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Hill Country Heat #1

Long Road Home

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What should have been a beautiful new beginning is undone by the hatred and envy of another.

Ten years ago, Kaine Keeley watched in horror as the love of his life turned his back on him, taking with him his one true chance at happiness. Now that he's no longer the penniless, shy boy he once was, Kaine is ready to fight and take back what was stolen from him.

A long time ago, Graeson Hardin thought that Kaine was worth fighting for. But after witnessing a crushing betrayal, he ran and never looked back. He wants nothing now but to live his life of solitude, protected from a love that almost destroyed him.

When Kaine shows up ten years later with a heartfelt apology and a believable explanation, Graeson must decide if he can make peace with his past to have the possibility of the future he always wanted.

Having traveled different roads in life, will these former lovers be able to battle the evil that may still be working to keep them apart and find a way to begin their long journey back home?

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2016

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60 people want to read

About the author

J.C. Jaynes

1 book13 followers
I am a native Houstonian, with a deep love of Texas, especially our gorgeous Hill Country. I am mother to five awesome children who, like their mom, are all weird and quite possibly a little bit nutty. I attended the University of Houston and have BA in Business Administration. By day I am a Treasury Analyst in the Oil & Gas industry but by night, I let my inner freak-flag fly.

I have always been an avid reader. I distinctly remember begging my poor mother to paint my room lavender so that it would coordinate with my Harlequin romance novel collection that had taken over my room. My love of romance has evolved over the years to a passion for darker, more dangerous love that is hard fought. After stumbling upon my first M/M novel I was blown away and from then on I was hooked. My love of hot, sexy men aside, I love to read - and now write - stories with rough, sexy alpha males that struggle to find their HEA. My stories can be sparked by a name I hear, a delicious recipe I see, or even the lyrics of a song that move me. I will hear it or see it and a complete character pops into my brain demanding that I write their story.

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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Line.
1,082 reviews171 followers
October 4, 2016
*Sigh* I think maybe second-chance-romances are not for me. And it's too bad since I love the IDEA of second chances, but my preconceived notions of how one should go about it, are too rigid compared to reality.
This is the second second-chance-romance I had high hopes for, that did not work at all.
description

Kaine was an IDIOT, and Grae did not have enough back-bone for my tastes. I like that Grae sort of makes Kaine work for it (until he doesn't... That restaurant scene *UGH*) but when Kaine says: "We both have some responsilbility for the way things turned out." I was seeing RED!
I get that Kaine was insecure, and I get that Grae should have opened his mouth then, but JEEBUS ROLLERBLADING CHRIST, I'm really not impressed with that choice for Kaine.


So yeah, if anyone knows of a second-chance romance where the MCs have more back-bone, integrity and grit, and we have real grovelling, I would love a recommendation.
Until then I think I am leaving the second-chance books to someone else.
description
Profile Image for Pianka *call me PIU*.
418 reviews
September 29, 2016
3.5 Stars

“Long Road Home” by J.C. Jaynes is a very emotional and passionate second chance romance story. The estranged lovers coming together at the end was quite satisfying. I am a big fan of this trope and this book provided the perfect angst filled reunion with some hot and heavy love-making in between.

Kaine keeley and Graeson Hardin had been inseparable and in love when they were in college. Graeson had planned out his future with his boyfriend, away from the controlling hold of his father, ready to start a new life with the “Love of his Life”. But due to a huge misunderstanding that shredded Grae’s heart completely, he ran and left Kaine behind. Kaine has kept tabs on his love for almost a decade and meanwhile he strives full speed ahead towards a future where he can be worthy of standing beside Grae, whom he is determined to get back no matter what. So now after a decade of heartbreak, Kaine is ready to win Grae back. He just has to convince Grae that they both are still very much in love with each other.

Kaine and Grae’s romance was the age old kind. They had been in love and they still are after so many years. Graeson felt betrayed with what had happened in the past and he has kept that bitterness in his heart because he still has feelings for Kaine. Both had not been able to move on and the anticipation of them coming together was huge from the start of the story.

After 10 years, Grae and Kaine have changed a lot. They are not the same college students who had stars in their eyes and were so much in love. Life has jaded them both. Their reunion was more about building trust, knowing and loving each other again than clearing the misunderstanding that have kept them apart for so long.

The couple had a huge communication gap and I am afraid that it did not get any better the second time around. I wanted to hit Graeson on the head after he keeps on repeating his past mistakes. Kaine was a sweetheart and I loved his determination and passion to go after his man with single minded determination.

The big event that tore them apart was revealed in a flashback and it justified the way Graeson just up and left after it happens. I just felt weird that he did not try to confront Kaine about his actions even after being so much in love with the guy. What he saw was not that conclusive and also he should have given Kaine at least a chance to let him explain himself. Grae’s actions showed that he did not have enough trust in Kaine, the guy with whom he was ready to spend his entire life with. So that was a pretty big hole for me in the romance department.

The pacing of the story is nice. The explosive chemistry between Grae and Kaine was scorching. Ten years of pent up passion is stuffed in this story to the gills. It is hot and a pure heaven for smut lovers.

Few issues like the non-existent trust on Grae’s part and the severe lack of information about Kaine’s work life dropped the rating for me by 1 star. I am giving this book a 3.5 star for the angsty reunion and the “shirt-tearing” smexy bits. If you are a fan of passionate and emotional reunion romance, then this definitely the book for you.

*This review has been cross posted at GayBookReviews*
Profile Image for Juxian.
438 reviews43 followers
November 11, 2016
I have no scruples rating a book I didn't finish. Because if it can help even one of my friends to never start it, I think my task is complete. Yes, I should have known when I saw the rating. But I love second chance stories, I thought maybe it wouldn't be just so horrible. Only it was. If you need an example of what a graphomaniac's writing looks like, that's this book. The author certainly likes to write. The words pour out of her, spill in every direction, with everything described equally lovingly and in detail: the looks and clothes of every waitress serving the characters, the taste of every meal and drink they have, the past relationship of the main characters with every secondary character - and there are hordes of secondary characters - and endless conversations with those secondary characters...
And if you somehow claw through all that to the guys who are actually the main characters of the book and their relationship, you'll find two cardboard figures involved in a conflict based on inane misunderstandings in the past and more inane misunderstadings in the present. They don't behave like real people, they don't think or feel like real people.
It's really quite sad. For a moment I thought about not putting this book into the "never-again" folder because what if the author got better, after all, everyone starts somewhere. But I don't think it's likely in the next ten years.
Profile Image for Diverse.
1,179 reviews53 followers
September 30, 2016
3.75 Stars


The Long Road Home is absolutely a second chance romance. Graeson and Kaine met in college and were friends first. So it was a friends to lovers. They fell deeply in love with each other. They were each other’s everything. I’m talking full on LOVE. But of course that couldn’t last and something happened, something horrible and Graeson walked out of Kaine’s life for what he thought was forever.

Fast forward 10 years later. Kaine is in a place in his life where he’s not the poor, shy, struggling guy anymore. Now he, and his amazingly fabulous friend Honey, are filthy rich and Kaine has moved his life to Perfect, Texas to win back the man he loves.

I really loved the challenge in this. I loved that it wasn’t easy. Graeson really and truly was beyond angry with Kaine and seeing it through his eyes I understood. But then knowing the truth through Kaine’s POV I found Graeson’s hatred upsetting.

For the record this is told in the omniscient POV so we do get both of these guys thoughts and such but we also get everyone’s. We have jerk face Trent, Honey, Justin, Tyler…. The list goes on. So there’s no question where everyone’s feelings are at any time. I liked that even, though for some reason it takes me awhile to get used to omniscient POV.

When Grae and Kaine do finally fall BACK into love it was like a rubber band snapping. One minute Kaine was a whore in Graeson’s eyes the next he was sweetie so it did feel sort of like falling into a lusty ditch.

There was a lot of story here from sabotaging Kaine and Graeson’s relationship, to coming out, to accepting life change, to forgiveness, and wow there was a lot of sex in this book.

On a personal level I want to say this. I never mind the babes, hun, and all that. I’ve felt however it needs to fit the character. Take Honey for example he loves to call people Lover. And it works for him he could call them glitter gummy balls and it would totally make sense. I found when Graeson called Kaine sweetie that it didn’t fit and I hoped I’d get used to it but I couldn’t.

All in all this was a fun, exciting, romantic, sexy story and I will be looking out for book 2 in this series.
Profile Image for Jenny Wood.
Author 26 books310 followers
September 30, 2016
*I received this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Hot cover right?! I thought so too!

First, I want to tell you there will be spoilers in this!
*Spoiler alert* *Spoiler alert* *Spoiler alert* *Spoiler alert* *Spoiler alert* *Spoiler alert*
That was your warning!

Okay…. This one took me a little bit to get into. The dialogue was… not good. It was narrated from both sides POV and it was hard to differentiate which was which, it switched on a dime.
Kaine moved to Perfect, Texas to get his man. He’d up and sold his business and left the comfort of his best friend and home to move be with Graeson. Kicker? He hasn’t seen or talked to him for a decade.

Graeson was just…. I dunno, I understand being hurt and thinking that the man you thought you wanted to spend your life with cheated on you. But the dialogue… oooh the dialogue. I remember my grandma used to chase after us kids for getting in the cookie jar, swearin up a blue streak with curse words that didn’t go together, she just threw them altogether and we’d laugh ourselves sick at it. That’s what this reminded me of.

And then the whole time Kaine is trying to get Grae to meet him, it’s so cryptic what he done or what Grae thought he done, although I knew it had to do with cheating, and I suspected it had to do with the old friend Trent since he weird-cussed him as well in the beginning. THEN we find out what really happened and… sigh… I dunno, it just wasn’t believable to me… and how come when he saw Grae, the many times Grae was telling him he didn’t want anything to do with him, instead of saying he wanted to win him back and he came back for him, why not just tell him the truth? Like, hey dude… we both got played by your friend and here’s what happened… But he didn’t, he just told him he was drunk, which was like a fraction of the story and that’s all he says the whole time he’s trying to get Grae back…WHY NOT JUST TELL HIM THE WHOLE STORY??

I absolutely loathed Trent, I spent the whole book waiting for retribution or revenge or a karmatic beatdown on a man who well deserved that and then some. Everything he done was psycho and I’m glad he got his in the end.

Here’s the things I enjoyed about the story. Graeson’s family and friends and Kaines bestie Honey and his partner Shaw. Honey had a flare for dramatic that was a lot of the time annoying, he just went above and beyond even when he talked but he was the one good thing Kaine had in his life for as long as they both could remember. They both came from a crazy childhood and one relied on each other for so long. I was glad that they both had each other and no matter what, that would never change. Even Shaw came around at the end, I had a feeling Kaine wasn’t his favorite person.
I loved how much Grae and Kaine loved each other, even though it was corny and cheesey and over the top too, especially the dialogue like I said, but they loved each other so much and I was really glad everything worked out for them in the end.
3 stars for me.

Profile Image for Lisa.
3,521 reviews139 followers
December 25, 2016
I was given a copy of this book free by the author in exchange for an unbiased review.

Kaine and Graeson had a history. They had spent 3 years together but a 'misunderstanding' ended them and now 10 years later Kaine is back and determined to get Graeson back.
Told mostly in the present with a couple of flashbacks you see their love happen 10 years ago and then the work of Trent who broke it all apart.
Kaine moves to perfect, Texas to win Graeson back.
He engineers meeting him and inviting him to dinner. Graeson doesn't want to go, he cant forgive for what happened years ago but the 2 end up at dinner and the relationship begins. There is angst and Trent is back to wreck havoc.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in 1 sitting. I loved Kaine and the way he way he was determined to win back Graeson.
The cast of secondary characters were amazing. I LOVED Honey. The way he was so protective of Kaine. For Graeson and Honey's partner Shaw, it must have been difficult to accept their relationship.
Loved the 2 times Graeson and Kaine get it on in the kitchen and then head back out to their guests assuming, they didn't know what went on, but unawares that their friends heard everything.
I see this book is labelled as book 1 and I can't wait to read further books in the series.
Profile Image for Qin.
537 reviews45 followers
March 11, 2020
Though I hate to deliver a crushing verdict on a new author's first book, it has to be said that this offering not only fails to pan out as a romance due to the amateurish literary chops on display, but that it falls a long way off its, admittedly modest, goals by awkwardly dabbing in several tropes which readers of romance have excellent reasons to loathe (such as cheating that is not vital for the large-scale plotting) whilst making a mockery of the narrative line (while it takes brazen guts to proffer yet another instance of young lovers who get parted through the scheming hostility of the family one of them belongs to, this should never be flung in the reader's face as a case of star-crossed love when it is only too obvious that the lads only ever broke up through the flimsiest of miscommunications). I feel disrespected by this book being branded a second chance romance when nobody can doubt how much the estrangement between the leads has been machined in such as fashion that it reeks of cheap artifice, either because the writer does not know better or due to her not caring one lick. Anyway, Lond Road Home is a bad melodrama galore full of contrived actions not a few of which are cringeworthy, stilted volleys of dialogue that tend to revolve over hair-splitting matters, and inconsistent heat. The rather pervasive layer of spelling mistakes and soloecisms does not help.
Profile Image for ~BookNeeds~.
799 reviews16 followers
March 10, 2020
Ugh this was a disaster!! I was liking it, the beginning was actually very good then....the book got bipolar. It was smexy, smushy and then ventured in to cheesiness. It was as if the author couldn’t decide what the book was about. Reconnection? Redemption? Angst? Love story? Nope, better luck next book.
Profile Image for Tristan.
918 reviews20 followers
October 7, 2016
2/5

The book had a promising concept but failed to deliver.
While I embraced the whole second-chance plot, the set up and plot progression were all over the place - from the absurdity of the and the get together was a disappointment for me.

Didn't help that the narration was incredibly abrupt with disruptive time-skip and shift of events, unsupported by transition, making the story hard to follow as well as ruining emotional effects of certain scenes. Not to mention the choppy jumped between narration that threw me off a few time, though I've gotten used to it after a while.

The writing, unfortunately, was awkward with some strange sentences, and several grammar mistake that could have been caught with just another round of editing.

The author's inexperience is apparent through the writing, understandingly so given this is her first book. However, the book hasn't been a fun ride for me.
Profile Image for Jennie.
850 reviews26 followers
September 21, 2016
I really enjoyed Kaine & Graeson's story. Years ago they had the beginnings of a great love story until a jealous friend & their own secrets & insecurities brings it to a crushing end. Ten years later Kaine decides it's time to set the record straight & get his man back.

I like how the story was paced. Everything flowed together well. I was kept interested & entertained the whole way through. The sex was pretty hot too..

I really liked both of the main men as well as all of the secondary characters. I look forward to reading more about these men in the future.

I did find a few mistakes as I read but they didn't really pull me from the story. As I received an ARC these issues may have been dealt with by the time of publishing....

This is the first book I have read by J.C. Jaynes but it won't be my last. Overall a great read I would happily recommend.

I received an ARC for an honest review.
Profile Image for Elithanathile.
1,927 reviews
January 29, 2019
This horrible book is not worthy of such a wonderful cover!! Like the cover? That's where the beauty ends, because this book was absolute crap >:-o!!!
Profile Image for Jaymie.
673 reviews11 followers
December 31, 2016
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***

Kaine and Graeson were deeply in love while in college. Unfortunately, when a plot to destroy their love succeeds at making Graeson pack up and run away, Kaine is left trying to pick up the pieces. Ten years is a long time but Kaine has been biding his time, making himself into a man worthy of Graeson Hardin. Now he's ready to tell Graeson the truth about what happened and win back the man he lost. Only Graeson isn't ready to see Kaine again, let alone speak to him and take a chance on love for a second time.

Unfortunately, Long Road Home didn't quite live up to my expectations. I fell in love with the cover, so admittedly I went into it with rose-colored glasses, but I just wanted something that would lead me on an emotional ride. This wasn't it.

I like angst and drama but I want it to be believable, I want it to make some kind of sense. I truly can't enjoy a story where the main conflict is a misunderstanding that could've been cleared up in 5 minutes with a conversation. It's something that seems to be prominent in New Adult books which annoyed me when I read them, and now more and more, I'm seeing them in the kind of books I'm reading now.

If Graeson would have confronted Kaine about what happened, he could've had the entire situation explained to him and they could've worked through it. The fact that he ran away instead shows a lack of maturity, which in his defense he was just finishing college, but also shows the lack of strength to work on a relationship that was supposed to be so important to him. As far as Kaine goes, he wasn't horrible, I just don't care for him. What happened to him was awful and it's a shame he didn't have the opportunity to explain but his whole plan to get Graeson back and the way he studied him before approaching him after a decade just didn't sit right with me.

Unfortunately, this is not a book I would recommend.

2.5 Stars
Profile Image for Stacey Jo.
633 reviews202 followers
February 4, 2017
I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Kain and Graeson met in college and fell for each other pretty hard. They were from opposite worlds and Grae was willing to give up his, or at least being under his father’s control, to be with Kain. But due to a lack of communication and a conniving best friend and Kain, who perpetrated the ultimate betrayal, all of that ended. Fast forward ten years and Grae has been miserable ever since. He’s a hugely successful businessman in the oil industry in Texas, but he has no one to share his life with. He can’t get over what Kain did to him, or Kain. Kain has never forgotten his love for Grae. He’s turned himself and Honey, his best friend into successful businessmen in their own right. But it’s been ten years and it’s time now to get his man back and make him finally listen to Kain’s explanation of what happened that last awful day so they can finally move past it and start their lives together again.

Kain moved to Perfect, Texas and building a home and with Honey and Honey’s boyfriend, Shaw, planned to slowly work his way back into Grae’s life. Grae makes him work for it at first, but he’s been longing for Kain too, so things heat up pretty quickly. They have some hurdles to overcome and it doesn’t go smoothly. Grae’s conniving and jealous best friend continues to cause trouble. But they pull it together and get their second chance at love.

I enjoyed the story as a whole. I liked the premise. There were some things that I wouldn’t quite say bothered me, but maybe took away from it. First I’ll start with what I did like. It’s loaded with angst and feels. I love the angst and feels. Give me the all the emotion, I will gladly take it. And the sex…. These two were smoking hot together! In the bed, countertops, they were hot. And they knew how to tease each other. If you like lots of hot sex, you will be very happy. The secondary characters are awesome. I want Honey as my best friend. And it’s clearly set up for a sequel with Shaw’s little brother, Bruck, and Justin, one of Grae’s friends as a bit of enemies to lovers. They absolutely hate each other and it’s clear they want to jump each other.

There were two things that bugged me. What I didn’t care for was the format that seemed to be a little too close to the “chic lit” that I avoid because I find it so annoying: Big strong male is needed to save the fainting, weaker, “going to curl into a ball and wilt” partner every time the breeze blows. Grae practically bubble wrapped Kain. Even Kain was annoyed. But Kain did seem to faint and wilt at the first sign of trouble. I like hurt-comfort stories and I am fine with characters having emotional issues, and guys can have a softer side too, but when I find myself sighing during the story, I think it’s gone far enough. Maybe if Grae hadn’t treated Kain like he was so weak it wouldn’t have seemed that way. I think if Grae would have treated Kain more like a man who had occasional anxiety issues but who wasn’t fragile and weak, but an equal, the story wouldn’t have been so much like a damsel in distress scenario. The other thing was that I am fine with terms of endearment. I use them. But they can be overused. Grae “sweetied” Kain to death. He was called sweetie fifty-five times. I was so distracted by its overuse that it was no longer a term of endearment, but “there’s that word again” pulling me out of the story.

Having pointed those two issues out, it may sound like I didn’t like the story, and that’s not the case. Those are just two issues that I had, and those were just my personal preferences, or opinions. I liked all of the characters very much. The character development was well done. The story arc was nicely formed. It had great emotion and smoking hot sex! And it has a really nice happy ending. I’m hoping we get a sequel with Bruck and Justin (nudge, nudge). Overall it was a really good story and I’d recommend it to those who like angst, feels, smoking hot sex, and second time around romances.
Profile Image for Michelle.
845 reviews5 followers
January 8, 2017
4 stars

**I received a copy in exchange for an honest review through the DBML program**


Kaine has spent the past 10 years of his life working his buns off to make something of himself with the goal of winning back the love of his life, Graeson. Through a misunderstanding during their final year of college, Graeson left Kaine without a backward glance and adamantly remained as far as possible from Kaine.

Kaine moves into the same town that Graeson calls home and makes it his mission to win his man. Once the two kiss and make up [something they do quite a lot] they must work towards becoming equal partners in life even as a person from their past tries to break them apart once more.

I thought that the synopsis for the book was slightly misleading. I actually thought that there would be a crushing betrayal and that Grae would be a push-over, willing to take back the “cheating scum”, but the actual betrayal that occurred was a lot more foolish. The thing that got on my nerves about it was that Grae kept going back to the night the betrayal took place and used it to fuel his hesitance in opening up to Kaine. Never once did he really stop to consider the event from Kaine’s perspective, even after they once again became a couple. Grae not fully believing Kaine felt more like he believed Trent, which I could not understand.

Also, the phrase about “battling the evil” made it sound more like a paranormal novel than the evil being a jilted friend. There was nothing that gave Trent the urgency that I think he was meant to have. His character felt more like it was added to make a final conflict for Graeson and Kaine since getting back together after 10 years wasn’t climactic enough to make a novel.

Even though I wasn’t a fan of Trent’s development and the amount of pointless porn that was added gratuitously in this book, I thought that it was a GREAT read. And hey, some people appreciate a constant stream of gratuitous sex scenes between two smoking hot guys. The writing was wonderful and I appreciated the ease that I had in being introduced into the story and characters. There weren’t any points that I felt like I was being told a list of information. It was all natural.

Final notes:

-This is told in alternating third person. Each character had a distinct voice and even though there weren’t any visual cues for the shifts in perspective, it was easy to tell the difference between them.
-There are mentions of rape/assault, a sex cult, and vague mentions of prostitutes being assaulted
Profile Image for Tammy Smith.
54 reviews9 followers
October 4, 2016
Blog Post: http://lovebytesreviews.com/2016/09/3...
Kaine Keeley and Graeson Hardin met 10 years ago when they were in college. It took them a year and a half to work out they were in love with each other because Graeson had only ever dated women. Once Graeson worked out what he felt for Kaine he then had to work out a way they could be together without his father destroying them. Unfortunately, there was someone who had decided Graeson was better off with him not Kaine. This person proceeded to do and say despicable things to Kaine who unfortunately believed what he said.
Kaine and Graeson never spoke or saw each other for the next 10 years!
This of course doesn’t mean that either of the men forgot about the other. Kaine kept close tabs on Graeson so that when he felt he was worthy of being Graeson’s partner he would know exactly where he was. It took Kaine 10 years to get to where he felt he was finally in a position to court Graeson. Meanwhile, Graeson didn’t want anything to do with Kaine, he asked his father to send him to Brazil to work on their offshore oil rig so he could mend his broken heart. It took a lot longer than Graeson thought it would but he never completely got over Kaine’s betrayal.
Kaine knew from story’s Graeson told at college that he loved the little town of Perfect, Texas and would be living there so he bought a parcel of land and built a “cabin” for Graeson and himself to live in. Kaine orchestrates an “accidental” meeting with Graeson after their cabin was finished. Things go a lot better than Kaine dared to hope for, at least Graeson didn’t hit him!
Gradually Kaine wears him down and they start spending more time together just getting reacquainted. It certainly helps their cause that all of their close friends and family are all being them. There is that one person who still has it in for Kaine, the only difference now is that Kaine is not the vulnerable person he was 10 years ago. This time Graeson fights back because he’s finally realised exactly what happened 10 years ago and it was nothing like what it appeared to be!
There are some very intense, emotional moments in Long Road Home but they all combine to make an incredibly worthwhile read! I can’t believe this is JC Jaynes first foray into the m/m genre, congratulations!! You can feel the emotions literally jumping off the pages at you. I can’t wait for the second book in Hill Country Heat.
Ladies and Gentlemen we have another fantastic author to read, I know you’re all going to fall in love with the characters just as I did!
Profile Image for Dawn.
159 reviews2 followers
October 3, 2016
Long Road Home by JC Jaynes
4.5 Stars - Review by Dawn Honeycutt

I was given an ARC for an honest review.

Grae and Kaine met in college, fell in love and wanted to spend their lives together. Through a series of misunderstandings, lies and one horrible night their story came to an abrupt end and they never saw each other again. They also never stopped loving each other.

Kaine Keeley built a luxury cabin in Perfect, Texas. After working hard for ten years, Kaine and his best friend Honey sold their business and had more than enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Honey and his partner, Shaw, live in Houston, but Kaine had settled in Perfect to reclaim the love of his life, Graeson Hardin.

Graeson was expected to run Hardin Offshore Drilling, it's what he was raised to do, but Grae was fine letting his brother and sister run the company while he enjoyed his quiet life in Perfect, Texas. Grae likes being out of the public eye and wants to keep it that way. What he doesn't know is that a very determined Kaine has been watching him and waiting for the right time to let Grae know that he's in Perfect for him and he's determined to make Grae his again, this time for life.

This book was very enjoyable. I loved Kaine's determination. The romance, the tug and pull, the passion between Kaine and Grae was fantastic. Honey is one of the best characters I've ever read. He's flamboyant, fun, witty and a fierce friend. There's the bad guy, Trent, that tries tirelessly to have Grae for himself and his scheming and maliciousness is part of what makes this book good. And the sex! Wow, I'll just say that there is plenty of steamy sex in this book.

This is the first book I've read by this author, but I'll be on the lookout for more. Definitely a great book.
Profile Image for Tina.
2,697 reviews15 followers
November 22, 2016
Long Road Home by author J.C. Jaynes is the first in the Hill Country Heat series. I really super loved this story. Kaine is extremely likeable as a character. He is persistent, loving, kind, and a little eccentric I liked the blend. Kaine has come back home to win his true love back. He is willing to do whatever it takes.
I do feel one issue is never addressed in this book and should have been. Kaine had something happen to him that really should have been addressed more. Specially between Graeson and him. I feel leaving out that really changed my idea of this book. When you read it you will get what I am talking about. Because we find out later what I am talking about, I won't spoil it in my review. However I feel it is a huger issue that what was addressed in the pages here.
Kaine has panic attacks, I also liked he is very human. He can have things happen to him and he still bounces back. The panic attacks were very well addressed.
Graeson, he is not a fan of the city life. He prefers calm and small town life. He has never gotten over breaking up with Kaine.
I feel this story is well done and had the huge issue that broke them up been better addressed I would have loved this story more. I felt it was brushed under the rug, and I cannot see how it should have been treated that way. Kinda makes Graeson seem like a jerk cause he is not addressing it.
Okay now that your going what is this reviewer talking about??? Well you have to read the book to figure that out. See, my thoughts but not gonna tell you the story hehehe. It is well written and worth the read. I would love to read more about this town and the people that live in it. I would love even though Honey has someone, that he had a story too. He is a colorful character I would love to get to know more.

Four Twinkling Stars
Profile Image for Helke.
196 reviews
January 12, 2017
I got a free copy of this book from the author for an unbiased review.
I´m a bit torn about this book. At the beginning it grated on my nerves that there was a lot written about a real ugly incident who wrecked the relationsship between Kai and Grae but it wasn´t mentioned what it was. Finally after at least three chapters you learn about the incident in form of a memory / flashback. Than you have Kai who worked like a madman to get to the point where he could go and follow Grae and try to win him back. He manipulates Grae into a dinner date and when he finally can talk to him about the incident the only thing he says is they are both to blame for it.

Grae is angry, heartbroken and humilitated. He left the country for several years to flee from his life with Kai. When Kai finally makes his move after ten years he is still angry and Kais declaration does little to calm that anger or so the books states. But all of a sudden they meet for coffee or eat icecream together and end up kissing etc. and Grae isn´t angry anymore just vary about his trust in Kai. Thats a bit of an 180 he does there and thats a bit unbelievable.

The rest of the book is quite good if a bit predictable. I enjoyed it as a nice evening read and maybe somebody else would really love this book. For me it was ok.
Profile Image for Cathy Brockman.
Author 5 books95 followers
October 16, 2016
Long Road Home Is a very interesting story of Kaine, a man that won't let go of the man he has always loved. Circumstances happened when he was a young college man and he felt he didn't deserve Graeson so he worked to be that man. Then he had to convince Graeson that what he saw ten years ago wasn't what he thought. I loved the story line and different plots going on here. I adored all of the characters and can't wait to see if there will be more stories.

If you like second chances, Rich boy/ poor boy, pauper to prince stories, a bit of suspense, and some very hot man-sex you will love this one.
Profile Image for Wendy.
738 reviews35 followers
October 14, 2016
I love a good second chance story and I enjoyed this one. Kaine and Graeson met in college but due to a major misunderstanding they go their separate ways for ten years. With the help of his lifelong friend, Honey, Kaine makes enough money to overcome his meager beginnings to build a life to support himself forever. It takes time for Graeson to accept Kaine's apologies. The side characters helped carry the book and helped build this relationship back up.
I thought it was a sweet book that brought two men who truly loved each other back together.
Profile Image for Dara Nelson.
Author 15 books34 followers
October 5, 2016
This was a good story but at times was hard to follow because it would suddenly change 'narrators' from one paragraph to the next. And at times the explanations about feelings or past hurts seemed redundant or overdone. But I liked the chemistry between Kaine and Graeson and the sex was hot but the nicknames and the sweeties - too much.
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