Rowena’s review of Come Back to Me by Coleen Patrick.
Whitney Denison can’t wait to start over.
She thought she had everything under control, that her future would always include her best friend Katie… Until everything changed.
Now her life in Bloom is one big morning after hangover, filled with regret, grief, and tiny pinpricks of reminders that she was once happy. A happy she ruined. A happy she can’t fix.
So, she is counting down the days until she leaves home for Colson University, cramming her summer with busywork she didn’t finish her senior year, and taking on new hobbies that involve glue and glitter, and dodging anyone who reminds her of her old life.
When she runs into the stranger who drove her home on graduation night, after she’d passed out next to a ditch, she feels herself sinking again. The key to surviving the summer in Bloom is unraveling whatever good memories she can from that night.
But in searching for answers, she’ll have to ask for help and that means turning to Evan, the stranger, and Kyle, Katie’s ex-boyfriend. Suddenly, life flips again, and Whitney finds herself on not only the precipice of happy but love, too, causing her to question whether she can trust her feelings, or if she is falling into her old patterns of extremes.
As she uncovers the truth about her memories, Whitney sees that life isn’t all or nothing, and that happy isn’t something to wait for, that instead, happy might just be a choice.
This was a quick read that I picked up because the blurb sounded interesting. I’m on a Young Adult/New Adult kick and this seemed to fit the bill that I was looking for so I read it.
This book follows Whitley as she tries to make it through the next few weeks before heading to college for a fresh start. Whitley is dealing with alcoholism and the grief of losing her best friend. Her best friend that hated her before she died. Katie and Whitley stopped being friends a few weeks before Katie was killed in a car accident because Whitley kissed Katie’s boyfriend Kyle. Whit was drunk (so was Kyle) and it happened. Whit is filled with grief, guilt and more than anything, she just misses her best friend.
It’s been hard trying to deal with everything thrown at her so she’s looking forward to moving away to college to just start over. She’s trying to remember things that happened the night that changed her entire life and she’s trying to figure things out so that she can move on.
There’s a lot going on in this book and while I was reading it, I found that the rambling on and on about Katie and what happened the night that Whitley can’t remember got a little old. There’s a lot of pages and not a whole lot is happening other than Whitley working at the tea shop and hanging out with Kyle in an effort to try to remember something from that night. Kyle’s no help and there’s a new guy on the scene that is interested in Whitley but she’s got things to do and memories to remember.
I will say that this book wasn’t a bad book but I spent a good chunk of this book wanting something to happen. I wanted to connect with Whitley more but I don’t know, I just didn’t. The book came together in a way that made sense but I can’t say that I jumped for joy when all was said and done. It was good but thats it. It was just good.
Grade: 2.75 out of 5
This book is available from Coleen Patrick. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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