REVIEW: After You Were Gone by Alexis Harrington

 
After You Were Gone by Alexis Harrington has Mitchell Tucker returning home after a seven year jail sentence. He has no intentions of staying in Gila Rock; he only wants forgiveness from Julianne Boyce for being involved in the fire that killed her husband. He also wants to know why she went from being in love with him to suddenly breaking it off to marry Wes in the first place.

Julianne never stopped loving Mitch, but she can’t trust him after the fire the took Wes’s life eight years earlier. He won’t go away though. She needs help at her farm and her store, and he’s determined to do so with the hopes that maybe one day she’ll be able to forgive him.

I felt for Mitch. Even though his two brothers were also at the scene of the fire, he took the whole blame for what happened that night. His brothers, however, don’t appreciate that and give him hell for spending time with Julianne. His father is a sorry excuse for a father, who has nothing but hate towards Julianne’s family for reasons he won’t reveal to his sons. He can’t get the job he wants because of his criminal record, and he just can’t seem to catch a break.

I had mixed feelings about Julianne. On one hand, I understood why she broke up with Mitch and married Wes. On the other hand, if she just told her father of her feelings for Mitch before he passed away, maybe he wouldn’t have worried so much about her and arrange a marriage for her. There were times I wished she had taken a harder stance with Cade, instead of putting off telling him she didn’t return his feelings. I did like when she finally took a stand for herself, though.

“Well, someone has been telling me what to do most of my life. My father saddled me with his dream of carrying on the tradition of the pig farm, even though I didn’t want it. And before he died, he saddled me with a husband I didn’t love to supervise me. They claimed they knew what was best for me and nothing I said could change their minds. Now, no father, half brother, husband, your brothers, whoever, are going to make me feel like I can’t stand on my own two feet and accomplish something in this world.”

Speaking of Cade, he did such an about face that it confused me. For a good deal of the book he was caring and concerned about Julianne, but when she confesses a secret she found out about their families, he becomes violent and scares her. Then he takes off. So I would like to know who the real Cade was. Was he the caring and concerned man that pined after Julianne, or was he somewhat crazy man he ended up being? And where did he disappear to? I would have liked a little more closure on that front.

After You Were Gone was a well-written story about second chances, making amends, and finding forgiveness.

Book Info:

 February 7, 2017 | Montlake Romance |

Mitchell Tucker has come back to the small Texas town of Gila Rock looking for something Julianne Boyce has no intention of giving him: forgiveness. It’s been eight years since Mitch went to jail for starting a fire that claimed her husband’s life…and longer still since Juli and Mitch fell into a forbidden first love that their feuding families brought to an end. She’s lost too much because of his thoughtlessness to let herself fall under that familiar spell again.

But no matter how much she ignores him, Mitch isn’t leaving. Soon he’s helping out at her farm and her new store, trying to make amends, melting the cold shell Juli’s built around her heart. There’s a world of hurt and mistrust between them—but there’s also one last chance to uncover the truths that might bring them back together once more…