When Love Returns (Fitzpatrick Family - Becca)

CHRISTIAN:  Ethan LaMotte comes back to the small town he grew up in to claim his high school sweetheart. He’s never stopped loving her in the twelve years he’s been away and he wants to reconnect and marry her as he’s always planned.  Becca has her own life now, with a job offer she’s always dreamed of coming her way, but she must decide if she could make room for him in her life again. Can she trust him not to disappear? And is he brave enough to confide the secret that’s kept them apart?

This is a cute second-chance romance. Readers will enjoy the small-town setting and large and welcoming Fitzpatrick family dynamics.  Becca is a well-rounded character that is forced to re-examine her hopes and dreams when her childhood sweetheart comes into the picture after years apart. He’s got a different name and, while she thought she was over him, he still stirs feelings in her. Her misgivings about going back to a time long-past are realistic and lend credence to the romance. Ethan is solid as the hero, even sigh-worthy in some chapters, but he is less fleshed out and his reasons for being away for twelve years seem flimsy and hard to believe. A shorter amount of time might have been less glaring and made it easier for the reader to forgive the absence. However, if you can overlook that plot point, readers can expect a sweet romance with a great secondary cast of characters.

 Kate Campbell