Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Carving Out a Future
SERIES: Larchdown Valley #3
AUTHOR: Jem Wendel
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 200 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2024
BLURB:
Thirty years can make strangers of the best of friends
Duncan:
Twenty years ago, the pain of having my ex-wife take my kids away from me was so overwhelming that I had to flee to the other side of the planet just so I could breathe.
When I find out that my youngest son is getting married, I know it’s time to mend some fences, reopen old wounds, and get my family back.
What I didn’t expect was to run into my former best friend, and I certainly wasn’t prepared for the hatred he so clearly has for me. I’d hoped we could rebuild our friendship, but it feels like we take one step forward and two steps back with every conversation we have. I know he feels something for me, so why is he still pushing me away?
Harlan:
Love and hate are extreme emotions. I’ve experienced both in my life… for the same person. Feelings that he didn’t know I had. I had to carve a cage around my heart just so I could breathe.
When I see my former best friend at his son’s wedding, I do the only thing I can, the only thing I’ve ever been good at, and run to the solitude of my fortress in the woods; the cabin and workshop I built from the ground up.
What I didn’t expect was for him to chase me, and I certainly didn’t expect to still feel this deep, pure love for him. So why, when I should tell him how I feel, do I spew mean, cruel words at him instead? Why am I pushing him away when all I want is to pull him closer?
TW: Depression, mention of suicide (historical)
REVIEW:
This is the third in the Larchdown series and I wanted to love it. Putting Down Roots, the story of Jackson and Luca, is the first in the series, and it was wonderful. I missed the second book, but since book three is the story of Jackson’s absent dad, I thought it would be as good or even better. Somehow it missed the high mark for me. I may be in the minority about this book, but I had some issues.
Duncan was barred from seeing his children by a court order because he lived with a man after his divorce. Gloria, the ex-wife, seriously sounds like a piece of work, as does the older son, David. It is unfortunate that I could completely see the whole situation happening. So it has been thirty years since he has been back to Larchdown after he moved to Australia to combat the horrible knowledge of living in the same place as his children but being unable to see them. The questions started for me already. Isabel, his daughter, reached out to him at 18 (so obviously knew how to get hold of him), yet never told her younger brother, Jackson, that their dad was interested and wanted to know them? After he connected with Isabel, he never thought to try with his younger son. He says he “assumed” Jackson would be as homophonic as the older one, David, but he never made any effort to reach out?
Duncan goes back to Larchdown to attend (uninvited) Jackson’s wedding to Luca. He is unsure of his welcome, so he is pretty down low. Jackson, however, is thrilled to see his dad and wants the story of what really happened. While at the wedding, he sees Harlan, his former best friend, who still lives in Larchdown and doesn’t know Jackson is Duncan’s son. Duncan hadn’t left until all three kids were born and not babies, so how did Harlan not know this? Especially since Harlan is a good friend of Jackson’s.
The enemies-to-lovers issue is sort of not that. After thirty years of no contact, Duncan is “I’m disappointed that he clearly doesn’t want to be friends again. Admittedly, we haven’t spoken for thirty years and can’t just pick it up again, but he doesn’t even seem to want to try. He’s acting like he hates me.” Their past comes up, and Duncan talks of the night his friendship was damaged with Harlan, but later, it doesn’t appear that night really did. I’m a little confused because I don’t want to give things away, but I was reading and thinking, “What?”.
There is a pattern of Duncan leaving yet Harlan is taking the guilt and the blame for things. Duncan ghosted Harlan and sorry, he was just not likeable to me. Fans of the series may disagree with me on this, but I really thought Duncan’s story would wow me and it didn’t. Duncan’s whole attitude of “Not that I thought I needed to tell Harlan anything; it’s not like we’re together” sort of summed it up for me. Why be decent to your friends if you aren’t together?
RATING: 
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