The Homecoming by Stacie Ramey

Standalone. Sourcebooks Fire (Nov. 1, 2016) NetGalley

Forced to return to his estranged family, John discovers how hard it is to truly go home.

It's been a year since John lost his girlfriend, Leah, to suicide. Living with his uncle keeps his mind from the tragedy and his screwed up family-until he gets into trouble and a judge sends him back home. With a neglectful mother and abusive brother, John's homecoming is far from happy.

As he tries to navigate and repair the relationships he abandoned years ago, Emily, the girl next door, is the only bright spot. She's sweet and smart and makes him think his heart may finally be healing. But tragedy isn't far away, and John must soon face an impossible decision: save his family or save himself.

John is angry. Angry at the accident that changed his brother. Angry at his mother who kicked him out. Angry at himself for not saving the one he loves. This anger inside of him has led him to make choices even he knows were a mistake. He had it good with his uncle. Now he gets to come home years later to a home and a place with only bad memories. At least he gets to play lacrosse, spend time with his little sister, Livy, who he loves so much, and the girl next door isn't too bad. The plan is to get in and get out. As soon as his parole is lifted he's out of there and on his way to California. Will he let people in or leave them behind?

The Homecoming is a companion book to The Sister Pact by the same author. John gives you glimpses of the past with him and Leah, his girlfriend who killed herself, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not reading the other story. 

Reasonably, John is very intense and furious at the world. Not only is he dealing with the pain of losing the person he loves, he has to go home to the madness he created. His mother and him have a rocky relationship so he has to contend with that as well as his brother Ryan. Ryan was in an accident and he has to be taken care of by his mother. He's very aggressive as well. It took me a while to read and see that it's not his fault. He has more of a handicap that I could have imagined. Reading the flashbacks of him and John is making me tear up already because you get to see who he was. Even though he was a bit mean to his younger brother, I still felt their connection. I wish he could have gotten better, but that was just not possible...

The girl next door, Emily, seems like the perfect person at first. I really like her good girl personality and her ability to be able to joke around John while simultaneously be there for him. She can be tough on him but he needs it. I didn't really get the full affect of her "trouble" in the past. I felt like there should have been more elaboration on that. 

All in all, I enjoyed John's personality; I felt for him. I enjoyed the cast of characters, the family dynamic being reshaped, and most of all what the story was all about - forgiving others and yourself after a tragedy.

Get tissues for this one, I got tired of crying my eyes out and needed to watch and read something happy because it could get intense!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for letting me read and review The Homecoming in exchange for an honest review!