Review: Come Back To Me by Mila Gray

***** 5 Stars

Oh this was such a sweet, emotional story about the heady days of first love and what happens when a tragedy tears that apart.

I had never read anything by this author before or under her other name of Sarah Alderson but from the emotional opening scene I was hooked and desperate to find out who died.

The Blurb

Home on leave in sunny California, Marine and local lothario Kit Ryan finds himself dangerously drawn to his best friend's sister, Jessa - the one girl he can't have.

But Kit's not about to let a few obstacles stand in his way and soon Jessa's falling for his irresistible charms.

What starts out as a summer romance of secret hook-ups and magical first times quickly develops into a passionate love affair that turns both their worlds upside down.

When summer's over and it's time for Kit to redeploy, neither Kit nor Jessa are ready to say goodbye. Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.

Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.

A breathtaking, scorchingly hot story about love, friendship, family and finding your way back from the edge of heartbreak.

My Thoughts

Come Back To Me truly took me on an emotional roller coaster, it opens with Jessa answering the door to learn that either her boyfriend Kit or her brother Riley(both marines) has died whilst out in Afghanistan. The opening scene is an emotional one and sets the story up beautifully for us to see Kit and Jessa fall in love and builds us up to the heartache that is about to unfold. As you read the book you know that either Kit or Riley is going to die and that just helps to build the emotion and make the book a real page turner.

I loved that the book is told from both Kit & Jessa's point of view, it added a greater depth to the story and strengthened the intensity of the relationship between the two of them. Add to that the fact that they are in a forbidden relationship and you have true Romeo & Juliet type romance. Not only is Jessa is the younger sister of Kit's best friend Riley there is also history between their fathers so an undercurrent of tension ripples throughout the book.

'It's one of the best places in California for stargazing' I say, though I'm yet to look at the stars. Next to Jessa they kind of pale. Who wouldn't want someone feeling that way about them *sigh*

This book is powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, sexy and at times funny and took me right back to the days of my first love and the intensity of that relationship. I was so sucked in by the book that I actually found myself talking out loud to the characters a couple of times, willing them to make different decisions.

I have nothing but praise for this book and I think one of the reasons I loved it so much is because I opened it with no expectations and that resulted in a real gem of a read. The book had a touch of Nicholas Sparks to it so I would highly recommend it to readers who loved his book Dear John.


Thanks to NetGalley & Pan MacMillan for the ARC of this book