Love's Bitter Harvest by Jas T. Ward

 

Release Date: 08.08.2020

Synopsis:

Welcome to McCall Farm, where two hearts harvested love and then life made its fruits bitter.

High school sweethearts Matt and Katy McCall fell in love behind the bleachers with a kiss. Life is easy and happy until Katy is offered a job across the country and Matt refuses to give up his family’s generational farm. They painfully part—one due to stubbornness and the other ambition. Years go by and the rift widens until tragedy brings Katy back home to the farm—and the man who still held her heart.

But home is not the same and neither is the man she left behind. Matt is on the brink of losing the precious farm. He’s angry at life, and the tragedy has left him feeling like half a man. The last person Matt wants to see is the woman who left him for a career he believed mattered to her more than he did—and gutted his heart on the way out.

Review:

I really loved this heartwarming, at times bittersweet, second chance at love story.

Katy and Matt fell madly in love at first sight, they married really young but their love didn't survive to Katy's dream to go to work far from the little village they were born and lived. Unfortunately Matt had to take care of the family's farm and couldn't follow his wife to New York, even if letting her go broke his heart.
Now, years later, Katy is back at the farm, called by Matt's sister, to help her husband after a bad car accident who put him in a bed. The reception isn't the best, because they both suffered pretty hard, but Katy is not the same shy,sweet girl who left and Matt will find pretty soon that she isn't a quitter either.

I adore broken heroes who need a stern lecture in order to get back on track. I wanted Matt to get well and for both the characters to find some closure and joy.

This was the first novel I've read written by this author and her words, her characters and the world she depicted sucked me in since the beginning.
I highly recommend to read this novel.

Excerpt:

Katy stood in the doorway of the living room for what seemed like an eternity waiting for Matt to just acknowledge her. No such luck. Finally, she stepped into the room and sat down on the couch. “Matt, we need to talk.”

Matt kept his eyes nailed on the wall. He clenched his teeth causing that slow tick to show in his jaw. “Why? I want you gone. And I'm not exactly in shape to push you out of my house, now am I?”

Matt could always easily get under her skin. Katy had to draw on every bit of steel resolve she had developed in their time apart to not let him do it once more. He’s hurting and pissed. It’s not you.

“Our house." Katy spoke the words and knew a second later she did so without remembering the very thing she had just told herself. The words didn’t come from any thought process. They just poured forth uninhibited in their battle of wills.

Matt let out a snarl of frustration. He turned his head to face her as he sat against the head of the bed. “My house! You walked away from it, and when you did, it was no longer yours. You gave it up just like you gave up our marriage. Our life.” Matt swallowed down the lump of pain he had to force words around. It threatened to rip through him as he forced himself to focus on Katy’s beautiful eyes. His anger and resentment so thick, the words were choked out. “Gave me up! You can’t claim anything. Nothing! Do you hear me, Katy? Or is it Katherine? Tell me, sweetheart, who are you tricking yourself into being nowadays? Because I sure as hell don’t recognize you. Not at all.”

Katy looked away as she crossed her legs and focused on the dusty dappled sunspots in the dining room Where dust mites swam in the light. Did she envy their freedom? She shouldn’t. They were just as trapped as Matt was.

Nodding, she spoke to him with a tone as if talking to a child, “You’re right, Matt. I did. But”—she turned back to him— “I’m here now. And like you said, you can’t very well show me the door."

It was a cruel button to push, but Katy could see it also burned away the impact of the pain narcotics. His rage singed the chemical hold on Matt to emotional ash. He reached out to grab her arm and pull her close. He focused on her eyes. He wanted to make it clear to her and leave zero doubt how very far she pushed him.

“When the fuck did you get so cruel? My Katy would never be so damn mean. Is that why you’re here? To be mean? To see the mess you left behind so you can have some kind of twisted pride in how it all fell apart after you left? Well, get a good look, baby.” He let her go with a shove. He rolled to his side to fully place his back to her. “Then get the fuck out.”