The Trouble With Goodbye blog tour: review and giveaway

By Laurie T - June 08, 2013

It's a rainy Saturday on the east coast. What better way to spend the day then with some books? I'll be at a writer's conference but when I get home I know I'll unwind between the pages of something good. We are one of today's stops on The Trouble With Goodbye blog tour hosted by the lovely ladies of AToMR Book Tours. My review is posted below and there is a giveaway to enter. Enjoy the weekend!

The Trouble With Goodbye by Sarra Cannon

New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Dead River Books (self-published) Release date: May 2013

Tour organized by: AToMR Tours

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

One night can change everything…

Two years ago, Leigh Anne Davis shocked everyone in tiny Fairhope, Georgia when she broke up with her wealthy boyfriend to attend an Ivy League university a thousand miles away. At school, she finds a happiness and independence she’s never known.

Until one terrifying night takes it all away from her.

With no place else to go, Leigh Anne heads home to reclaim her old life. A life she worked so hard to escape. On the outside, she seems like the same girl everyone has always known. But deep inside, she’s hiding a terrible secret.

That’s when she meets Knox Warner, a troubled newcomer to Fairhope. His eyes have the same haunted look she sees every day in the mirror, and when she’s near him, the rest of the world fades away. But being with Knox would mean disappointing everyone all over again. If she wants to save what’s left of her old life, she has no choice but to say goodbye to him forever.

Only, the trouble with goodbye is that sometimes it’s about courage and sometimes it’s about fear. And sometimes you’re too broken to know the difference until it’s too late.

About the Author

Sarra Cannon

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Sarra Cannon grew up in a small town in Georgia where she learned that being popular always comes at a price. She is the author of the young adult paranormal Peachville High Demons series, which she first began self-publishing in October of 2010. Since the series began, Sarra has sold over 120,000 copies and recently signed a contract with Sea Lion Books to create a graphic novel adaptation of Beautiful Demons, the first book in the series.

Sarra lives in North Carolina with her amazing husband, her new baby boy, and her teeny tiny Pomeranian, Snickerdoodle.

Leigh Anne returns home to the southern town of Fairhope, back to the family and people she grew up with. For many life hasn't changed them. It has changed Leigh Anne, but she doesn't talk about what happened to her while away at a Boston college. When she avoids hitting a deer and winds up in a ditch, a strange guy comes to her rescue. There's an immediate attraction between her and the hero-like Knox. Is he what she needs to heal or just bad boy eye candy?

The Trouble With Goodbye is a well-written, significant, and moving New Adult contemporary romance. Secrets have a way of surfacing and this theme looms over Leigh Anne like a cloud as her story unfolds. Life in a small town shows us what some residents have to contend with, especially the ones who wish to break away and leave. Leigh Anne has returned home more like a wounded puppy than the independent gal she thought she'd become while away. Circumstances forced her to make a decision and she finds herself home with a judgmental mother and ex-boyfriend who wants to rekindle their past love. But it's the new guy in town, the loner with the blue eyes, who makes her feel again.

Though the story line features nothing new in this genre of issue-based tales, the story itself is well-paced and the characters extremely likable. Both Leigh Anne and Knox are sympathetic in their own ways and they made a great couple despite the numerous obstacles thrown at them to keep them apart. I liked the secondary characters too and disliked Leigh Anne's mother. What some will do to keep their images intact is something else.

I was glad to read a NA with more story than intimacy. While I liked Leigh Anne, I found myself wishing Knox was a narrator as well. I wanted to understand him more, his checkered past in Chicago, and see his woodworking artistry in action. Some of his dialogue seemed like 'telling' in parts and I missed reading the male pov. Leigh Anne's introspectional moments did go on longer than needed in spots, but I was happy with her 'big decision' at the end. Her story of doing what was right for her is a resonating one and could empower other women facing something they were being led to do one way when their head was saying something different.

The Trouble With Goodbye is a poignant contemporary with a moving love story. I hope author Sara Cannon makes this a series. There are some residents of this town demanding their own stories! Prescott, anyone? Knox's cousin?

Rating: 3.5