Some background stories are shared as the harrowed group prepare graves for their fallen fellows, two of which can only be filled with memories, the remains of their friends being lost, the state of their souls unknown.

 

Enter the Red Witch and the Red King.  The resurrection of the Red King means the failure of the group, unable to keep the ritual from taking place, and to add insult to injury he is resurrected into Thomas' body.

 

However, an opportunity also appears with this resurrection, the Red King is now mortal.

 

I think I've mentioned before that Baltimore is a more bleak worldview than Hellboy, there are very few jokes (in fact, I can't remember the last bit of humor, even black humor, I've seen in this comic).  I think that the Mignola, Golden, etc. crew have been moving in this direction in most of their works, from Hell on Earth BPRD, Abe Sapien's new series and Hell Boy in Hell, failures abound, the planet is not saved, the heroes do not come out on top, the monsters win.  But, we fight on.

It's alright. Not bad, I kept reading it, but I wasn't dying to finish and wasn't feeling it. I'm way out of the age range for this to hit home for me, so that's a factor. But the time is really interesting and the best part of the book for me.

I liked how it switched between the past and present to unravel their story and why Gordon came back. That was well done and kept me reading.

I loved the politics and issues being discussed in such detail, especially abortion. The medical information was organic and flowed, easily understood.

The romance isn't sweet or fun or even endearing. There's issues from the jump and they don't handle it well. Gordon and Glenna both fucked up really badly and it affected them the rest of their lives.

I wasn't rooting for them to make the second chance relationship work but to get their shit together and get closure in whatever form. They did talk it through so it wasn't like I didn't want them to together again, it was just secondary to progressing as characters for me.

The beginning of the prologue through me for a loop. While the ending is sweet, it seemed too easy.

But I think two factors kept me from getting into Comeback Love: I'm not that big of a fan of pure romance novels and the generation gap so YMMV.

Finally a love story where the aching questions "Why did they break up in the first place?" and "Did they ever get back together?" are answered in one book!  Peter Golden's Comeback Love is a love story about second chances and the one that got away.  As his debut novel I'd say it is an excellent work.

 

The book begins in present day when Gordon Meyers decides to look up his lost love Glenna Rising.  She is surprised to see him but agrees to join him for a drink. As they catch up with each other and reminisce over the past the author takes us back and forth from their previous life to present day as he tells this story.  We are brought back to the 60's when the two meet in a time when they were passionate about their ideals which defined them as well as drew them together. Gordon is a journalist trying to write a book but remains a college student semester by semester whilst avoiding the draft for Vietnam.  Glenna is a med student and caught up in women's rights specifically abortion.  While they are very much in love, their relationship is emotional and intense.  Upon meeting again thirty years later it seems their lives resemble the past.

 

I would describe this as a grown-up love story that feels more believable than most.  It had substance and depth so it did not feel sappy or foolish whatsoever.  I would highly recommend this book to readers who want to graduate from Danielle Steele and/or Nicolas Sparks.  I have put this author's current release "Wherever There is Light" on my wish list.

 

How I acquired this book:  Barnes & Noble clearance shelf

Shelf Life: Two and a half years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water from My Heart 
  Charles Martin
Favorite #1  Best Overall Fiction Book of 2015
Movie Worthy 10 stars (Love, Redemption) 

Concussion 
Jeanne Marie Laskas
#1 Best Non-Fiction of 2015, Sports Medicine/Football
Memoir & Biography, Book- Movie Adaptation

 

Pretty Girls
 Karin Slaughter
Best Crime Thriller of 2015
 "Slaughter at her Finest"

 

Pretty Baby
 Mary Kubica 
Best Hypnotic Psychological  Suspense Thriller

 

Wherever There Is Light  
Peter Golden
Best Historical Fiction
Book -to -Big Screen Adaptation

 

The Guilty  
David Baldacci
Best Audiobook (tie), Best of the Will Robie Series,
Best Double-Twist Climax

Memory Man
 David Baldacci
Best Audiobook (tie), Best Baldacci Novel to date,
Best new series (Amos Decker)

The Crossing
 Michael Connelly
Best Audiobook (tie), Best Collaboration:
Haller/ Bosch, Welliver /Connelly

Trust No One  
Paul Cleave
Best Clever Character Development, Best Twisted
Dark Humor, Best Male Protagonist (Alzheimer’s)

 

Life or Death
Michael Robotham
Best Tour de Force of Crime Writing 
Best Get of Jail Story 

 

"The Talent" Behind the "Best of the Best "

 

* Author featured on 2015
and Top 2014 BookList

 

 

* Charles Martin  

* Mary Kubica

  

David Baldacci

 

* Karin Slaughter  

 

 

 

* Paul Cleave 

  

Michael Connelly
 

Michael Robotham

 

Jeanne Marie Laskas 

  

Peter Golden 

 

 

 

Top 50 Books of 2015  

 

All 5 Starred Reviews of 2015

 

My Year in Books Goodreads
2015 List 

 

Printable PDF List  

 

Top 30 Books of 2014

 

JDC Must Read Books Blog  

 

 

 

 

A lovely tale of romance. I really enjoyed the story line and the historical elements. Post-war Paris was an excellent choice for the central part of the novel: close to things we've all read about but with enough unique detail that it didn't feel derivative. Julian, the main character, is real enough to relate to, but not your stereotypical hero. There are aspects of his character that are hard to love, and so the fact that Kendall doesn't fall into his arms upon meeting him, the complicated nature of the love story, is believable.

There were passages here and there in which the author's research was showing -- hey, I learned this really cool thing and I had to twist the story to fit it in sideways, but isn't learning history cool? -- but honestly, not as bad as other successful historical novels I've read and it was not overbearing. I felt a little remove from Kendall, the female lead in the story. Part of that was just that she wasn't the main character and we needed some narrative distance from her to make the main plot work, but there were times when I wished the author let us get closer to her.

All in all I really loved this book.. it was truly a good read. It just didn't quite rise to the "it was amazing" level for me. I'll definitely want to pick up Peter Golden's next book, though, and I recommend this one to anyone looking for a good book to settle down with this winter.

I got a free copy of this from Net Galley.