The Boy is Back
By: Meg Cabot
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages: 400
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sometimes to move forward, you have to go back…
One post. That’s all it took to destroy the care free, glamorous life of pro golfer Reed Stewart. One tiny post on the Internet.
Then again, it’s not like Reed’s been winning many tournaments lately, and his uncle isn’t the only one who says it’s because of the unfinished business he left behind back home in Bloomville, Indiana—namely Reed’s father, the Honorable Judge Richard P. Stewart, and the only girl Reed ever loved, Becky Flowers.
But Reed hasn’t spoken to either his father or Becky in over a decade.
Until that post on the Internet. Suddenly, Reed’s family has become a national laughingstock, his publicist won’t stop calling, his siblings are begging for help, and Reed realizes he has no other choice: He’s got to go home to face his past . . . the Judge and the girl he left behind.
Becky’s worked hard to build her successful senior relocation business, but she’s worked even harder to forget Reed Stewart ever existed—which hasn’t been easy, considering he’s their hometown’s golden boy, and all anyone ever talks about. It was fine while they were thousands of miles apart, but now he’s back in Bloomville. She has absolutely no intention of seeing him—until his family hires her to help save his parents.
Now Reed and Becky can’t avoid one another…or the memories of that one fateful night.
Can the quirky residents of Bloomville bring these two young people back together, or will Reed and Becky continue to allow their pasts to deny them the future they deserve?
First Impressions
Meg Cabot is one of my favorite authors, so when I found out that she was adding another book to the Boy series, I was beyond excited. Two series extensions from Cabot in one year? I couldn’t wait. As these books are written in emails and letters and so forth, I was curious how that would change in the current time.
What I thought
This book was almost as cute as the others!
Becky lives in her hometown and works at the family business. Reed is a pro-golfer who lives in LA. Neither of them have talked since their prom night 10 years ago. When Reed’s parents start having money troubles, his family finally convinces him to come home and help out.
I enjoyed the family aspect of the novel. Reed’s sister-in-law was probably one of my favorite characters with all of her meddling. I liked seeing the family come back together and Reed dealing with his parents. What I didn’t like as much was the romance between Becky and Reed. Something about it just didn’t click for me. I think my biggest issue with it was there wasn’t a lot of buildup. Reed came back and instantly he and Becky were in love again.
I liked their banter and I think I felt on his end some of the pining which made me understand how he was immediately in love with her again. He had never had a serious girlfriend in the past ten years. Becky on the other hand is currently in a (seemingly) serious relationship when Reed comes back to town. As soon as she sees him again it’s like the other guy ceases to exist. I tend to dislike storylines like that because I can’t personally relate to/understand how that can happen.
Cabot manages the email/text communication really well and it makes for an easy read. There were a few journal entries from Becky and I do wish there had been more of that. I feel like if there had been then maybe I would have connected with her a little more. We get a lot more insight from Reed’s side of the family which maybe allowed for more understanding of his feelings for Becky.
I vaguely remember that some of the other books connected through various characters, but since I haven’t read them in a while, I couldn’t remember if this story connected too. I would be curious to read this one again after re-reading the others.
I know this was a short review, but I don’t have much to say about it. It’s a cute but predictable story that was a fun read. It has the same feeling as the previous books in the series and was enjoyable. I would probably re-read it again in succession with the other novels in the series, but I don’t think I’d purchase it. It’s a cute book and maybe I have high standards for Cabot. I did really like it, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. If you like cute fiction with a bit of romance, I would highly recommend checking out this book as well as the previous ones.