Come Back to Me by Coleen Patrick

Come Back to Me by Coleen Patrick
Series: N/A
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: March 6, 2013

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.

When I first started Come Back to Me, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I was pulled in by the pretty, new-adultish looking cover. That was my first mistake. My second was thinking that this would be a romantic read-- all hopes of that were killed pretty quickly.

Whitney was really unstable, and a bit of what you'd call an unreliable narrator. I was left wondering how we got from point A to point B multiple times, which just threw me out of the story. There was no real structure to it, which disappointed me to no end.

The romance was sub-par. I didn't feel any hope for the characters romantic life, nor did I feel any chemistry between them. There was absolutely no build-up or in-between stuff. It kind of went from "Hey I just met you and this is crazy" to "so here's my number, call me maybe". Yes. I just quoted that song, which I'm pretty sure I've never even heard. They fell in love so quickly, which left me with no idea what they love about each other...I don't think I can name one quirk or anything about the characters.

Whitney and what's his face (I can't remember his name!) don't seem to have any interests to speak of. I know nothing about them. They went on one date, and then it's like they're in love and it was this huge fight and they don't speak...and I don't even know.

I don't even know seems to be the theme for this one. The flashbacks kept coming with no warning and throwing me out of the story, just like the mashed up dialogue and scenes. All in all, I can't really recommend this one to y'all, but if it sounds like something you'll like, go for it.