Review: Welcome to Forever by Annie Rains (A Hero's Welcome #1)
Note: This ARC was provided by Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept in exchange for an honest review.
She knows some people in the community of Seaside, North Carolina think she's too young to be the local public school's principal, but Katherine Chandler is good at her job. She wants to be provide the kind of learning environment that will see the students flourish. She also wants to make the man who encouraged her to pursue the job in the first place proud. She still wears his ring even though it's been two years since he never came back after being deployed. Her sister and her best friend encourage her to go out and find a rebound hook-up, but she doesn't feel ready to move forward. Even if she were, she knows the one kind of man that she would never go out with, what more fall for: a Marine. And then Kat meets Micah Peterson.
Being a single father, an Marine, and a landscaping business owner, Micah Peterson has a lot on his plate. His eight-year-old son, Ben, has cerebral palsy, and he would love nothing more than to protect him from the bullies and the difficulties he has to face. Being at Seaside Elementary is a fresh start for Ben, and with Micah working as the school's groundskeeper, he'll be able to be close enough after his duties at Camp Leon. Explaining to his son why his mother would rather be in Afghanistan than with him is heartbreaking, and Micah refuses to introduce yet another woman in his son's life that will end up leaving them when it becomes too much to cope with. Then he meets Ben's principal and Kat Chandler makes him want more.
Welcome to Forever is the first novel in the A Hero's Welcome series from first-time author Annie Rains and it's a contemporary romance between Kat Chandler, Seaside Elementary's principal and a woman still mourning the death of her fiancé, and Micah Peterson, a divorced father with a young son with cerebral palsy and an active Marine moonlighting as the school's groundskeeper. Kat has sworn off dating another Marine, the loss of her late fiancé still looming over here even after a couple of years, and while she's immediately drawn to Micah, she's wary over the fact that he's a Marine. This was a good love story that had both main characters not necessarily looking to fall in love again, but end up doing so with each other.
My favorite part about the story was young Ben Peterson. He may have been stuck in a wheelchair for most of the story, and he was bullied and taunted more than once by his classmates, yet he had a sense of hope about him. His love for his parents, particularly his father was endearing, and all he truly wanted was for his dad to find happiness again so that they could have a complete family. His relationship with Kat was an important one, especially because she didn't treat him in the same manner that another adult would. Kat's progressive thinking is something that got bonus points from me, what with me being a former teacher and all, so I was able to appreciate her wanting to think beyond more traditional teaching.
While the story was an overall good read, there were a couple of things that I felt were left hanging: Micah's relationship with his father and Micah's status as a Marine. I get that he stated what his plans were at the end of his current tour and that his father didn't think it was a good career choice, but there was never any definite resolution to either issue. Then there was the whole thing with the mayor, who seemed to be making a big fuss over his daughter's "punishment", but then nothing really happened. Even the daughter's behavioral improvement just ended abruptly. Taking all things--both the positive and negatives--into consideration, Welcome to Forever was a pretty good series starter and it gets four stars. ♥
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Edit: There is an expanded epilogue in the form of a short story from Annie Rains entitled Welcome to Forever, Starting Today, released on April 7, 2016, which gives readers the wedding between Micah and Kat. It was sweet and romantic but what brought a tear to my eye was how Ben was and how, even on such a momentous day in Micah and Kat's relationship, he remained their first priority. That alone makes this worth the read, but while I wouldn't say it's a "must" that you read it or else you'll be missing out on something essential in the story, I do encourage you to check it out if you enjoyed Welcome to Forever. You can get this for free on the author's website. ♥
Release Date: 01 December 2015
Date Read: 01 December 2015
Learn more about Annie Rains.
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