This book was a great book, and I do recommend giving it a read.  The story had me hooked in reading about 10 chapters at a time.  My husband noticed as he saw me get sucked into this story and heard me rant on about it.  I do kind of get a bit curious about what happened in the author's life in her hometown that inspired this story.  Did she have a high school love she promised to return to that she felt guilt for never going back to?  Did her husband make a promise to some ex-girlfriend and in her post-partum psychosis she felt that wifely womanly fester of you remember that one time with that one ex of yours, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna kill her off in a story.  I giggle a bit at the thought, but none the less the story overall really is beautiful and makes me so curious about what true events of Sarah's life influenced this story? 

Why do I not rate it a full 10?  

As much as I loved the story, there was just certain parts that drove me nuts.  As a contractor by day, it was hard to read how this main character Elijah fixed his roof by slapping on some shingles in the rain.  I do not have enough room in this review to talk about the unbelievably long mental rant that left me on about the true steps that needed to be done, and how much more messed up that roof would have been by him just doing that.  There were actually multiple parts of the book that left me feeling that way. 

Next, I cannot count how many times Elijah whispers into Nakita's hair.  For once can you just look at her in the face instead of telling the woman's parting on her scalp? 

The ending comes with very cliche overused scenes. The court room scene ends with this heroic stance of Nakita busting through courtroom doors with this whole cliche scene. Then the story comes to a very rushed end that had me going from staying up late trying not to fall asleep, because I had to see this end through, to quickly dragging along waiting for the last few pages to be over, because the ending was so cliche and so rushed it felt like the story was over pages before it was.  

So, overall, this book was a great read.  For a first book from an author, she did do pretty well.  I just hope that as time goes on and with her next book that she has gained a little better grounding on the structure of a story.  I also hope she does a little more research next time, for the love of all that is holy. 

The story goes where there is a man, the main character, named Elijah.  Then there is Nakita, his high school sweetheart.   They fall in love, but when college comes around Elijah feels nothing more than the need to get away from the painful home, he lives in that is remnants of the tragedy of losing his mother.  He leaves off with a promise that on his day of graduation he will return for Nakita at their little spot.  Nakita waits, but Elijah had impulsively chosen a different path last second to pull through this book he had written in college.  

After Elijah's book flops, and his father passes away leaving him the house, he returns to his hometown in his mid-thirties finally, hoping to find Nakita single, a home to return to, and a town welcoming him.  Instead, he comes home to a skeleton of his life left behind, a widowed ex love he can't let go of that really had a hard time accepting him now, and a whole wide tragedy.  

Through his trials of trying to bring his life together he goes through and on and off again relationship with Nakita while he spends time reconnecting with a family friend, learning homesteading, and working as a mechanic.  

As time goes on when things don't work with Nakita, he gives it a try with this lady who is very forward, feminist, and pushy.   After some time trying to give it a chance, he just doesn't see them being harmonious for each other.  She is so taking the lead and city girl, while he's so old fashion traditional gentleman and more country homesteader, so he calls it off.  With her and Nakita already enemies from their own personal paths crossing before Elijah got home, the love triangle that now exists only makes it worse. 

Eventually the city-girl lady, her name is Erin is found dead.  Her scene of her death looks exactly like Elijah's murder mystery book that he wrote, and it is looking a lot like he did it. Now he needs to figure out a way to prove that just because this murder looks like the story he wrote, and just because he dated her, doesn't mean he is responsible for her death.....but who is?