidence.
I think that’s what missing someone means. They’re missing from you, not just from your life, but from your heart. And nothing, no matter how hard you try, really works or fully functions because you’re missing that piece.
My Review:
Add another heart-squeezing, steamy, and angst-filled romance to your TBR, as it was well worth the anguish; and the mystery that has plagued me all through this well-crafted series was finally, finally, yes finally solved as to what happened to Sydney. I was flailing more than usual for fear this book was going to be a total angst-fest – as the characters were in constant conflict with themselves as well as with each other for over two-thirds of the book. Oh, the agony! That much angst is just – tedious torment for me. Thank goodness Ms. Jackson tossed in some amusing testosterone-fueled banter between the well-bonded and tightly-knit he-men, steamy sensual scenes, a well-woven mystery, and a sexy, filthy talking, and cranky lead character that I could forgive anything for. Written in my favorite dual POV, I got past my pet peeve and sighed with satisfaction on reaching that delightful HEA.
4.5 “Fly, Fly, Dragonfly” Stars!!!
WOW! My heart is in my throat. I loved it!!!
I have been waiting for Ollie’s story since Show Me The Way. His dark and brutting demeanor always had me intrigued and could not wait to see how his story unfolded.
Ollie is guilt-ridden and tormented over the mysterious and unsolved death of his sister, Sydney who had been gone for 14 years and it remains an every day struggle in which he lives. Nikki also lives with guilt over what has happened to her best friend, Sydney.
As kids the three of them were inseparable, but as they grew up Nikki fell in love with Ollie and Ollie fell in love with her. He blames himself for the disappearance and just cannot forgive himself. He believes he is just not good enough for Nikki and pushes her away. He watches her grow up for the sidelines creating his own pain and suffering.
Lead Me Home is a beautiful love story of loss, guilt, regret, and forgiveness. It is full of chemistry, angst, and suspense.
Ollie. I’ve loved him through every book in this series; he was my favorite even when he was barely involved in the story, there was just something about his tragic loss, about the aura of pain and grief he wore like an awful crown, that called to me, heart and soul. Lead Me Home delivered everything I could ask for and more regarding him and his story.
Nikki and Ollie have been playing my heartstring since they first appeared in this series in Hunt Me Down. And, while I have loved each story in this series for myriad reasons, this is the one that I connected with most. Both Ollie and Nikki were such amazing people; they were easy to connect with, each to root for, easy to love. Their shared loss heightened the adoration I had for them and they way they lived their lives.
Lead Me Home was heartbreaking. Finally getting to know the story about what happened to Ollie’s sister, finding out Rex’s secret, everything that had happened to Ollie between his sister’s disappearance and the beginning of this story, every second I spent with these two shredded my heart. They’d lost so much, experienced more pain than a person should have to handle, and all the while did everything they could to ensure other people had a safe place to land.
It’s been said that every reader reads a different book because they bring their specific life experiences and personalities into it. I think that is why this book was so poignant for me, the loss of a sister, the feelings of guilt for not preventing it, the overwhelming pain of knowing they’ll never have the future you’d envisioned for them. I connected so deeply with Ollie; I understood his soul in a way I don’t often experience when reading. I just wanted to help him, to heal him, to hold all his broken pieces together.
AL Jackson is a phenomenal writer, especially when it comes to these heart-wrenching stories of love, forgiveness, and healing. She uses such precision with the way she delivers her stories, using repeated stylistic choices throughout each novel which causes the reader to tie those parts of the book together and feel more connected to the story as a whole, it’s quite masterful. She’s yet to let me down with a book, and I can’t imagine she will any time soon.
~5 +++++STARS~
Just when I think A.L. Jackson can’t get any better, because she is pretty much perfect, she proves me wrong! I’ve long been a fan of hers, but this book is my very favorite.! It’s also one of my all-time favorite reads, and it’s my TOP READ OF 2018!
I won’t go into too much about what the book is about. The characters are what drove the storyline for me. Let’s begin with my Ollie. He is the most complex and complicated characters I have encountered. Physically, he is imposing. He has been known to intimidate people just walking into a room. He is also very sexy, handsome, and protective. Underneath all that drop dead gorgeousness is a kind-hearted, gentle man, but he is also a very tortured soul. As he tells Nikki:
“Believe me, baby, the outside looks way better than the inside.”
He has spent his entire adulthood paying penance for the guilt he feels over the disappearance of his sister, Sydney, fourteen years earlier. He, Nikki, and Sydney were friends and so much more since they were young children.
“We are three. Forever and ever, you and me.”
His heart has always belonged to Nikki, and it still does even if he doesn’t think he has a heart left. He has worked tireless looking for his beloved sister, and he has no room for anything else. However, he can’t bear Nikki giving her heart to anyone else. He has to decide to either allow himself to live and love Nikki or let her go.
Nikki is light and sunshine compared to Oliver’s darkness and demons. She harbors guilt over Sydney as well, but she knows deep down Sydney would want her to live. She has been a matchmaker for her friends, but she has never been able to give her heart to anyone since it belongs to Ollie despite the fact that he has rejected it again and again. She is stuck like Ollie though. She is caught between her past and living in the present. Her mind keeps telling her to move on, but her heart just won’t listen. Ollie might be her protector, but she is his solace, if he would just let her be his everything.
“Breath. Life. The goodness and light in the middle of my dark, dark world.” ~Ollie
Ollie and Nikki aren’t the only main characters in the book, but Sydney, herself, is a pivotal part of the storyline. You will see how much of a part of Ollie and Nikki she is in the memories they share. So much of who she was is seen throughout the pages of the book. She is the one who has the power to heal them both if they would just remember how vital Sydney was and her love of life. Her favorite saying was,
“Fly, fly dragonfly.”
Now, for the story itself. It is an emotional read…I did cry several times…out of sadness and joy. This entire series has been one of my favorites. Each is a standalone, but each couple’s story is very different. In addition, I have seen just powerful the bonds that exists between each couple and their friends. There is also a mystery and a suspense as well as a steamy romance. What makes it so special for me are Jackson’s words themselves. I will describe it borrowing some of Nikki’s words about Ollie. I thought they describe her writing as well. Her words “touched me everywhere, heart, spirit, and soul.” I believe those words sums up just how much I loved this book!
***Read and Reviewed for Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews***
Ollie & Nikki’s story is here!
These books in this series all can be read as standalone, but believe me, once you read one, you will want to read them all.
My heart…
Ollie has been a mystery to us while he was introduced in the other two books and I knew what once Author A.L. Jackson gave us his story, I was going to be blown away.
Ollie is it! Nikki is all he wants. I love that Ollie throughout it all loves Nikki with an intensity that no one else can match.
This book takes you from their childhood to the present as adults and their lives in between till the now moment.
A love story that will have you crying, laughing and falling in love with that first love.
Go One Click it!
5 Cherries Popped
4.5 stars
“We are three. Forever and ever, you and me.”
If you have not read any of the books in the Fight for Me series yet, each one can be read as a standalone. The series focuses on a group of best friends who have grown up together and experienced the most devastating loss together fourteen years ago. They each have their own secrets and demons related to that experience, and the stories of their journeys to come to terms with those demons to find redemption and the prospect of a happier future have been some of my favorite reads in the last year or so. Lead Me Home features Nikki and Ollie, and I have been eagerly anticipating their turn in the spotlight!
Nikki, Ollie and his sister Sydney became the equivalent of the Three Musketeers from the moment they met at the bus stop on Sydney and Nikki’s first day of school when they were just 5 years old. Ollie immediately took on the role of protector as the older brother by one whole year, but it was a role he took seriously through the years. By the time they became teenagers, everything changed slightly when hormones and a different sort of awareness of each other kicked in. Nikki fell in love with Ollie from the time she was old enough to know what that meant, and he was definitely drawn to her as well. He was just more reluctant to admit it because he knew it would change everything. On the other hand, he completely missed the fact that Sydney and his best friend Rex were having some moments of their own. Then one fateful night when Sydney was 16 changed everything; feelings were hurt, secrets were kept, and mistakes were made that couldn’t be taken back as Sydney disappeared without a trace. That night left scars on all of them that they carry to this day.
When three became two, Ollie shut down and buried his feelings for Nikki as deep as he could as he blamed himself for Sydney’s disappearance. It hasn’t been an easy task with Nikki constantly in his periphery as part of their circle of friends for the last 14 years though. His love for her has never dissipated, but he doesn’t feel worthy of her love either. He has dedicated his life to trying to solve the mystery of exactly what happened to his sister, but each anniversary of that night gets harder to face for him. When he allows himself to go to Nikki one night in a drunken haze, she thinks that he is finally letting her in only to have her heart broken by him again when she realizes the next morning that he locked down his emotions and retreated again.
Now, one year later, a storm is brewing and he feels that something big is coming. Nikki is in some sort of danger, and when she won’t share with him exactly what is going on, those feelings he tried so hard to bury bubble dangerously close to the surface. She is determined not to let him crush her heart again, but the emotional, torturous dance between them may be too much for either to bear. No matter how many times she tries to get through to him, he just can’t bring himself to believe that he is truly worthy of her love. But he is determined to keep her safe and keeping her close is the only way to do it, even if it brings both of them to their knees.
I have so many quotes highlighted in this story that I am surprised my Kindle isn’t glowing! We learn the details of their past through a series of flashback chapters which flowed smoothly between past and present as we see the young Ollie and Nikki growing up and moving toward the night that changed everything. Present day Nikki is torn between hope that Ollie is finally coming around and the fear that he will rip her heart out of her chest one more time. When they are on the same page, they are blisteringly hot but staying on that same page is the challenge. Ollie alternatively broke my heart, put it back together and melted me over the course of this book. Add in the stress of Nikki finding herself in danger and then learning that her sister suffered a trauma in their youth that she hid from everyone, and the emotional turmoil really ramps up. The truth behind Sydney’s fate is finally revealed in a way that I didn’t anticipate when I started this series, but the closure to the storyline absolutely felt right to me too. The final secrets held within their little group are revealed and dealt with to allow them all to find some peace for the future. I cannot recommend this book or this series enough so go get your 1-click on!
It always amazes me when an author can draw a reader into a story, let alone a series and create a feeling of connection with the characters. You feel every emotion, every high, every low and everything in between….that is exactly what Ms. Jackson has done with her Fight for Me Series.
From book 1, Show Me the Way, to Book 3, Lead Me Home. I have been invested in this entire series and anticipating reading Ollie and Nikki’s story. It was just as heartbreaking as I knew it would be, but with so much depth and love.
Ms. Jackson’s writing is superb, she draws you in and grabs you on page 1. Lead Me Home was pure perfection!
Reviewed by: Dana D.
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Oh my heart!!!! Ollie and Nikki have stolen it!!!
AL Jackson does not hold back in this angst filled heartbreakingly beautiful story.
I am always amazed at how Ms Jackson can weave the most beautiful works of art with her words.
Lead Me Home was worth every minute of lost sleep, stolen reading moments when I had so many other things to do and grilled cheese dinner for my family.
Bravo Ms Jackson!! If I could give this book 10,000 stars I would!!!
Reviewed by: Heather S.
From book 1 in the series I want to know more about Oliver there was always so much more to him. Well we have his story and its everything I thought it would be and so much more. Oliver was a broken soul that had been through so much in his life that he lived by his rules and was not willing to let anyone to close to him. Nikki was a childhood friend that Ollie would do anything for, when she finds herself in trouble he there to help even when his head is telling him to stay away. Lead Me Home will gut you there where sad tears and happy tears