This is the fourth book by Baxter that I’ve read and is the fourth book in his Five Point Stories. It’s been languishing on my Kindle for a few months and I finally added it to my queue when I was preparing for a vacation that would result in a week of offline time.
My first observation of this one is that the cover is creepy AF. Seriously go to Goodreads or Amazon and blow up the image. I can’t quite put my finger on it but both Zach and Grant’s faces are just a little bit off and Taylor’s (the kid) just doesn’t quite look finished. Thankfully, I didn’t stare at it too much before starting or I might’ve put it off even longer!
I’m still impressed with Baxter’s reasoning for starting this series. He loves Hallmark movies but there weren’t any LGBT ones so he wrote his own. And for the most part, he did okay. They’re as clean/sweet as a Hallmark romance with nothing more than kissing happening on the page, but they’re always just slightly off for me. I can’t quite put my finger on whether it’s the too many side stories, the characters themselves, or the author’s voice, but there’s something that doesn’t quite put them in OMG yes MM Romance category or OMG yes hokey Holiday/Hallmark Romance category.
Back Where I Come From is a single parent (Zach) MM Romance when the big bad lawyer (Grant) comes to town to get rid of the no-corporate chains in the old town ordinance. Of course, it’s more complicated than that with Grant having family local and Zach having a tweenage kid, but that’s the essence of this enemy to lovers storyline.
The best part of the novel was the ending when the kids (aka the future generation of the town) come together in a way to bring hope and happiness to the community after the loss of the matriarch we meet in the first book of the series, The Problem with Mistletoe. It’s a little sad that her death and the kids overshadowed the entire love story/romance, but maybe that was the point?
There seemed to be a few more copy errors/continuity errors in this one than the first three. I’m not sure if it was rushed or if there was a change in editing, but it was noticeable, specifically in one scene where the wine came from the -ovia country from Bring Me Edelweiss on one page, and then all of a sudden it was German on the next. It was enough for me to be like whoa wait a minute.
Recommendation: Overall, it’s an okay read—nothing over the top and nothing to really drive me to want to read the final book in the series. The story didn’t pull me in, even though I seem to be going through a single-care-giver romance phase—this is the second of four, but it also didn’t turn me off. I think I’d like to see Baxter tackle a more direct MM Romance with sex scenes to see if he’s worth continuing to read. I will read Manhattan Mistletoe Mystery, the final book in the series as of now, if only for the alliteration and my completionist tendencies. However, for me, the series peaked with book two, Bring Me Edelweiss, which just nailed the sappy holiday romance on the head with the secret royalty and clumsy love interest . . . swoon.
Opening Line: “I’m getting too old for this, Zach Torosyan thought as he fidgeted in the chair.
Closing Line: “Whatever else, Zach knew that Mama Capili would have wanted them to look forward and to take care of each other.” (Whited out to avoid spoiler, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Back Where I Come From
“Back downstairs, he made tea and then went to the family room. He sat in his favorite chair by the window, the light on the end table beside him. Turning the TV on and finding a news station, he settled in and pulled out his knitting. This was never something he would ever have done when he was younger. But after Nathan passed, he picked it up. Knitting quieted the tumult in his mind. Meditation was never his thing, but this? This worked. At the moment, he was working on a blanket. He considered making Taylor a scarf but suspected that his tweenage son would not wear a scarf his father had knitted. Zach wouldn’t have when he was a kid.” (102)
“‘I don’t know how you could help it,’ Grant said. ‘He was—he is—a huge part of your life. He always will be. Love changes you. It leaves an impression, you know?’
Zach looked over at him, and Grant held a hand up and traced a pattern in the air. ‘People are like stars or planets,’ he continued. ‘They have a gravitational field and they affect everyone in their path. When they leave, their effects are still felt, like eddies in the water. Do you see?’
‘You’re mixing your metaphors, but I get it.’ Zach looked back up to the stars. ‘You’re not lacking without the people you lost but they affected your life.'” (188)
“Zach even liked his catchphrase: no bueno. Taylor had happily picked it up, too. Was using no bueno racist? Or appropriation? Or just Californian skateboarder speak? Or was it all of the above? Zach wondered as he walked the aisles. He didn’t know Grant’s ethnicity. Blond, with blue-gray eyes, the man looked Caucasian. But he mentioned his abuelito, so he must be of Spanish descent and thereby Hispanic. Or is it Latino? God, which one? What’s the right word? (198)”