Review - Not Leaving by Leigh Ann Lunsford

Not Leaving

Parker Siblings Book 2

Buy on Amazon

Synopsis

Addison Parker has loved one boy all her life, Tyler James. She met him the first day of school after moving to Tennessee to live with her grandparents. Through death, raising her younger siblings, betrayal, and heartbreak, he has been there. She has forgiven him for many things, but this time when he leaves, she decides he is not her future anymore. 

Tyler James loves Addison Parker. He has made mistakes, but his love is always constant. He wants to be with her, but through lies and misunderstandings it doesn’t seem possible anymore. When a single moment changes his future, will he be able to come back and pick up the pieces of their relationship, or did he finally break all of her faith in him? 

Review

Laura's Review

One of the last things that happened in Book 1 was Tyler reappearing in Addison's life a few months after he walked away...about nine months, to be exact.  He finds out that he is the father of Addison's twin daughters, and drops everything in North Carolina and returns to Tennessee to get his family back.  He has never lost Addison's love, but he lost her trust, and he has to work like hell to earn it again and prove that he is "not leaving."  

Addison has always been the family rock; while she and Brielle have shared in the care and raising of their younger siblings, Addison has really been the one to try to take care of everyone around her.  In turn, her rock was Tyler. He loves her with all of his heart and has made her family his own for the years that they have been together.  But the dysfunctional nature of the relationship between Tyler and his parents has affected him more than he has ever let anyone know, even Addy.  He is so afraid of being the same kind of parent that he wonders if he should even have kids.  It comes as no surprise to the reader that he reacts badly when he finds out Addison is pregnant, but unfortunately, she has no idea the reasons behind that reaction.

Once again, Leigh Ann has brought us the heartache.  Addison doesn't have the same deep-seated issues that Brielle has, but her recent history with Tyler has forced her to question her own judgement.  Addison's reservations and her internal conflict over the love she still feels for Tyler is completely relatable.  And as much as I might want to give Tyler one of Cambree's famous junk punches, once you know his side of things, you understand why he has done the things he has, even if he's still wrong.

Leigh Ann continues to delve deeper into the characters of this series.  We see how even though they have done some growing up, they are still the same characters we fell in love with, just with some new reasons to love them.  We get introduced "in person" to some who have only been mentioned up to this point.  Brent's appearance made me long for a shower.  And my heart is already breaking for what his presence means for Dustin, who is already struggling to understand his place in the Parker family dynamic.

What really got me going in this book and extra excited for the continuation of the series are the revelations that came out of Mitch.  That information is going to be a bombshell once everyone else is made aware and I cannot wait to see what it means for the Parkers!