Review: Walk Me Home by Liza Kendall

Walk Me Home
(Silverlake Ranch #1)
by Liza Kendall
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Publication date: Jan. 7, 2020
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Firefighter Jake Braddock is used to fixing things, and he’s never met a problem he couldn’t solve–except for his sweet ex-girlfriend Charlotte Nash.

Charlie Nash has been a big-city girl ever since her family made a clean break from their small town, after the tragedy that drove a wedge between Jake and her wealthy parents. She’s never gotten over abandoning Jake–and he hasn’t, either.

Then Charlie returns to Silverlake to stand as a bridesmaid opposite Jake in her cousin’s wedding. The event sparks awkwardness, laughter, and heartbreak as they dance to the tune of the craziest bride in the west…and repair broken family bonds.

Can their long-lost love find a second chance?

Walk Me Home is a second chance romance set in a small town. When Jake was younger, his family was broken apart from tragedy and he found himself spending more and more time at his best friend, Brandon’s, house. Pretty soon, the Nash’s practically adopted him and he started to stay at their house full time. However, when his parents caught wind of his and Charlie (their daughter’s) romance, they kind of gave him the boot. Shortly after that, the house caught on fire, and even though Jake went in the house to save everyone inside, he was ultimately blamed for setting the fire. The family packed up and moved and he hasn’t heard or seen Charlie since. However, now that her cousin is about to be married, she’s back in town. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’s a stand-in groomsman paired up with none other than Charlie herself.

This sounded like it would be such a great read, but it left a lot to be desired. I felt there was a lot there to work off from, but the story focused so much on their current situation, that I felt like the past was an afterthought. I guess I just didn’t understand how the Nash family could behave the way they did, both in the past and present. Let alone, how when the two bump into each other years later, they don’t act like this huge thing ever happened. I mean, if Charlie really thought he caused the fire all those years ago that ultimately killed her grandmother, I’d think she’d be a little more upset at seeing him. Instead you’d think he was simply just a guy she knew growing up that might has said her hair was ugly or something. I just felt like things didn’t add up.

One thing that I really liked about this story was Jake. Due to that awful fire years ago, he’s since become a firefighter. Not only that, but he does PT for patients in the hospital. One of those patients is none other than Charlie’s grandfather. Even though Grandpa Nash is a ornery old fart, Jake stays strong, continues to work with Grandpa Nash and helps get him back on track. Not only that, but when his sister begs him to stand-in for the wedding, a wedding for one of his enemies, he does it. Even though that means schmoozing with the Nash clan and having them all stare daggers at him.

Walk Me Home had so many elements that I love, but I felt like the execution just wasn’t there. I never fully grasped the accident and how things played out the way they did. I never understood why people treated him the way they did in the present setting. I also just didn’t get the romance aspect. I felt like we were just supposed to be on board that these two had a past and therefor there wasn’t a need for a build-up because they already laid the foundation back when they were teens. I also don’t understand their happily ever after when she was only visiting for the wedding, and his life is there. They never addressed it, it’s just assumed that… what? She drops her career and stays? He says goodbye to all of his friends and the fire dept family and moves in with her? Maybe this is all explained in the next book, but I just felt like so much was just not fully formed and laid out.