BACK TO YOU by Lauren Dane: Review

Back to You by Lauren Dane
Series: The Hurley Boys #3
Published by HQN Books
Publication Date: May 26th 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Goodreads
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Former model Kelly Hurley has finally put the ashes of the past behind her. After a passionate but turbulent marriage to rock star Vaughan Hurley that ended in heartbreak and divorce, Kelly rebuilt her life in Portland, where she settled so their two young daughters could be close to their father. Just not so close Kelly couldn’t truly make her own way without interference from the man who shattered her heart. Now Kelly’s finally ready to move on, and she’s planning to marry another man.

But not if Vaughan has anything to say about it.

Vaughan knows he was a fool all those years ago. A young, selfish—and prideful—fool. Even as he buried himself in the fast, decadent rock star lifestyle, he could never drown out the memory of Kelly’s beauty and love. Or the sweet, searing heat whenever they touched. For years, he’s had to deal with the pain of seeing her only because of their daughters, but it was never enough. Now Vaughan must prove that he’s the only man Kelly needs, before he loses her for good. And there’s only one way to do it.

 

What’s not to love about second chances, especially when two people never really stop loving each other? Eight years ago, Vaughan Hurley messed up big time and lost one of the best things that ever happened to him: his wife Kelly. It’s taken her getting engaged to another man to get him to realize that the window of opportunity for getting her back is fast closing. Vaughan has always been a ‘vacation’ dad to their two daughters and now he has a great chance to be in the thick of it, helping out with his ill daughter and temporarily raising his girls alongside their mother and working on winning Kelly back.

There are so many things to love about this story but what stands out the most for me is that Vaughan and Kelly are characters anyone can relate to. Yes, they are both world-famous – Vaughan is a famous rock star and part of a band with his brothers and Kelly was a model – but they are still people who want the same things everyday people do, things like love, relationships, families, a sense of belonging, happiness. They are also dealing with a broken marriage and what led to the breakdown and for Kelly, whether or not to trust Vaughan again.

Eight years ago, Vaughan was too immature to appreciate what he had and handled things badly but this Vaughan who finally has his priorities right, who’s so honest and open about his mistakes and working to make things right with Kelly is so easy to love. Kelly is amazing! She’s smart, beautiful and a successful businesswoman but all of that pales beside her strength. She was a successful model at age fourteen, with a very psycho mother who chipped at her self-esteem all her career but she took all of the damage and turned it into something positive, becoming a role model to her daughters. She’s a fierce mama lioness when it comes to her kids (take that, Ross!).

Kelly and Vaughan have their hands full being parents and working on their relationship and building the trust again but it helps that they never stopped loving each other and are open to making things work again. I loved how Vaughan put himself out there, working on fixing the relationship between Kelly and his family, learning to be a full-time dad to his girls and being so protective of Kelly.

BACK TO YOU is a very moving story of reconciliation and redemption and shows what I love about Ms. Dane’s writing: her ability to peel back the layers and show the hearts of her characters.

 

 

                                                            

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