They Always Come Back

By: Bailey Thomas

Narrated by: Lisa Lynn Sandlin

Avery Kline relocates her entire life from her hometown of East Tawas, Michigan to Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite going through a tumultuous breakup, Avery is open to putting her heart back on the line when she meets the apartment’s pool security guard, Kyle Kingsley.

Kyle is no stranger to female attention as all the residents seem to gravitate towards him, but he has a rule against dating girls who live at the complex. This disappoints Avery, but doesn’t discourage her from pursuing him anyway. She believes that once Kyle gets to know the real her, she will be able to break his rule and make him fall in love with her.

Avery is relentless in her mission to capture Kyle’s heart, but his feelings against dating residents may be more of a warning than a rule. Their differing values cause friction among their friendship until one of them finally prevails.

Will Avery be able to win Kyle over, or will his dark past leave them both heartbroken?

©2024 Bailey Thomas Books LLC (P)2024 Bailey Thomas Books LLC

Oh Avery!

I was honestly ready to strangle Avery almost every chapter. Kyle was an absolute dick and I would have had no qualms about turning him in. Paige is a true friend and the moment Avery was sneaking around to spend time with Kyle she should have realized there was a problem here. Ugh! Every chapter I was literally yelling at Avery! Graham is so much better. Lawd, what will happen next?

3.5 stars

The Narration

The Narration was top notch!! It was also a good simple story. It was easy to follow along

Great story.

It started off a bit slow for me, not sure if it was the narrator or story but once things picked up and I sped up the narration , I was into it. Avery made some questionable choices, but honestly, that made her feel more real. I loved her friendship with Page, she was hilarious, loyal, and honestly the kind of best friend we all need.
Kyle, on the other hand, nope. Couldn’t stand him.
The writing was great, especially for a debut, and the plot twist totally caught me off guard. I didn’t love the message at the end, it kind of felt like it was excusing toxic relationships, but overall, I enjoyed it. If you’re into messy main characters and emotional stories with a bit of drama, give it a try.

Conflicting romance

Interesting romance about the struggles of navigating relationships and emerging adulthood. Good narration, the ending felt rushed.

Not my Favorite

I was forcing myself to finish this. The main character is a young adult, but I had moments when I thought I was listening to a story about a teenager. The wrap-up wasn't any better. I still can't figure out why Avery didn't tell the truth about Kyle. Narration was the best part of this book

Paige is a Real Friend

A lot of spoilers in this so you’ve been warned.

So there is a lot to unpack with this story. First of all I want to say although this has not been my favorite story, it reminds me a lot of my friend’s story. She recently got divorced from a man that was HIGHLY abusive and now she is dating again and a lot of the thought processes in the story are ones she has said. Paige was someone I related to a lot. No matter what she said or did Avery was going to do what she wanted and ignore any advice. I think that as sad as Avery’s way of thinking and actions were in the story, it was unfortunately a pretty realistic depiction of some people’s realities. I am a little irked that she went on to date and find love when honestly she should have gone to therapy. Despite everything that happened she still held a place in her heart for an awful man to the point of not reporting him to the police when she was in a terrifying situation. I also don’t agree with her being in a hospital bed after such a traumatic experience and being asked if she wanted to commit to a relationship. I can go on and on about how problematic this is but as I said I can see this being a reality for some.

Find a friend like Paige

This was a a fun rom com with great banter. Avery and Paige relocate to Las Vegas after she has a rough breakup. However, Avery just finds herself in another situation with the new apartment complex pool attendant. Paige is a friend everyone should have. I really liked her character. The audio narration is done by Lisa Lynn Sandlin. She does a great job voicing the story and characters.

Main Character Flaws

SPOILERS - Let me preface this review by stating that I was given a free copy of this audible to listen to in exchange for my review. I am a 50+ year-old female and I believe I am not the intended audience. The writing style made this book very easy to read, and the author is a strong writer. Unfortunately, it’s the story that I really struggled with. Avery is a young, intelligent, independent woman living with her girlfriend in Las Vegas. She becomes infatuated with the wrong man. He treats her bad. I mean really bad. Yet she keeps going back. I thought the book would identify some trauma in Avery‘s life that would explain this. Yes she had a bad break up, but that’s not uncommon. She was abandoned by her parents, but that’s barely explained and seemingly not the cause for Avery’s behavior. On her first date with Kyle, he makes out with and then leaves with another girl right in front of Avery. He humiliates her by pretending not to know her at the pool. He tries to rape her. The list goes on. I think the worst part was him admitting to murdering his parents, while robbing Avery and she STILL does nothing. Granted I am much older than the characters in this book, but I would sincerely hope that people of the main character’s age don’t accept being treated this way by men as normal. I read a couple reviews where people had mentioned Avery’s actions were typical…YIKES! I hope not!