Review: Returning Your Love by Lynn Burke (Pippen Creek #1)


Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author via Gay Romance Reviews Tours and Promo.

Returning Your Love is a friends-to-lovers, small town romance and the first book in the Pippen Creek series by Lynn Burke. This is a spin-off of Burke's Elite Escorts MM series; I haven't read any of those books--I'd only read one other title penned by this author prior to this new series starter--but it's fair to say that you can easily start this latest release and not feel as if you're missing any pertinent information or back story.

Jamie Forester had dreams of making it big in the NFL and snagging that much coveted Rookie of the Year title. Unfortunately, a devastating injury cut all of that short, leading the twenty-four-year-old to head back to his hometown of Pippen Creek to try and figure out what comes next. Coming home also meant being in the same place as his estranged best friend, Chaz--the same married friend that Jamie has loved for years.

Charles Henderson knows his feelings upon learning of Jamie's injury and subsequent return to Pippen Creek are messed up, but there's no denying that having his best friend back means a great deal to Chaz. It's a bright spot in the current state of bleakness in his life, no thanks to his struggling business and his wife making it clear how unhappy she is with him. But life is about to become even far more complicated for Chaz...

This was an overall entertaining read, one that had a nice layer of complexity courtesy of secrets being kept and how it was all discovered and dealt with. Naturally, that meant a whole lot of drama and angst, and I confess there were times I grew a wee bit frustrated with Chaz, BUT I also had to remind myself that he and Jamie were still in their mid-twenties, so I got it. Returning Your Love gets four stars, and I'll be waiting for book two!

Release Date: 20 February 2025

Date Read: 10 February 2025

Learn more about Lynn Burke.

Pre-order Returning Your Love on Amazon.

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