With each hit her heart has taken, she’s guarded it more closely. Except Caleb Winters smashed through her defenses in high school. Three years after she never thought she’d see him again, their relationship is stronger than ever.
But aside from letting a boy in, little in Lennon’s life has changed. Taking classes at a local community college while managing the horse farm that’s been in her family for generations has been hard, but she’s made it work. Options for her future still look limited. Caleb’s are as endless as ever.
They’ve made long distance work until now, but how much longer will Caleb wait for a girl tied to a town he isn’t? How can Lennon justify choosing a boy over the only family she has left?
Landry is home. So is Caleb.
When your heart is torn between a place and a person, there’s no easy way out .
C.W. Farnsworth is the author of numerous adult and young adult romance novels featuring sports, strong female leads, and happy endings.
Charlotte lives in Rhode Island and when she isn’t writing spends her free time reading, at the beach, or snuggling with her Australian Shepherd.
Find her on Facebook (@cwfarnsworth), Twitter (@cw_farnsworth), Instagram (@authorcwfarnsworth) and check out her website www.authorcwfarnsworth.com for news about upcoming releases!
I absolutely loved The Hard Way Home, and although I was content with the HEA (for now) ending in that book, I was still left wanting more. So, I was more than happy to find out that there would be a sequel.
The Easy Way Out continues to follow Caleb and Lennon who are now in college, surviving a long-distance relationship as they live 3-hours apart. As they are reaching the last year of college though, there are a lot of difficult decisions that need to be made. Will Lennon continue to live in Landry and manage her family's farm? Will Caleb pursue a career in professional baseball or will he follow his father's path into business? Will their relationship withstand their different paths?
This is a truly heartwarming story. I absolutely love both of these characters and you can feel the love between them. This was a refreshing read without a lot of unnecessarily added drama or angst. This is just real life decisions and real life relationships, and it's exactly the ending that I needed to Caleb and Lennon's story.
Caleb and Lennon are straight up relationship goals. I loved them in The Hard Way Home and breathed a huge sigh of relief when they were together at the end.....but I definitely wanted more and now we have it! The Easy Way Out is everything I wanted and everything I didn't know I needed when it came to Caleb Winters and Lennon Matthews.
The summer before senior year of college is shaping up to be a pressure cooker as they need to make decisions about their future and it can't be put off anymore. Is Caleb going to play baseball professionally and is Lennon still going to stay in their tiny hometown of Landry to take care of her family farm and aging grandpa? Their love is one to envy as they are absolutely devoted to each other in their hearts and their minds would not allow them to make any choice that isn't in the other person's best interest or happiness. I loved every scene when they were together. Their adoration and respect for each other was palpable, their connection was so deep and real.
They're such a unique couple and their emotional journey is written so skillfully and captivatingly. I couldn't put it down! There are no clear cut answers for them but each possible excuse/reason is carefully revealed until the only thing that is going to affect their decision is themselves. Who they are at their core as individuals and together. Throughout it all, they never questioned each other's love and their chemistry was as strong as ever but the angst about how the heck they were going to make it work kept me going right up until the end.
I couldn't get enough of these two because in the end, every choice they made while not the easiest was so worth it! Thank goodness C.W. Farnsworth also believed we deserved more Caleb and Lennon! Grab this very satisfying read today!
I was kindly given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was everything I wanted after reading "The hard way home". The hard way home was the first book about their highschool life and The easy way out is second book about college life. I can't express how much I enjoyed reading this book. Lennon and Caleb were phenomenal. Loved the banter and how they both handled everything life threw there way. This book was absolutely amazing with fun, swoony and emotional parts. I can never get enough of Charlotte's writing, and I think she writes one of the best banter between the couples ❤️❤️
I think I liked this one a bit more than the first. That’s a crazy thing to say since the whole time I was so anxious about the possibility of cheating. This author really knows how to keep you on your toes regarding Lennon and Caleb’s relationship. What I loved most about this was that their relationship was extremely healthy, open, and honest. It was the realest relationship I’ve ever read in a book. There was no secrecy or misinterpretations because they talked about everything together. It was a true relationship just battling decisions to be made.
I would love to have a Caleb in my life. That’s the kind of love I want, hands down.
Plus, this series got me out of my reading slump so that deserves a 5⭐️ rating anyway!
I love love loved this one. There was no third act break up like I was expecting. It was just a regular old fight that all couples have. Caleb and Lennon were adorable. And I loved the glimpse of the future at the end.
Definitely enjoyed this much more then the first. The ending was a bit abrupt but it didn't bother me that much. This was a perfect conclusion to Lennon and Calebs story, and even though I wasn't a fan of both in the first story, I loved them both towards the end. ESPECIALLY Caleb. 💓
Another 3.5. Another solid read from this author. I liked getting to revisit and see the conclusion to Caleb and Lennon’s romance. One thing I loved most about these books is how healthy and respectful and honest and pure their relationship is. There was so much trust and faith and love in their relationship and in each other that there was never any serious doubts or paranoia over their relationship. And that was so refreshing to read. This one was set with them nearing the end of college rather than the end of high school, and I liked getting to see how they grew and matured and changed in that time. And whilst I did like and enjoy this, it did feel a little pointless. The whole book was basically just them figuring out where to live. They each wanted one thing deep down but never voiced that, choosing instead to do what the other wanted, but ultimately they decided to go their own ways and do long distance again. I suppose it was realistic. But I would have liked for their decision to be different. I still adored Caleb and was so glad we got his POV in this one. Lennon grew on me too and I liked how she was more involved in the relationship but she still isn’t my favourite of the two.
I wish I could read this story all over again for the first time. I just don't think I can love a couple more than I love these two. They are pure *Im* perfection.
I’m sure it was good. I just couldn’t be bothered finishing it bc it probably should have finished with the last book and then a longer epilogue into the further future.
I read this faster than the first book because was so emotionally invested in what happens to Caleb and Lennon. This book follows them into college and the struggle of navigating the real world like, what do you want to do, where do you want to live, and who do you want to be with.
This takes place the summer before their senior year of college and Lennon has some difficult decisions to make. She and Caleb have been in a long-distance relationship for 3 years. While they are only 3-hours apart, with both of their grueling schedules (college baseball for Caleb and taking care of Matthews Farm for Lennon), it is hard for them to see each other more than every couple of weeks.
When faced with some decisions, Lennon has to decide if she will stay in Landry to take care of her family's farm or if she will follow Caleb to college. She knows what she wants to do but, she feels obligated to take care of everything as she always has. She wants more than anything to be close to him and experience college even if it would be her senior year but, she has to decide that for herself.
Caleb gives so much of himself and his loyalty to Lennon, and everyone knows it.
"That boy doesn't love a thing in this world anywhere near as much as he loves you, Lennie."
While Caleb wants to play professionally and have Lennon there with him, he knows he can't push her. The stubborn girl he has grown to love has to make that decision on her own. He knows though, that he would give any amount of money or anything in the world to make Lennon happy, and he will.
Caleb has the world at his feet. He’s choosing to include me in it. He makes me feel safe and adored, and to me that’s far more valuable than the contents of the bank account the papers I’m holding declare me the new owner of.
Caleb and Lennon have the ideal relationship, the one most people dream of. They might fight and be faced with difficult decisions but, they face them together. You watch them bloom from the stubborn high schoolers to adults making tough decisions, together.
Overall, I am honestly sad their story is over. If there was another book, I would read it in a heartbeat! I love Caleb and Lennon SO SO SO much. I will be thinking about these books for a long time.
Title: The Easy Way Out (The Hard Way Home Book 2) Author: C. W. Farnsworth Hero/Heroine: Caleb & Lennon Tropes: Small Town, College Romance, Sports Romance.
TW/CW: Death of a loved one,
THE GOOD 😀
Ok so thankfully this book did not bring on the appearance of any extra grey hairs, but it did keep me guessing as to the direction Caleb and Lennon’s relationship would go. Didn’t make me love this any less though. Seriously, considering this was a new adult romance, the relationship between the two main characters was so mature and they communicated so well, I couldn’t help but soak up every bit of the story.
Whereas the first book laid the foundations for Caleb and Lennon’s relationship, this book centred more around the difficult decisions that both characters would need to make, as well as choices that would affect their future. Like I said before, the maturity of this couple was next level, and even though I love a bit of angst in a story, I think I appreciated more the fact that the second part of Caleb and Lennon’s story portrayed the realistic issues a young couple experiences during a relationship.
I still loved Caleb and Lennon’s characters as much in this book as I did in the first. Caleb was an absolute sweetheart who wore his heart on his sleeve, and Lennon was so strong and self assured, it made for a pretty incredible pairing. And that epilogue? Absolutely bloody adorable, seriously, I could have carried on reading more about this wonderful couple.
Now comes the big decision: what book of this authors to read next?
THE BAD ☹️
Let’s not go there shall we?
OVERALL THOUGHTS: A sweet and swoon worthy ending to this wonderful duet STEAM LEVEL: 🔥🔥 STAR RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Easy Way Out is the second book in The Hard Way Home series by C. W. Farnsworth.
I actually did not have high hopes for enjoying the way this book ended. Mostly, because I made it to the 90% mark and there still wasn't any clear resolutions set for their future. But it was heartwarming to watch them fight each other to insure neither sacrificed their dreams or comfort or ideal future in the prospect of a full life together.
I do wish there had been more character building beyond the main character couple, with the limited way in which we came to interact with his parents. I wish we knew his friends better. Or hers. Or that this was part a far larger literary world that could answer the myriad of unknowns I find myself questioning about the prominent people in their lives.
I was super sad and disappointed by the major life change that overtook Lennon's big decision in whether to transfer to the same college he was playing at, when she was accepted. It wasn't entirely surprising given the strong foreshadowing leading to this loss, building even in the previous book.
But I loved the sure way their romance played out. Once they committed to an official relationship, they never really doubted to permanence of their love.
In The Easy Way Out, we continue we follow Lennon and Caleb as they navigate a long distance relationship. It's the summer before their senior year in college and they are both faced with some extremely tough decisions. Some they have to make for themselves, and some they need to make for each other.
First and foremost, the amount of loyalty Caleb gives Lennon, makes me love him so much. Every decision that was needing to be made, he thought of her the whole time. The trust that Lennon had in him was definitely note worthy too.
It was so beautiful how they fought for their relationship. The sacrifices they were willing to make, just to be together. 🥺💔
Once again a 5 shining star review for C. W. Farnsworth !
This is exactly what I needed to hear about Caleb and Lennon. Getting a more in-depth look into the couples future, and reading about how they navigate through a tough patch in their relationship really made these fictional characters that much more realistic.
This sequel to 'Hard way Home' really sent an important message through. 'Easy way Out' really shows that if you want something and fight for it chances are you will reach your goal. Trust me when I say this couple IS a goal. Complete trust in one another to do the right thing, communicating, and really being there for each other as much as they can. Obviously they aren't perfect, but who is? And then wrapping the story up with that phenomenal epilogue? 5/5 stars, it made me scream with joy.
Similar to the first book, I appreciated the lack of unnecessary drama and darkness this book could have had. So much was set up to be more than it ever became which kept me on my toes while never really receiving any conflict. It was just two young adults having to make real life decisions for their future together and individually.
I was obsessed with Caleb and his love for Lennon. I think this book shows how truly different people can be and how they express love differently. Lennon and Caleb are basically polar opposites on everything except their love for one another and determination to have a future together.
The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars is because when the dust finally settled and they got their HEA, it was all of one short chapter. After wanting to just see them happy doing life together, we got very little of that in the end.
the epilogue !!! oh my god I finally got a marriage and family happy ending after reading 15 of this author's books 😭 I'm so happy, that ending fulfilled everything I never knew I needed. other than that, this book was really nice actually, i loved how it showed how much compromise and work it takes to make a relationship work at such a young age, and trying to plan a life around another person while being true to your own dreams. I just love how everyone realised that these two would always pick eachother over everyone else.
"Missing someone can be interpreted as a gift. It means it’s someone you care about enough to. It’s also an awful ache with no easy remedy or cure."
"The moments right after leaving her are always the worst. When I can still see her, but know I need to add to the distance between us."
I absolutely loved the first book in the series. I have waited very impatiently for this next book. Going into the second book, I was so worried about the other shoe dropping. This book was emotional for me than the first one. Even so, I appreciated that Caleb and Lennon's love for each other was stronger than anything else in their world. The confidence I have in my relationship with my spouse today, I wished I had that same confidence when we were younger. Lennon and Caleb are so in love with each other they don't let the petty things rip them apart. Their only qualm is wanting to sacrifice their happiness for their own. They have to learn that they can be happy with themselves and still love what they do. This is just a remarkable, feel-good love story!
I don't even know where to begin. First this is my first time reading from this author besides her first book in this series. I loved it! I feel in love with both Caleb and Lennox. So much that I want more of them. I want to know more than the EPILOGUE!!! I never like to give away the story because I want them to be just as interested as I am when I just read the description. This story was well written. It kept me intrigue and emotional with grief , heartache but love. The characters were loyal to each other and honestly it is great to read a story when there is no cheating involve - that's the only spoiler you'll get from me😉. But read both books so worth it! Definitely a fan of the author now.
I did not think I could like a 2nd book better than the first, but this author did it so well. The book is still amazing, even as the couple is already together the whole time. Normally authors have to play on the tension of will they get together or not, but in this book our protagonists have to find the common ground they need to fight for a future they absolutely want.
It was so reminiscent of my experience with my husband-figuring out how to navigate the present to seize the future we both badly desired. It was full of challenges and heart aches and mistakes, but also so full of desire and love and hope. We made it through just like this couple and now we can look back and say we made it. Ugh I can't even! My eyes were stinging a little at the end of the book.....perfect book.
See now this is exactly why I keep reading C.W. Farnsworth books. I loved seeing Caleb and Lennon comfortable in their relationship and navigating through life while leaning on each other. The Easy Way Out was the masterful portrayal of grief, duty, and weaving together two very different lives.
What I liked: - dual POV - I think it was actually a really smart move on the author's part to make the first book single POV from Lennon's perspective and then expand to dual this one - seeing the dynamic between Caleb's parents and Caleb/Lennon - this was something I thought had been missing from the first book - no drama spent on questions of infidelity - Caleb and Lennon are confident in their trust of each other's fidelity and that was really refreshing
I liked that Caleb and Lennon grew as people together rather than having to find themselves by being apart. The story felt real. I would have liked a little more accuracy in how baseball actually works, but that's a small complaint. The only thing that kept this from being 5 stars was the fact that the impossible decisions that were faced with didn't feel all that impossible. If they cared about each other the way they did then it seems like they could have made the decisions they ultimately did way earlier.
““I’m so in love with you, Lennon Matthews.” “Thank you for staying with me,” I tell him softly. “Nowhere else I would have been,” Caleb replies.”
“Dream big, Winters. If you don’t, you won’t get very far.”
““Loving you doesn’t feel all that scary anymore,” she tells me. “It feels like things are really going to be okay.” “They are,” I promise.”
“We’ll face more obstacles. Trials. Tribulations. Small ones. Maybe some big ones, too. But neither of us have ever wavered on the fact that we want to face them together. In the end, that’s the most important thing.”
I came back to leave a review, even though I really don’t like to. These books were so beautiful, and I usually don’t like series bc they’re never as good as the first one.
I absolutely love Caleb. Lennon too, but she really frustrated me at times. Im glad the story went the way they did. I only wish we would’ve gotten more of their future than we did. Either way, it had been a while since I loved a series this much. This author is becoming one of my favorites!
Wow - I marked this book as five stars even before I finished it and desperately hoped that it wouldn't disappoint me. The characters and their relationship, the pace of the plot and the challenges thrown in perfectly done that I loved it. More than anything I loved their love. It makes me happy to think two people can feel this strongly about one another and that someone can be made this happy by someone else.
You know when you can't put a book down and can't wait to see how it ends but then you read "epilogue" then you feel happy and sad at the same time? These books were that for me... I want to know so much more... I mean I really loved the storyline and the ending was beautiful but... I want more!
So glad I randomly found this series. The author did an amazing job writing and not having the issues the main characters face like every other book. I thought I knew what they would face based off of other books but the author was skilled to give us something different! Please give these books a try, we'll worth the read!
There are not enough words to explain how amazingly written this story was. In storylines like these, you expect your cliche "climax" but here it was purely real and raw. I'll say it again Farnsworth did not disappoint a story like this will stick with me for a very long time. It was just soo incredible to read and watch the characters grow up.