At thirty, Greer Hadley never expected to be forced home to Madison, Tennessee with her life and dreams up in flames. A series of bad decisions and even worse luck lands her community service hours at a nonprofit organization that aids veterans and their families. Greer cannot fathom how she's supposed to help anyone deal with their trauma and loss when everything that brought her joy has failed her.
Then Greer meets fifteen-year-old Ally Martinez, a gifted girl who lost her father in action and now hides her pain behind a mask of sarcasm. But Greer sees something undeniable that she can't walk away from. To make matters more complicated, Greer finds herself spending more and more time with Emmett Lawson―a man with both physical and emotional scars of his own. When a situation with Ally becomes dire, the two of them must become a team to save her―and along the way they might just save themselves too.
Fantastic story of love, loss, and second chances. The characters are relatable, real people with believable problems and reactions. I loved that they all had good days and bad days, the occasional foot-in-mouth moment, and undeniably good hearts that were buried beneath layers of pain.
Greer left her small hometown to follow her dream of stardom in Nashville. Ten years later, she returned home, broke, and with her dreams shattered. Adding insult to injury, she found her boyfriend in bed with another woman. The book opens with Greer in front of a judge after combining too many drinks with her anger led her to inflict damage on the local bar. The judge sentences her to community service hours at an organization that uses music to help veterans and their families. Having put her music behind her, Greer is none too happy with the charge. That starts to change with her first assignment.
Ally is a fifteen-year-old girl hiding a lot of pain behind an armor of attitude. Her father died in Afghanistan, and her mother isn't handling her grief well, leaving Ally floundering. Greer is no soft-spoken therapist, and she and Ally butt heads before Greer finds a small crack in the armor. I loved watching Greer encourage Ally to express her feelings by writing song lyrics. Greer's honesty about the efforts ("they're going to suck at first, but they'll get better") goes a long way toward earning Ally's trust. Greer doesn't expect to care as much as she does, and that caring leads to some heartwrenching moments. Not only does Greer help Ally deal with her pain, she receives some unexpected healing in return.
Greer's other challenge is recently returned veteran Emmett. Emmett came home missing a leg and suffering from overwhelming survivor's guilt. He isolated himself from everyone, hiding out in a cabin on the family property, drinking too much, and wallowing in self-pity. Greer remembers Emmett from high school as the golden-boy football hero and her secret crush. Emmett tries to run Greer off with anger, and a shotgun blast in the air in their first encounter. She's made of sterner stuff, though, and faces him down. Though tempted to give up on him at first, Greer persists. It was fun to watch her call him on his attitude, and it wasn't long before he looked forward to her visits. I especially enjoyed watching her drag him back into the world of the living with some not-so-gentle boots to the rear.
I liked watching the relationship between Emmett and Greer develop. They begin as adversaries, as Emmett wants to be left alone, and Greer refuses to indulge him. Emmett resents the pity and ultra-caring he experiences from most people and finds Greer's sass and sarcasm refreshing. I loved his surprise when he realized that he was ready to come out of isolation. I also liked that it wasn't all one-sided. As Emmett got to know Greer, he found himself wanting to help her the way she helped him. There are some sweet scenes of him offering support as she faces her demons. And under it all is a simmering attraction that soon draws them even closer.
An unexpected twist reveals a connection between Ally and Emmett. I ached for Emmett and its effect on him and loved the straight talk from Greer that helped him through it. Ally also helped by being her practical, honest, and straightforward self. The scene between Ally and Emmett was amazing in its depth of emotion and its impact on both of them. I loved the solution they came up with to deal with the crisis. The epilogue was terrific. I loved witnessing the changes a year made in their lives.
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