Review: Come to Me Quietly (Closer to You #1) by A.L. Jackson

Title: Come To Me Quietly
Author: A.L. Jackson
Published: January 7th 2014
Source: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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Caution: May contain spoilers

Aleena Moore is content with her life. She has goals and dreams and an easy smile. She also has a secret she holds locked inside.

Jared Holt believes he doesn’t deserve to love or be loved. He destroys everything he touches. Haunted by the mistake that shattered his life, he’s fled from the memory of that pain.

Jared doesn’t know why he’s compelled to return, but finds himself drawn back to the place where it all began. The exact place where it ended. When he runs into his childhood best friend, Aleena’s older brother Christopher, he agrees to share Christopher and Aleena’s apartment while he looks for a place of his own.

Aleena is no longer the little girl Jared remembers from his past and evokes feelings in him he never wanted to feel again. Terrified of destroying her, he fights to keep her away. But her touch is something he can’t resist—the touch that sealed his fate.

Their pasts are intertwined and their futures uncertain. The only truths they know are the secrets they whisper in the night.

My Thoughts:

I just so happened to come across a sweet little quote from this novel one day and it drew me in. After reading the synopsis, I had to buy this book. And oh my goodness...was it worth it. I was pulled into this story and it gripped me from beginning to end.

Told in both Aleena's and Jared's POV, you get all the emotion on both ends. There are also sections taking us back to when they were both younger, which shows the friendship of the past, but it's mostly in the present. Jared was always protective of Aleena growing up, and being back after six years doesn't change that. But there's also something more below the surface, something they both want but know shouldn't be, couldn't be...

Jared's haunted by the past, and there's a strong connection with Aleena, her brother, and their family that increases it tenfold. And yet, Aleena is bringing something out in him that isn't painful. Something he doesn't think he deserves, but she knows he does. They become close again, and despite Jared believing he shouldn't, he can't stop his attraction to her. And Aleena never could, even after he left. Yet, the past isn't going to just go away. Can Jared learn how to go forward instead of remaining there for the rest of his life?

Come To Me Quietly was one of the most intensely beautiful stories I've ever read in my life. As I turned each and every page, my heart was full of all sorts of emotions. When I neared the end, I found myself sobbing and my heart aching. A.L. Jackson has written something I could never ever in a million years forget. Jared and Aleena's story will stay with me for a long time. I highly (HIGHLY) recommend picking this one up.

My Rating: