Title: Take Me Back
Author:  Kelli Maine
Publisher/Year:  Grand Central Publishing 6/4/13
Length:  112 Pages
Series: Give & Take #2.5

Overview

DESIRE THAT CAN’T BE DENIED

Rachael DeSalvo is haunted by the past. She’s come home to her beloved Turtle Tear Island, where she looks forward to happy days and bliss-filled nights in the arms of Merrick Rocha. But when she finds a trunk full of old photo albums and handwritten notes, Rachael soon realizes that the island has not given up all its secrets . . . 

For long before Rachael and Merrick made Turtle Tear Resort their home, this historic island was a haven for sensual, forbidden affairs. As Rachael and Merrick work to restore the grand hotel to its former glory, they will be caught in the perfect maelstrom of conflict and desire.

My Thoughts

In the last installment, we see that Merrick has purchased the Plantation that is part of the history of the owners that have Turtle Tear, and there’s much more there going on.  there’s this ‘legend’ so to speak that the ghost / soul of Ingrid – the owner is still in the home, and wants to be returned to Turtle Tear where she loved it so much and her body is.  Rachael has become so involved and obsessed with the story of these lovers, that she does everything that she can to uncover the story and the history and help return Ingrid’s soul.

Where this story takes us though is on a portion of Rachael and Merrick’s romance, where Rachael’s obsession has become so much that it’s taken away from her responsibilities on the island and things begin to fall through the cracks.  She begins to lie to Merrick about where she’s going in the hopes that she can help return Ingrid, and this puts a riff between them.  So much so that Merrick sends her home to Cleveland to ‘think things through’ and decides that they need to be on a break.

I think that what’s really interesting about this is that we know that neither of these 2 have a stable history of relationships, and this is something that comes to the forefront in this novella installment.  Because they are both really bad at communicating, it puts the future of their relationship in jeopardy and you begin to wonder what it will to keep them together and if it’s even possible.

At the same time as this duo is going through their ‘stuff’, we see Maddie and MJ in an even better place.  In the end of book 2, MJ put a promise ring on her finger and it seems like things are going well for this couple.  You can’t help but be really happy for them.

I guess my question now is whether this is the calm before the storm and if we’re going to see things get thrown all about since we know that Enzo is still on the run and he’s not going to let things go so easily.  I also wonder what’s going to happen with the Twin that we just met in the last book, and with Gina – since there’s something that’s not quite right.  I think that what was hinted at – at the liklihood of a 12 yr old fathering a child on his first time having sex being slim to none – i’m curious is there’s more to the story there.  I don’t know about you guys – but part of me wonders if it was Enzo and not Merrick that fathered the twins.  just sayin….

So i guess it’s now off to reading Given – the 3rd full installment to see where things go.  While i’m not sold on the 2nd person that we often get when Rachael is the narrator – at least the story itself is getting better to keep me engaged.