Review: Coming Home by Priscilla Glenn

Title: Coming Home
Author: Priscilla Glenn
Published: January 19th 2014
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Leah Marino hasn’t been on a date in two years. After discovering the man she loved had manipulated and deceived her, she refuses to even entertain the idea of a relationship. Instead, she focuses her attention on taking care of her family, a role she’s assumed since the death of her mother and the one place she knows her kindness won't be taken advantage of again.
When a nostalgic trip back to her childhood home results in a chance encounter with Danny DeLuca, a smart-mouthed mechanic who’s as attractive as he is mysterious, Leah's carefully cultivated walls begin to crumble. She finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Danny, despite his unreliable behavior and mixed signals.
But Danny has a secret...
One that could shake Leah's already precarious foundation and bring her world crashing down around her. Suddenly, she's faced with an incredibly difficult decision--is she willing to risk everything for the chance at finding the love she's always wanted? Or are some obstacles just too big for the heart to overcome?

Priscilla Glenn is a fantastic author and don’t let this review tell you otherwise, okay? Because there will be some ranting, but let me tell you this: BACK TO YOU—Priscilla’s debut novel is one of my absolute favorite novels and Emancipating Andie was a good read as well. So these little occasional, very mild rants that are waiting for you in this review? Don’t take them that seriously ;)

“I don’t mind a little disappointment now and then. It just means you’ve got high standards. I’d rather shoot high and be disappointed sometimes than just live in the middle with the illusion of being satisfied.”

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first. I really feel like the only real flaw Glenn’s writing has is the third POV. I’m not a fan of those in contemporary books since it makes connecting with the characters so hard. Sigh. It was a little hard to connect with these characters as well. That isn’t to say that Glenn’s writing is bad or wrong in any way, nope! That’s just my personal preference *shrugs* So yep, while I felt bad for the two main leads, I never really felt a big emotional connection towards them.

So what didn’t I like? Um.. While the previous two books by Priscilla were more of the slow-build kind, then this one was a little too intense in the insta-attraction department for me. Hence I felt like the L-bomb was too early. Yes, the feelings between Daniel (I refuse to call him Danny because it reminds me of the psycho Tyler from Revenge calling Daniel like that and Danny’s behavior during season 3 on that show makes me sick to my stomach *gags*) and Leah were pretttttty darn intense, and let us not forget the situation they were in, but in my honest opinion? Saying the L-word was still a little too early. Also, I get Daniel’s hesitations and the reasons behind his behavior, but it was still wrong of him to be so hot and cold, so it was a bit of a let down. All I could think was "dude, stop hesitating and tell her, or walk away".

Anyhow, off to the good parts, yeah? Even though it seems, based on the two paragraphs above, that there were more things I didn’t like & less things I enjoyed, it ain't exactly so *shakes head* The chemistry was adorable—something Glenn always excels at! Yeah, not big emotional connections to the characters on my part, but oh boy, the chemistry! *fans self* Also, the quote by Leah where she says she’s scared of dark + ocean = MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! I’m not scared of water or dark per se, but I am scared of the unknown. Moreover, there were some stereotypical BFF-s, but written in a very compelling way so I was not put off by the secondary characters. I actually quite liked them. Oh, and the camping scene? THE cutest :) *swoons*

I really appreciate the originality of this story. Don’t make the same mistake by going to the end to see how it ends (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, JENNY!!!) because you don’t want to guess the secret Daniel carries. I wish I hadn’t because I would have been more shocked, but it was still nice to know that I guessed correct based on the letter Daniel sent to Leah. At the end of the day, it’s original in concept and extremely heartwarming, even if it’s not my favorite story by Priscilla. Recommend even though I had some issues? YES!

Overall rating: 3.4 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★

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