Carry Yourself Back to Me by Deborah Reed

Carry Yourself Back to Me by Deborah Reed
Published by AmazonEncore
Review copy provided by the publicist

Former country singer Annie Walsh, recovering from a bad breakup with the love of her life, Owen, spends her time in Florida in her home with her dog, interacting with the rest of society as little as possible. But when her brother Calder is accused of murder, Annie’s quiet existence is shattered to its core.

When I began reading Carry Yourself Back to Me, I liked Annie’s character immediately. She is a broken soul who has been through a lot in life – a successful career, a sordid family past, and a love affair for the ages. But when Owen left her, her life was in tatters and she didn’t know how to pick up the pieces. In addition, she was pregnant when he left and unable to tell him, so the fact that he never knew about the pregnancy left a huge emptiness in her heart. I truly empathized with her pain and over the course of the entire novel, I just kept hoping that something would work out for her, that she would be able to heal from the pain in her life and become whole again.

Unfortunately, Annie’s character turned out to be the only aspect of this novel I really loved. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the book, because while I was reading it I did, but it just wasn’t memorable. In fact, as I’m thinking about it now I can’t recall how the novel ends. It’s not that I wasn’t paying attention, I just wasn’t wowed by the plot or the ending enough for the details to stick in  my brain.

That being said, I did enjoy reading Carry Yourself Back to Me and I loved the character of Annie, so I can still recommend the novel. While it isn’t the type of book that was emotionally impactful or will stick with me for a long time, reading it was an enjoyable experience.