Little Miss Bookmark: Review: Can't Go Back by Marie Meyer

When Jillian moved next door, she refused to get out of the car. I climbed into the backseat beside her and promised to never leave her.

Now, I’m driving her a thousand miles away, so she can leave me.

She has to go. What else would she do? Follow me and my band from one cheap bar to another, get hit on by sleazy promoters? Because Jillian would definitely get hit on. She’s the most gorgeous, talented girl I've ever known, and she doesn't even see it.

This scholarship gives Jillian the chance to study at the best design school in the country. It’s what she’s always wanted. I won’t stand in the way of her dreams, no matter how much it hurts to watch her go. I just wish she wasn’t leaving without knowing the truth . . .

I was completely entranced by Can't Go Back at the beginning. I found the main character, Griffin, to be so very sweet and I enjoyed that the book was written by his POV. It's not uncommon but you just don't find a whole bunch of romance novels that are written from the voice of the male and it was refreshing to read something from that side.

If you caught what I said at the start of my review ... the book had me hooked at the beginning ... but that did change. The story was still good after that point but I felt like I was missing something. Important parts of situations seemed to be missing ... something would happen and I would be sitting there waiting to see what happened and all of the sudden it would just skip over the resolution of a situation and just move on. It was perplexing and frustrating. I wanted to know the details of what had happened but I didn't get that. And now I know why. I just found out that this book is the same as Across the Distance but just written from Griffin's POV instead of Jillian's. Talk about irritating!! I had no idea when I picked this book up that this was what it was. It sure does explain why I didn't get satisfaction from situations in the book it's because it was already talked about in another one, apparently. I feel a little robbed. I wish that I had known and I would have read the other one first. But it is what it is. Just keep in mind if you're interested in this one, you might want to pick the other one up first.

The characters were pretty interesting and I liked the push and pull from Griffin and Jillian that seemed to happen quite often. Their love story isn't an easy one and it was full of turmoil. I like the turmoil ... I enjoy reading about struggles and how the characters are able to pull themselves out of it. This book was a good example of that. I just wish that it had felt more ... complete ... to me. The story-line was engaging and it really sucks you in but the missing info and situations just really bothers me. Especially without some kind of disclaimer at the beginning ... at least give me the choice to read the other book first. Is this mostly my fault? Sure, I guess it could be. I received this book from the publisher and I didn't do any kind of recon on the author or her previous books or any reviews before I picked this up. And that's a personal decision, I like going into a book pretty blind ... I don't want any outside forces (other reviews and whatnot) to cloud my thoughts and feelings before I start reading.

Anyhow ... maybe after I'm not irritated as much, I'll pick up that other book and give it a go and that could very well change my thoughts on this one. But I'm too peeved to do that right now. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *

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