When You Returned by Havelah McLat: A Review

About the Book

Is their love strong enough to heal the wounds of the past?

Once a renowned skater, Jaclyn is now a single mother, working at the beloved skating rink in a small town in Colorado that has been in her family for generations. When the rink is at risk of being lost, she looks for help from professionals.

The last person she expects to help them get back on their feet is Lavern, an old flame from high school.

After running from grief over the loss of his brother eight years ago, Lavern is back in town on assignment from a company that helps struggling businesses. Assigned to help the rink recover, he now must face the girl he once loved and left behind.

Together, Lavern and Jaclyn are the only hope to save her family’s rink. But confronting the pain of the past might be more than they can imagine.

Book Review

When You Returned is a sweet romance novel with an interesting plot line, well-developed and lovable characters, and themes of love and healing.

There was so much that I enjoyed from this book. First and foremost, I love any book that involves ice skating because I also love ice skating. So I was really excited about this being a central idea in the novel. Secondly, I appreciate the development of the characters and the growth that I saw in Jaclyn and Lavern. Both Lavern and Jaclyn are holding on to the past–their previous romance and past hurts and pains. Jaclyn struggles to come with grips with the fact that this man she loved deeply had abandoned her and is suddenly back in her life. She has to figure out how to forgive him–and to reveal a long kept secret.

Lavern is still grieving the death of his brother and Mistson brings back too many unwanted and painful memories. Not to mention, he wants to try to mend fences with Jaclyn but she keeps him at a distance.

The past and present meld for both of these characters as they start to heal from what had happened. I really enjoyed the back and forth between the past and the present. Not only did it help readers to understand the characters better, but it also helped to bring suspense into the novel and to move the plot line along.

While I enjoyed most of the novel, there were times where I felt like I just could not get into the story. Sometimes it felt like the author was telling and not showing what happened. However, I would still highly recommend this novel, especially if you like sweet and clean romances.

I had received a complimentary copy of the book and this is my honest review.

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