Rowena’s review of Breakaway by Deirdre Martin.
Hero: Rory Brady
Heroine: Erin O’Brien
They had it all planned out: college, marriage, happily ever after. But it didn’t quite work out that way…
Erin O’Brien was everyone’s favorite in Ballycraig, while Rory Brady was the town’s golden boy: the local lad who moved to America and became a professional hockey player. Rory promised to return to sweep Erin away to the life of her dreams in New York. But the bright lights and late nights turned his head and he never came back.
Two years later, Rory realizes he’s made the worst mistake of his life. Heading back to Ballycraig, he’s confident that all he needs to do is flash his winning smile and Erin will fall back into his arms. But Erin’s moved on.
Racing the clock, Rory needs to prove to her that the man she fell in love with is still there. But can happy-go-lucky Erin risk it all and give another chance to the man who broke her heart?
I haven’t read a Deirdre Martin book in a long while and she’s hit or miss with me. Some of her books I’ve really enjoyed and some, I haven’t liked. I’m happy to say that I enjoyed reading this one. Rory and Erin were childhood sweethearts who had plans to get married and live happily ever after but when Rory changes his mind, Erin is left in Ireland brokenhearted.
Rory went to play professional hockey in the states and left the country town of Ballycraig behind. He up and left without looking back, ditched everything and everyone. Broke Erin’s heart and pissed his best friend Jake off. In all the time that he’s been gone, he’s realized that he misses what he had back home and he’s going back to get it.
He also knew that grudges were made and will definitely be held against him but that wasn’t going to stop him from going back home to get what’s his. But just because he knew that they were going to have it out for him didn’t mean that he didn’t understand why they were all so bleeping mad at him. He had his reasons for dumping Erin and for walking away from Jake. He knew that he was an ass for hurting his best mates but what’s done was done and he was going back to make amends.
Martin did a great job of showing us just how pissed off the folks of Ballycraig was of the home boy turned Yankee. They gave him lip every chance they could but they also forgave him when he proved his worth to them. He won them over slowly but surely and I enjoyed seeing them make him sweat it out before they welcomed him back.
Erin was a great heroine. She was smart, knew her own mind and had plans for her life that at first didn’t include Rory. What I liked most about her was that she didn’t deny her feelings to herself for very long because she knew that she still loved the hell out of him but it was nice to see Rory win her over as well. I loved how loyal she was to Sandra and the kids.
Rory had a lot of ground to cover when he came home so he had already learned his lesson, this book was about showing him win everyone over again. I enjoyed getting to know him and I enjoyed the romance between him and Erin. I thought they were cute together so I was rooting them on throughout the entire story.
Overall, this was a great contemporary romance with a charming cast of characters and a setting that I want to visit in real life. I’m glad I read this one and would definitely be up for more New York Blades story goodness.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it
here or
here in e-format.
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