Excellent second chance romance and start to the new series. Jameson Holloway, owner of the Moonlight Ridge resort, adopted three boys when they were young. Mack, Grey, and Travis were as close as brothers could be until a devastating accident split them apart. Mack blamed himself, and unable to face the guilt, left home, family, and girlfriend without a word of explanation. Mack and Molly were best friends from the time he was eight years old, their friendship turning to romance when they were teens. Molly was brokenhearted at his desertion.

Fifteen years later, all three sons rarely return to Moonlight Ridge, especially at the same time. But when they receive word that Jameson is ill and must give up his work for at least six months, they agree to return home to help. Each agrees to a two-month stint, with Mack taking the first shift. Mack's reluctance is immediately evident as he faces the memories of the accident and his poor treatment of Molly. Weary of the estrangement with his brothers, Mack vows to find a way to mend fences with them. He also knows that Molly deserves an explanation and an apology.

Molly has always been a part of Moonlight Ridge. Her father was the resort's CFO until he was caught embezzling money but died before he could be prosecuted. After the pain of losing Mack, Molly put herself through school and returned to work at Moonlight Ridge, eventually becoming the manager. Her selfish, manipulative, and lazy mother and two older brothers leech off Molly whenever they can, using a youthful mistake she made to blackmail her into cooperating. Molly thinks of Jameson as a father and will do anything for him, including work with Mack - but she doesn't have to like it.

The first meeting between Mack and Molly was as painful and awkward as each expected. Molly's hurt and anger over Mack's departure burns as hot now as it did fifteen years earlier. They both believe they are over each other, but the sparks that flare between them prove otherwise. As Mack and Molly work together to save the struggling resort, those sparks continue to grow. Though they can't resist giving in to the attraction, both are wary of the intensity. Mack prides himself on the tight control he keeps on his emotions, but that control falls apart when he's around Molly. At the same time, Molly resists her growing feelings for him, unwilling to trust that he won't walk away as he did before.

Complicating the growing feelings for each other, Mack and Molly must deal with running the resort. There are a few clashes between them when their leadership styles differ, but mostly they agree on what must be done. There are a couple of great scenes where Mack's protectiveness kicks in on the job, and it's easy to see that he's struggling with his feelings. When Molly's family starts in on her again, Mack manages to break through Molly's walls and get the whole story. I loved his support of her and his determination to help her break free. But when money turns up missing, Molly's past turns the spotlight on her. Mack makes a boneheaded move in his need for control, although his intentions are good. Understandably hurt and angry, Molly makes her displeasure known and walks away from Mack.

Though he realizes right away how badly he screwed up, a crisis with Jameson delays his chance to make things right. I loved the scene in his hospital room as Molly discovers her secret wasn't so secret after all. That revelation resulted in a satisfying confrontation between Molly and her family, with an added twist from Mack. Mack and Molly finally put their pasts behind them in an emotional reconciliation scene.

There are a few things that look like they continue through the series. First, the missing money and where it went remains unresolved. I look forward to seeing where that goes. Jameson, who drove multiple nurses away during the first part of his recovery, now has his former housekeeper riding herd on him. Jameson and Giada's interactions are a hoot, especially when it comes to his cigars. Last is the estrangement between the three brothers. There was some progress between Mack and Grey by the end of the book, but it seems that Travis is still holding out. I can't wait to see how things work out with them. ( )

2.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Well, he was back.

Starting off the Moonlight Ridge series, Homecoming Heartbreaker introduces us to Mack and Molly. Mack is the oldest of the three boys Jameson, the owner of the resort Moonlight Ridge, adopted when they were younger. He was adopted at age 8 because his mother died in childbirth and his father gave him up. Growing up with an emotionally abusive father, Mack constantly heard that he was responsible for his mother's death, has left Mack always wanting to be in control so that he doesn't hurt anyone. When he and his two brothers, Grey and Travis, get into a car accident, in which he was driving and Travis injures his knee enough to lose a football scholarship, Mack decides to leave town at eighteen and distance himself from everyone, including his childhood love Molly.

It was one night, fifteen years ago, but it had had enormous ramifications.

The story starts fifteen years after the car accident and Mack finds himself having to come back and stay a couple months at Moonlight Ridge because his father Jameson has experienced a brain episode and has to take it easy. His childhood love, Molly, just so happens to be the resorts manager and they are going to have to spend time together and Mack knows he owes her an apology for how he left. Molly has had her own drama to deal with, her father was Jameson's CFO and he was caught for embezzlement and then ended up having a heart-attack and dying, leaving Molly, her mother and two older brothers to deal with the ramifications. Molly's family consists of nothing but leeches and they constantly demand money from her and Molly's afraid to cut the cord with them because they essential blackmail her threatening to tell Jameson that she stole two thousand dollars from him when she was a kid.

She was stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. And she was drowning.

As you can tell, our leads are dealing with a lot and as this is the first book in the series, it had the heavier load of setting up the series. I thought the groundwork of characters, their relationships, and the setting of Moonlight Ridge was laid out nicely. I thought Mack's motivation of not wanting to lose control around anyone because his dad made him think he was responsible for his mother's death was a bit overplayed. When he comes back to Moonlight Ridge, he does apologize to Molly early but he seemed to want to move on from it very quickly. I liked how Molly still hurt over his abandonment but understood that they were kids and she doesn't work to punish him for his decision. Molly's, just about over-the-top, family steals the show some because a decent amount of focus is giving to their blackmail scheme, even adding in one of the brother's girlfriends, which at first seemed unneeded but will maybe play a part in a continuing thread in the series.

They were groping on the back stairway of Moonlight Ridge and she didn't care. At all.

With Jameson sidelined with health issues, we didn't get scenes with him and Mack as much as I would have liked but we do get a couple povs from him and a little secondary romance involving him and his former housekeeper who is now his nurse, I missed seeing him with all three of the boys. I wish we could have gotten a flashback scene with them as a family before we start with them all separated. The romance between Molly and Mack felt a little stiff at times but delivers a couple scenes to have this fit in the Harlequin Desire category. There were times I thought Mack was too harsh with Molly but I did like how she stood up to him. I didn't quite get the warm feelings of two childhood friends-to-lovers reuniting.

She was his and he was hers; they'd always each been one half of a whole.

This was a quick read but it did set the scene at Moonlight Ridge for the other two brothers to come into. There's some left to dangle story threads, the hunt is on to find out who is embezzling money from the resort and the need to revitalize the resort because it could soon be in danger of closing. Looking forward to Grey the architect and Travis the chef finding their own loves and the Holloway brothers becoming a family again. ( )