Come Back To Me

by Tarryn Fisher

Yara Phillips is a wandering muse. She dates men who need her, but always moves on to something new, never staying in one place for very long. David Lisey is in need of a muse. A talented musician lacking lyrical inspiration. When he first sees her, he knows he's found what he's been looking for. Yara believes she can give David exactly what he needs to reach his full A broken heart. David’s religion is love. Yara’s religion is heartache. Neither is willing to surrender, but religion always requires sacrifice.

(This book was previously titled "Atheists Who Kneel and Pray", and published in 2017)

Kindle Edition

Published March 16, 2025

About the author

I would like to write a novel that every, single person loves, but not even J.K. Rowling could do that. Instead, I try to write stories that pull on people's emotions. I believe that sadness is the most powerful emotion, and swirled with regret the two become a dominating force. I love villains. Three of my favorites are Mother Gothel, Gaston and the Evil Queen who all suffered from a pretty wicked case of vanity (like me). I like to make these personality types the center of my stories.
I love rain, Coke, Starbucks and sarcasm. I hate bad adjectives and the word "smolder". If you read my book-I love you. If you hate my book-I still love you, but please don't be mean to me; I'm half badass, half cry baby.

Reviews

[buzy_reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Altheist's Who Kneel and Pray was about Yara's journey at understanding love. For Yara love found her in many ways, yet it caused chaos and pressure for her. Yara's character was unstable, stubborn, and restless. She was unique with corkiness. Yara didn't mold to conformity, instead, she walked to the beat of her own drum. Her character had high and low moments. She was very complex, yet easy to love. She made no apologies for her differences. Yara was a defiant unstable reactive character that moved from one place to another never settling down. David's character was a musician looking for inspiration.

Tarryn has always captivated me as a reader. Each of her books affect me in different ways. Tarryn can turn common words by formulating these amazing sentence structures that blow my mind. Her craft is not the words themselves it's the magic inside the structure.

"...that love was a leap of faith, and that love was just a word until someone gave it a definition.” Just one example of the many quotes Tarryn provided in her book.

Each readers journey will be different as will their perspective about Yara and David. That's the beauty of this type of story. Tarryn transitioned these characters lives allowing the reader an opportunity to experience their feelings and watch them change. How you feel about them as a reader is up to you. Tarryn shared her story but she has no way to determine how you will react as a reader. I can, however, say this story will resonate with you it's that epic. It's an important story about love from Yara's perspective. To me this was a philosophical story about love. Along with Yara I grew learning about love. My knowledge about love was broadened through the words of wisdom Tarryn created.
AUDIO
Listen to the song of David for his inspiration strikes from a cynic of love. Waiting for the epiphany to hit when ready to accept love and become enough to love.

I really like the length of the chapters Tarryn wrote in AWKP. Tarryn always writes intriguing characters. The complexity of their personalities is her signature mark that sets her apart from other authors.

Narrator: I’m loving the British performance. Alexander Cendese and Flinty Williams. I’m not sure which of these narrators is the female or male so I apologize when I voice my complaint about the male performers voice. I hated it. He sounds nothing like the David I pictured in my head. However, the female character was top notch. She gave a splendid performance of Yara’s character.

Story: Yara is skeptical of love. She travels around the world never staying rooted in one place hoping to find herself. Yara never meant to fall in love and when David sits at her bar looking for a muse to inspire his writing as a musician Yara becomes scared and confused by her feelings towards him.

Overall: I usually cringe and runaway myself from these type of characters. Yara’s inability to face her fears and runaway from her feelings is frustrating as a reader. Yet, Tarryn writes a compelling story convincing me not to quit on Yara.
I had to ask myself if I liked Yara’s character. Most of the time I did and didn’t. Her jealousy caused paranoia clouding her judgment of David which was difficult to read. David’s character provided the balance needed to thwart off some of Yara’s personality traits.

[Shabby -BookBistroBlog · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHYYYY why did I delay reading this FANTASTIC book till now, I must be out of my mind!!.
Tarryn shows us a unique facet of love- Sacred side.
If love is sacred then atheists are bound to kneel & pray at its altar, in its church. I'm emotionally overwhelmed by the sheer grandiose splendor of this deeply moving book. It explores the possibilities of inspiration in the form of The Muse.
I believe tarryn meant to portray a Muse as a demi-godess put on a pedestal. she can allure, entice and relocate your inner self so that your hidden, deadened inspiration comes to life. If that was her intention, Yara Philips fits into that persona like a T. David Lisey walks in her bar and turns on his charm full force to flirt with her. He sees that elusive insight that he believes will revive his craft.
Obviously at this point I could see the mega crash in the very near future. And I had even began counting the casualties.
Yara obviously is a nomad so her instinct to decamp and scoot is always in her plans. right from the beginning her "sabotage thyself" game is already in motion. Petra is just a convenient scapegoat, but Yara is a self saboteur to say the least.
Why? Because her childhood held no permanence so she still is projecting abandonment issues.
I can't even tell you how this book spoke to me on a personal level.
Tarryn's acute sensibilities and intense observational skills, at THIS young an age, leave me amazed and frankly jealously dumbfounded every time. even in her Instagram stories, I feel inadequate standing on a higher rung than her in age ladder and SHE teaches me new perspectives, New viewpoints, New lessons every time!!!!
Let's comeback to the story.
The pilgrimage that David takes in the latter half had me teary eyed.
Oh to be loved so deeply, so encompassingly by a superhuman of affections, to experience such thorough & weighty love.......I'm already kneeling and praying for it.
Gawwwed if I ever had a lady boner of magnum proportions, it's when I'm reading Tarryn words. Or in this case listening to them.
#SameDifference
My drool is dribbling embarrassingly so I'll stop here. But I'm a devout fan/adorer/worshipper of all things Tarryn.
Stars & Stars and & Stars

[Dallas]

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2025

**originally read and reviewed as "Atheists Who Kneel and Pray in 2017*

This. Just.... wow.

Tarryn! This was raw. Achingly real, Emotional, Poignant. This burrowed down into the depths of my consciousness and I felt Yara's heart in such a devastating way.
Atheists Who Kneel and Pray [read: Come Back to Me] is a slow build - almost excruciatingly, at times. But Tarryn did a phenomenal job at crafting this story in a way that draws you in - so much that the questions that you usually have when starting a book all melt away and the only thing you are focused on is reading her words. Drawing closer to the unlovable Yara. Knowing what drives her to to protect herself and push everyone away at all cost. And as the story builds and flows, the writing is artistic and easy to read, and the characters are multifaceted, real and broken. You feel like you KNOW them. By the end of the book you know them in a deep, authentic kind of way. Tarryn created YET ANOTHER story that wraps itself around your soul and lingers there.
Seriously. Go into this book blind. Don't even read the blurb. Make time to read it and appreciate the authenticity and the slow build.

Tarryn has a way of making her characters so worldly and fascinating. Digging into their flaws and their idiosyncrasies. I just LOVE that about all of her books. She has such a unique voice.

I was so invested in my reading during the last few chapters that I didn't even realize that I was crying until my tears were hitting the pages and I needed to blow my nose. But somehow, I wasn't crying out of sadness... I was crying out of a understanding. Because you feel Yara's and David's losses and their story. It's messy and it's imperfect. And it feels like what you read was a true account, not a fictional story.
I just love Tarryn's words. ART.

[KDRBCK · Rating 3 out of 5]

nope

[Tiffany S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yara needed some therapy real bad.

[Renee Jamison-Hardman]

New cover of The atheist that kneel and pray.

[Anastępnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book, just made me depressed for about half of it

[Nuella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This used to be called “ Atheists who kneel and pray”… it was a great book! Loved it then and love it now

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yara is everything