BOOKWORM REVIEW: Bring You Back by Ava Hunter
SPICE: 🔥🔥🔥
I love Luke & Sal and Lacey & Seth, but Jace & Emmy Lou's story may have taken the top spot in this series.
Jace Taylor and Emmy Lou Montgomery's marriage is a mess. They have not quite recovered from Emmy discovering Jace's gambling problem, and the distrust is creating a gap between them that they cannot seem to build a bridge over. When remnants of his gambling past come back to haunt them, Emmy leaves Jace to go home to her family in Georgia.
After a wake-up call from his friends and bandmates, Jace chases after her, determined to get her back. But the list of people he must grovel to is long: her parents, her overprotective brothers (and there are a lot of them), and most importantly Emmy Lou herself.
This is one of my favorite second chances with married couples stories. I love how Jace is all-in to getting Emmy back, including doing menial chores around her farm, taking the potshots from her brothers, and unconditionally supporting her and what she wants.
Emmy Lou stands out for me in this read, however. We get to go on this journey with her where she finds out who she is apart from her family and Jace and when she comes to terms with secrets from her past. I absolutely love that she finds her voice and her place and that everyone -- well, almost all -- supports her wholeheartedly.
Jace and Emmy have taken a backseat in previous books, but they've really shined in their own story. Their chemistry -- even when their marriage was in turmoil -- is really evident, and Ava Hunter does a great job of establishing that foundation and building on it as their story goes on. There is a physical and emotional connection between them that could never be undone, and even with the growing gap from distrust, we still really feel that through Hunter's details and storytelling. The payoff via spicy scenes is so worth the wait. Ava Hunter certainly knows how to build tension and create spicy climaxes that will have you clutching your pearls and reaching for a mint Julep like a Georgian Belle.
This book can be read as a standalone, even though characters from previous books make their appearance. You get enough context of who they are and glimpses of their stories, but I highly recommend going back. We also get a great introduction to the Montgomery Brothers, and I certainly hope that we get to see their HEAs, too.
** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Ava Hunter for providing an ARC. **
ABOUT THE BOOK
This time, Jace Taylor has gambled more than he can afford to lose.
When a loan shark shows up at his front door demanding he pay him fifty thousand dollars or else, Brothers Kincaid bassist Jace Taylor thinks his life can’t get any worse. That is, until his wife, Emmy Lou, leaves him. With his marriage on the line, he’s determined to win back his wife’s trust—before the love of his life is gone for good.
Former Rodeo Queen Emmy Lou Montgomery loves wide-open spaces, glittery tiaras, and horses, not a lying heartbreaker of a soon to-be-ex-husband who dares to look too damn good in his Wranglers. Determined not to repeat her old mistakes, she returns to her family farm to put herself first.
Only forgetting about Jace might not be so easy when he shows up and moves in, asking her to give him the summer to prove he can be the man she deserves. Emmy Lou does her best to avoid Jace, but when they’re stuck working on the rodeo together, soon their summer turns downright scorching as one spark has their marriage catching flames.
But just as Jace and Emmy Lou realize they’re ready to go all in on their second chance, secrets from Emmy Lou’s past slink out of the shadows. Secrets she’s still running from.
Secrets that will do whatever it takes to keep them apart. . .
Bring You Back is the fourth book in the Nashville Star series, but it can be read as a standalone. It’s a full-length second-chance country romance with no cliffhanger, no cheating, and a happily-ever-after guaranteed. Content and trigger warnings: references to past attempted sexual assault and parental abuse.
Get Your Copy (Free with Kindle Unlimited) → https://amzn.to/3SS2Iae
Add to Goodreads → https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61124239-need-you-now
MEET AVA HUNTER
At the age of thirteen, I read The Outsiders in seventh grade, and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a writer. And yes, the book isn’t romance, but it instilled within me a love for amazing characters. Characters that stay with you and never let go. Kind of like a damn good kiss. From there I maybe-kinda-sorta thought I had a knack for romance ever since I wrote a fanfiction about Fox Mulder’s rippling abs. And no, you cannot read it. It is buried in the depths of a very dark drawer. Also, side note: Mulder and Scully are the OG of the slow burn.
Since then, I’ve written in various genres from YA to literary fiction. However, it wasn’t until about four years ago I decided to give romance a try. I had an idea in my head and decided to combine my two loves, country music and kissing, and the Nashville Star series was born. Six books later, I am still in love with writing romance and only have more ideas on the way.
I adore writing about good men who go to almost superhuman lengths to protect the women they love. And I love writing about strong, stubborn women who don’t take shit but still like it when their men sweep them off their feet.
When I’m not parked in front of a computer writing, I am mom-ing, reading, traveling, drinking wine, baking and watching good TV.
I write full-time from Arizona, where I live with my husband, daughter and a very chonky cat.
Whew. I think that’s enough.
Come find me on social media and let’s keep in touch.
Connect with AvaJoin my mailing list ➜ https://tinyurl.com/269ktvmp
Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/authoravahunter
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/authoravahunter
Website ➜ https://authoravahunter.com/
At the age of thirteen, I read The Outsiders in seventh grade, and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a writer. And yes, the book isn’t romance, but it instilled within me a love for amazing characters. Characters that stay with you and never let go. Kind of like a damn good kiss. From there I maybe-kinda-sorta thought I had a knack for romance ever since I wrote a fanfiction about Fox Mulder’s rippling abs. And no, you cannot read it. It is buried in the depths of a very dark drawer. Also, side note: Mulder and Scully are the OG of the slow burn.
Since then, I’ve written in various genres from YA to literary fiction. However, it wasn’t until about four years ago I decided to give romance a try. I had an idea in my head and decided to combine my two loves, country music and kissing, and the Nashville Star series was born. Six books later, I am still in love with writing romance and only have more ideas on the way.
I adore writing about good men who go to almost superhuman lengths to protect the women they love. And I love writing about strong, stubborn women who don’t take shit but still like it when their men sweep them off their feet.
When I’m not parked in front of a computer writing, I am mom-ing, reading, traveling, drinking wine, baking and watching good TV.
I write full-time from Arizona, where I live with my husband, daughter and a very chonky cat.
Whew. I think that’s enough.
Come find me on social media and let’s keep in touch.
Connect with Ava
Join my mailing list ➜ https://tinyurl.com/269ktvmpFacebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/authoravahunter
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/authoravahunter
Website ➜ https://authoravahunter.com/