Close to Home

Jesse & Sarah #3

by Jeremy Asher

It’s been two years since Jesse and Sarah Malone found each other again, said “I do,” and began their happily ever after. They each have a successful business, two beautiful little girls, and a future better than they could have ever imagined. But all that changes when a stranger walks into Jesse’s office, presenting him with a proposal that will turn his family’s lives upside down and lead him deep into a world of darkness.

Nina Lamont, a partner in Jesse’s architectural design firm, has the dream job, along with a beautiful apartment in downtown Chicago. She has everything a woman her age could want, except for love. After spending the past few years focusing on her career, she’s ready to embark on that quest with Nolan, security specialist by day and musician by night. His good looks, musical voice, and obvious passion for her have Nina head over heels. But the more she falls in love, the more she discovers that she knows little about him, forcing her to make an impossible decision: Either trust in her heart or walk away from the only man she’s ever loved. What she doesn’t realize is that the only thing more dangerous than a broken heart could be Nolan’s secrets.

Close to Home is the third book in the Jesse & Sarah series. This story touches on the safety and comfort of an old love and delivers the excitement and hope of a new love. As Jesse and Nina search for the answers to their questions, their worlds suddenly collide in a way they never expected, reminding them that pain and love are felt the greatest when they’re Close to Home.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Mystery

270 pages, ebook

First published June 30, 2013

About the author

Jeremy is an author of love stories—emotional journeys that include love found and love lost, humor, romance, danger, and twists that leave the story and characters resonating with you long after you turn the last page. Jeremy’s love for life and family are a constant in his books. Whether you’re relaxing at the pool or curling up next to a fire with a glass of wine, his characters come to life as you get lost in his stories.

Jeremy Asher is an award-winning author of seven novels. He lives in Indiana with his wife, four children, and soccer-loving dog, Wylie. When he isn’t writing, he is coaching his kids’ soccer teams, acting as chauffeur for his 13-year-old daughter, or binge-watching The Walking Dead.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My conclusion is that Jesse is an idiot and I feel like one too for wasting my time reading this book. Mentally disturbed young woman shows up in his office claiming to be his half sister and Jesse is willing to risk his own life and those of his wife and daughters to help her out because she thinks her other half brother (unrelated to Jesse) might be in trouble. Really?

[Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another story about Jesse and Sarah. They were enjoying life together when Charlotte shows up and claims to be Jesse's half sister. She is looking for a half brother. The plot thickens. The characters become questionable and are involved with illegal things. So many people become involved. The story ends well, but the story is so "dark' that I did not enjoy it.

[Lillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I could follow this storyline, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read the earlier books in the series.

[Holly Kailani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Happy ending for Sarah and Jesse, not for others

Spoiler alert. This book continues the over the top story of Jesse and Sarah. Nina plays a major role in this one, as she falls in love with Nolan, a man who isn’t what she thought at first. Jesse’s half sister Charlotte comes into their lives, saying she is looking for her brother Charlie. Jesse is looking for Charlie and gets involved with Ernie, the man who got Robbie involved in robberies, and is almost killed because of it. Nolan is Charlie-saw that coming a mile away. Charlotte shoots both Sarah and Charlie. I won’t completely spoil the ending by saying who dies. Just too over the top to make sense or be enjoyable.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Close to Home

As a book by it's self it was pretty good. I was disappointed as it is the 3rd book in the series. I didn't like the character of Jesse in this book and I absolutely loved him in the first two. He seemed harder, jaded and downright angry. Very quick to use his fists instead of analyzing a situation as he had done in the past. He was also lying to Sarah and a police officer. Wasn't the same character I had fallen in love with in the first two novels.
Good storyline but about confusing because just about everyone is lying to everyone else.

[Marie Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome Book!

All I can say is Close to Home was a really intense book filled with passionate people. I loved every page and couldn't stand to put the book down, even to go retrieve my laundry from the dryer! I'm weary of sports on tv so I've been reading while everyone else watches tv. Jeremy Asher, you really wrote an amazing closing story for this series. Thank you for writing all those mystifying, scary, confusing, passionate, and love-filled scenes. You kept me captivated throughout this book. I hope to write one day, as well as you do.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 3 in the Sarah & Jesse series; they keep getting better each time!! I really enjoyed, CLOSE TO HOME.
JESSE & SARAH ARE LIKE FRIENDS! THIS BOOK KEEPS YOU THINKING YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING BUT YOU WON'T. VERY BEST STORIES I HAVE READ IN YEARS. WITH THE EXCEPTION, "WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING", WOW!

[Jennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a new author for me and one that I won't read again. The story is more about a mentally ill woman than it is about romance. Instead of calling this a contemporary romance, it should be suspense romance.

[Tonya Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lies can be deadly

Wow! This book is like a rollercoaster when Jesse finds out that he has a half sister and needed help finding her brother. But things get deadly when charollet becomes unstable.

[Renata SG · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS AN ENJOYABLE SERIES ... GOID STORY & CHARACTERS

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this series, sad to be finished, but enjoyed every book!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book

You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA

[Delia Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

book 3 of jesse and sarah.

abuse, murder, regrets, love changes lives. good read.

[Muriel Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just another fluff book. OK not great

[Bloggeretterized · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 not quite 2 not quite 3 stars. Overall good quick reas

[Andrea Somers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all of the Jeremy Asher books. Hard to put down, as you are wanting to know what happens next.

[Elizabeth Foy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy, lovely read

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Startling Conclusion

I just finished this trilogy. It was a different ending to a special love story. I couldn't reconcile with this Jesse. It was still a good read.

[Eileen Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good mystery

There were lots of twists and turns in this book. It was fast paced and a great read. Sure to be enjoyed by all who read it .

[Fawn Barrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this trilogy much! Full of twists and turns. Didn't want it to end!

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one took me a while. I did not like it as much as the first two, but it is still a good book, and finishes up the story pretty well.

Why I did not like it as much? Pretty much had it figured out by the about a third of the way through, and I was right. I was getting so mad at Jesse for the stupid shit he was doing, I know something bad was going to happen (which it did) and I did not what to know what it was, but then again I did so I kept reading. Just did not get into like I did the first two which I had a hard time putting down when I started reading.

I really loved the story overall, Jesse & Sarah finally made it and I am so glad. There was horrible loses along the way, but they got the happy ever after they both deserve.

I would really like to see another book where Mr. Asher develops Nina and Nolan. And the also have Rachel find her one true love as well.

[Linda Branich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Jesse and Sarah series and takes place two years after book 2.

Both Jesse and Sarah have successful businesses. One day a woman walks into Jesse's office and introduces herself as Jesse's half sister. (Same father, different moth. She says she has come to Chicago to look for her half brother
( same mother but different fathers, so Jesse is not related to Charlie). Jesse agrees to help her, but to do so he must contact some of his older brother's former underworld "friends".

This is a fast-paced book with unexpected twists and turns. I did not expect the ending.

Jeremy Asher continues his theme of close family ties. I love his characters, even the bad guys. Asher weaves a picture of each character with his words, so it is easy to visualize them.

I recommend this series.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 3 of a trilogy, I read in the wrong order. So not fully knowing the backstory but guessing how the blanks work out I really enjoyed this book about Sarah and Jesse. The characters well written throughout the trilogy and a lot more than I would have expected. The title does not give anything away when I picked this up to read. I like being surprised when diving into a book. After reading I went back and read the first two book. I feel like we got the whole story and it was sweet and touched my heart. I might look for more books by Jeremy Asher to read.

[Peg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first two books in this series and enjoyed them so I was anxious to read Book 3, Close to Home.

New characters were introduced in Book 3 along with mystery; however, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first two. I think perhaps I couldn't believe what unreasonable risks Jesse (one of the two protagonists) was willing to take with his life and those closest to him.

It's best to read this series in order. Book 3 refers to past happenings quite often which seemed to slow down the entire story.

[Tami Urbanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok this one I liked a bit more cuz it was not so much of the back and forth love crap with Jesse..(although I found myself getting sick of re reading the history of things over and over again..) I do think he was a bit "dim witted" about just bringing this person into his life even after what he was able to find online about her..and almost instantly I knew Charlie/Nolan was the same person.. I was pleased however to see that the only person who died in this one was the person who started it all..Over all I would say this was a pretty decent series and I will read more by this author

[Vi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book, not as much as the first two but I did enjoy reading it. Jeremy Asher is an excellent writer. He gives amazing details and I feel like I can relate to the characters in a way. I look forward to reading more from him. I wasn't disappointed at all with the series. This book was definitely different from the first two but I liked the twist. It had a good ending and I was happy that it ended the way it did. I do hope there will be a book about Nina and Nolan and see where the story takes them. I do recommend this book series.

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

I read the trilogy and decided to review the series. The first book was the most interesting, and the second and third books less so. The plot was unbelievable. So much loss and heartache for one man just became too much. Sarah annoyed me in this book-leaving Jesse made little sense. He took risks in trying to find Charlie for his sister who he knew so little about. As I said, unbelievable. I try to avoid cliffhangers but the series was free so I hung in there. Wouldn't purchase books 1 and 2 otherwise.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite of the three books but it was still good. Throughout most of the book I wanted to slap some sense into Jessie for the idiotic decisions he was making. I would love to have another book in the series that stars Nina and Nolan so that we can see where their relationship goes. It was a good series and although it wasn't my usual genre I enjoyed it.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the first two books in this series, I had high hopes for Close to Home. Unfortunately, it fell short. This book almost seemed like it didn't fit into this series - the main focus was on new characters we'd never heard of before, instead of Jesse and Sarah. And the story line was absurd (and frankly recycled a bunch of "shocking!" plot points from the other two books).

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the first 2 books in this series, you just didn't know what to expect. There were several surprises that caught me off guard. Jesse and Sarah had what most people would consider a normal life with a home and 2 beautiful children. Factions from their past would step in and disrupt their routines and their lives.

I was reaching for tissues before the end. Well done.