The Homehoming

By: Stacie Ramey
Overall review: ☆☆☆1/2
Forced to return to his estranged family, John discovers how hard it is to truly go home.

It's been a year since John lost his girlfriend, Leah, to suicide. Living with his uncle keeps his mind from the tragedy and his screwed up family-until he gets into trouble and a judge sends him back home. With a neglectful mother and abusive brother, John's homecoming is far from happy.

As he tries to navigate and repair the relationships he abandoned years ago, Emily, the girl next door, is the only bright spot. She's sweet and smart and makes him think his heart may finally be healing. But tragedy isn't far away, and John must soon face an impossible decision: save his family or save himself.

Although I received an advanced copy of this ebook from the publisher, all opinions remain my own.

Amazing how the books I read seem to almost apply to my life.

In this book, John is forced to return to his estranged family. What I found relate-able was his coping method. He wanted to just find a way to pretend the problems didn't exist for him. 

The way he is almost running from the suicide of his girlfriend is so real to me. I imagine if someone I love killed themselves, I would find fault in myself somehow. Not only is he running from that, he is running from his family. He believes that the accident that caused his brother's disability is his fault, even thinks his mom and dad believe that. 

By the end of the book, I was in tears because he realizes no one is thinking that.

One quote toward the end really jumped out at me: I lower my voice, try to keep calm. "Five seconds of our life should not dictate the rest."

Isn't that one to live by!?