Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Coming Home: A Second Chance Christmas Romance
SERIES: Home for the Holidays #1
AUTHOR: Garrett Groves
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 134 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 12, 2017
BLURB:
Rylan is down on his luck. Ben is starting over. Can Christmas bring them the gift of a second chance?
When Rylan Smith graduated from college, he left his small town and everything he’d ever known behind to take a job in New York faster than he could say “goodbye”—even to the only man he’d ever loved.
After Rylan moved away abruptly and ended their relationship as a result, Ben Bashaw was left with nothing but questions and the sinking feeling he’d scared Rylan off, just like every other guy he’d dared to trust with his heart.
So when Rylan comes home for the holidays and runs into Ben for the first time in more than two years at a local grocery store, Ben can’t help but think he’s been delivered a Christmas miracle—and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try again.
Can the two work through their differences to rekindle an old flame, or will their history be snuffed out like a Christmas candle?
REVIEW:
You know, I like to read other’s opinions of books so I often read the reviews of books I’ve read. I read a few for this one and one stood out to me. They couldn’t understand how a fight with the dad could lead to a total family split. It’s so easy it’s ridiculous. Christmas is one of the worse times of the year for a lot of people. They are forced to endure times with family they don’t get along with or don’t see. And when a parent is one of the reasons for tense times, it’s often much worse. So the thought of going home for a lot of people is just awful. Even when other loved ones are there.
Rylan is dreading this holiday like no other. Not only does he not want to be home around his asshole of a father, he has to go home being laid off from his job. And then possibly seeing the one man he loved more than life itself. When he gets home, it’s no better. His father is drunk and being his belligerent self. And when the cat comes out of the bag about his job, his father gets worse. Leaving, Rylan knows he has nowhere to go but he can’t stay there any longer. He goes to the grocery store and runs into the one person he hoped he wouldn’t. Ben. The relationship they had was left on bad terms but Rylan never thought they would go anywhere. Even though he loved him dearly. Ben wouldn’t come out and the strain of many things got too much. So when it came time for him to leave with this job, he ran like he was on fire. And being back brings everything up. They talk. Ben offers him a place to stay, but is it possible for them to start over? It seems like it’s possible until another job offer comes up and all the bad past comes to the front. It seems like what they were going to try to rebuild can’t even get started. It’s going to take a lot of compromise and trust but who knows if they can do it.
Man, if I was Rylan, I wouldn’t have known what to do. It’s bad enough having to go home to that crappy house with his family but feeling like you’ve failed on top of it makes it worse. Especially when his father can’t seem to stop with the asinine comments. So the already strained relationship with them becomes non existent. Can’t say I blame him. Sometimes you have to cut the bad from your life to grow. And then there’s Ben. The love of his life. Seeing him again brought up all the love he ever felt. But it also brought up all the ways the relationship fell apart. And how things were left. Rylan hates the way he left things but he didn’t see a future with Ben if Ben continued the way he was. He felt like a dirty secret most times and suffocated. Honestly, I think I might have run too if I had the chance. A way to breathe. A way to feel like you are somebody and to prove people wrong. Coming back and trying again felt wonderful, though, until another job came up and Ben wouldn’t even try to compromise. Wouldn’t even try to keep what they had again. And I felt bad for Ben in a way here. He almost lost the love of his life again. And he had to make some fast hard choices. He had to choose what was really important.
Being with someone is never easy. It takes work. When both sides don’t work at it, it falls apart. Then you have to make a choice. Is it really what you want or not. And if it is, you have to make the choice to make it better. Make it right. This is a good book. Definitely all about second chances and trying again. If you get a second chance at something you want, try your best to make it count.
RATING: 
BUY LINK: