Review: Captivating Novella!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 5, 2013
Find this review and more at Lusty Penguin Reviews!Take Me Back is an enthralling and captivating novella in the Give & Take series by Kelli Maine. The author tells this story through Rachel DeSalvo's point of view using first person present tense. At first I found it a bit confusing, but after a few pages, I discovered that I really enjoyed the story being told in this point of view; somehow it just seemed to work.Rachael and Merrick Rocha are in a serious relationship that is still at the early stages of development. Although their sexual chemistry sizzles, and they are quite sexually active from the beginning, communication outside of the bedroom is their main problem. Rachael is a passionate character, along with being obsessive and stubborn. Her most recent fixation is the ghost of Ingrid Weston, whose spirit wants to be returned to her home on Turtle Tear. Rachael shares her desire to help Ingrid with Merrick, but he'll hear nothing of it, which causes Rachel to pull away. With her openness to the spirit world, Rachel is really an intriguing character, so I felt really bad that she was unable to share this with Merrick. Although in love with Rachael, Merrick is disturbed by her behavior--she lies to him about where she is going and why--and he decides to send Rachael home to visit her mother. Merrick's inability to listen to Rachael because he's not a believer made his character difficult to like. But, when Ingrid makes herself known to Merrick, he realizes the mistakes he made with Rachael by not talking and sending her away, which made me smile and think that this couple has a chance at happiness.Before starting this book, I was concerned that I hadn't read the first three stories in the series and that jumping in would be confusing. In this case, my concerns were justified to a point; it took a while to figure out all of the relationships between the secondary characters and Rachael and Merrick. After figuring the relationships out, I was fully engrossed by the story and the snippets of information as to how Merrick and Rachael became a couple in the first place, which make me want to read the other stories in this series too. Take Me Back is novel about the need for communication in a relationship that leaves the reader with a happy-for-now ending and the need to visit these characters again in the future.I received an eBook copy from NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review. I was not compensated for this review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.