Reviewed by Cindy

TITLE: Homeward Bound

SERIES: Pine Cove Book 3

AUTHOR: HJ Welch

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 328 Pages

RELEASE DATE: September 20, 2019

BLURB:

After Micha Perkins finds himself wrongly implicated in a crime, the last person he wants coming to his rescue is his secret crush Swift; his older brother’s best friend. But when Micha returns to the town that never felt like home, he discovers Swift’s young daughter is in trouble as well. If Micha can help them both in any way, he knows he will.

Self-defense coach Swift Coal never realized he was a father until he gets custody of five-year-old Imogen and her cranky cat. His neat and tidy life is about to come crashing down, but to his surprise, Micha Perkins is there to save the day. He’s so damn good with kids, and just as cute as Swift remembers. When Micha moves in to help look after Imogen, Swift struggles to repress the feelings he’s kept hidden.

Micha’s always been a misfit and Swift’s life was always orderly. Micha may have taken the fall to protect those more vulnerable than him, but who will save him when his past comes back to haunt him? Was Swift a fool to risk the safety of his daughter around a bad element like Micha? When their chaotic worlds collide, perhaps love and family are the middle ground they both need to become stronger together.

Book Three in Pine Cove. Homeward Bound is a steamy, standalone MM romance novel with a guaranteed HEA and absolutely no cliffhanger.

REVIEW:

This is the third book in the series and to be honest it’s probably my favorite.

Micha is sweet and kind and dying to feel like he fits in somewhere and he stole my heart from the first page. All he wants in life is for someone to love him as much as he loves them. He loves his family more than anything but feels like he doesn’t deserve the love they give him because of his past behaviour.

Swift is a good man who finds himself in a unique situation. Finding out you have a child 5 years after the fact would throw anyone for a loop but he’s doing the best he can when Micha comes along and offers to help.

This story could have been frustrating because it’s so obvious that these two are made for each other, except to them. Micha’s conviction that he’s not good enough for anyone is heartbreaking. Swift’s self-realization is complicated by his situation and it’s understandable that it takes him a while to figure himself out.

I found the blurb a little deceiving however. Once Swift admits to himself and to Micha how he feels, he’s never anything but loving and supportive and the only one who’s hard on Micha is Micha.

I loved both of their families. If only every member of the LGTBQ community had such supportive and loving people around them, their worlds would be a much better place. It was nice to have a story without homophobic assholes in a family being the bad guys.

I found Imogene to be very well written and child-like. As someone with extensive experience with small children, I find that authors sometimes give child characters personalities that would be impossible in real life. This author has done a great job of Imogene’s portrayal.

As someone who tends to be a caregiver in any situation, I was easily able to connect to Micha. As a reader, I wanted nothing more than for him to get his happy ending, because he deserved it dammit!

There’s a lot to like about this book and I have no problem recommending it as a great read that will leave you smiling in the end.

RATING:

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