No Going Back

by Cerian Hebert

As if moving from Los Angeles to a New Hampshire town with less than two hundred residents isn't enough for ex-Hollywood socialite, Ari Milbanke, she has a house full of someone else's life, the lonely ghost of a teen-aged girl and a handsome neighbor who runs a horse rescue facility. She has a lot ahead of her as she settles her two young daughters into their new life while trying to hide the one she left behind.

Sam Beauchamp was content with his life. Rescuing and training horses has always satisfied him, but when newcomer, Ari and her daughters came into his life he realized how much was missing. Even the ghost attached to the decade’s old mysterious disappearance isn’t enough to deter him. What might, though, is Ari’s inability to be open with her past and who she really is.

Genres: Contemporary Romance

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 25, 2013

Reviews

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5.0

“No Going Back” is a wonderfully detailed account of the road to love, with all the little touches, conversations and smiles that make the journey so spectacular and fun.

Read full review in the 2013 July/August double issue of InD’tale Magazine.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ari St. Germain is a household name. Ari Milbanke, not so much. So it's Ari Milbanke who purchases the house on twenty acres, putting a continent and a name change between her high-profile L.A. life (and her creepy ex-husband) and her new life in a tiny New Hampshire town. The house was sold as-is and the previous owner was a pack rat, so it's full of stuff: antique furniture, vintage china, and family photos, all surrounded by cobwebs and piles of junk.

Oh, and it also has a ghost, but she seems harmless enough.

As an added bonus, Ari's closest neighbor is Sam Beauchamp, the ruggedly handsome owner of a horse rescue operation. He's single, and not looking to get involved with anyone, but the attraction between Sam and Ari is instantaneous (and totally believable). Ari wants to put down roots for herself and her two daughters, and while she wasn't looking for a man, she knows she's found a good one in Sam.

I loved seeing how these two navigated their developing relationship. The conflicts were organic, the ghost story was fun, and the secondary characters were quirky and real. The setting also totally worked for me, and now I'm dying to go ride horses through the New England countryside in the fall. The naughty scenes were hot without being too graphic, and overall I can highly recommend this book.

[C.D. Hersh · Rating 5 out of 5]

What’s not to love about a book that pulls on your heart? You follow Ari, a single mother who is trying to get away from a youthful life of indulgence and raising two girls. Mix in the hunky neighbor, Sam, who happens to own a horse rescue ranch in Leith’s Common, New Hampshire; the beautiful descriptions of fall in that area; plus a mystery and a ghost and you have a story that just never stops that you don’t want to put it down.

Ari is putting her wild, Hollywood lifestyle behind her by moving to the opposite side of the country. She wants her daughters to have a quiet life in which she is involved. Purchasing a furnished house should not have meant that it was furnished with a ghost and a mystery. Solving the mystery, removing the ghost, and keeping her old life from intruding is what Ari must do to be able to stay in the house next to the hunky neighbor Sam.

Sam is part of the volunteer fire fighters in the small community and is attracted to Ari the first time he sees her. After having lost two loves, Sam never expected to find love again. That was before he met Ari and her girls.

Be sure to have your tissues ready as you read this book and follow the twist and turns of Ari and Sam’s romance, ghost hunting, and a resolution to the mystery.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up as a free kindle offering from Amazon. This was really good. A little touch of the paranormal, which I was nervous about, but it worked out well. Very enjoyable.