Fom USA Today bestselling author comes the second book in the Lost Boys series of interconnected standalones. Holden and River's emotional and heart-wrenching journey to love, redemption, and their happy ever after.
When You Come Back To Me by Emma Scott is now live!
At Santa Cruz Central High School, they called them the misfits, the outcasts, the weirdos. But most of us knew them as the Lost Boys...
Holden Parish survived his parents' horrific attempts to make him "the perfect son." After a year's stint in a Swiss sanitarium to recover, he has vowed to never let anything-- or anyone--trap him again. Brilliant but broken, he seeks refuge behind alcohol, meaningless sex, and uses his wicked sense of humor to keep people away. He only has to ride out one year in the coastal town of Santa Cruz with his aunt and uncle before he inherits his billions and can make his escape. Disappear.
Falling in love is not in the plans.
River Whitmore. Star quarterback of the Central High football team, Prom King, Mr. Popular, ladies' man. He leads the perfect life...except it's all a lie. His father has River's future in the NFL all planned out, while River's dream is to run the family business in the town that he loves. But his mother's illness is tearing the family apart and River is becoming the glue that holds them together. How can he break his father's heart when it's already shattering?
River's carefully-crafted façade explodes when he meets Holden Parish. A guy who dresses in coats and scarves year-round, drinks expensive vodka, and spends his free time breaking into houses for the fun of it. They're complete opposites. River seeks a quiet life, away from the spotlight. Holden would rather have dental surgery than settle down.
Holden's demons and River's responsibilities threaten to keep them apart, while their undeniable attraction crashes them together again and again, growing into something deep and real no matter how they resist.
Until one terrible night changes everything.
Lost Boys is a new series of interconnected, coming-of-age standalones from USA Today bestselling author Emma Scott, coming in 2020
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Cassie’s Review
4.5 stars! This book was emotionally gripping. I cried tears of grief, loss, and happiness. Holden and River have lived two very different lives. But they absolutely fit together like puzzle pieces. Their growth as a couple but more importantly as humans will leave you breathless and joyful. It's even more important that their growth took time, and there is no easy fix.
I could not put this book down. There was such an intensity with this book, that I just had to keep reading to find out what happened next. The emotions in this book were raw and beautiful.
"I came to tell you that even thousands of miles away, I'm still here. I can't make you believe me when I say that I love you, but I do. I think you love me too, and when you come back to me, I'll be waiting"
If you read and loved Someday, Someday you should definitely pick this book up. I would describe this book as a YA/NA, and it covers so many rough subject matters. This is book two in the series. You can definitely read this one as a standalone, but I recommend reading The Girl in the Love Song, since we meet these character in that book, and their timelines do overlap.
EXCERPT
On the stage, Miller spoke into the mic in a low, almost shy voice. “Hey, my name is Miller Stratton. I’m going to play a song by Coldplay. It’s called ‘Fix You.’”
I let my gaze slide to Holden, studying the contours of his profile—his chiseled jaw and cheekbones, strong nose, full lips. He swallowed, and I watched the movement of his Adam’s apple. Thoroughly masculine. Nothing feminine about it.
“Can I help you?” he whispered, eyes forward.
“It sucks not talking to you,” I said, as Miller strummed the first chords of the song. “I don’t know why. You’re arrogant as fuck.”
“Fair. You’re a grilled cheese sandwich.”
I snorted. “A what?”
“Shh,” Holden said. “Listen. This is our song.”
Our song. Nothing was ours. There was no us. But Miller sang that if you never try you’ll never know, and the words pierced me like arrows.
I took my hand out of my pocket and let it hang by my side again. Again, my skin brushed Holden’s, sending shards of heat dancing up my arm while Miller sang about lights that ignite your bones.
I looked at Holden and he looked at me.
Without letting myself think, I slipped my fingers around the side of his hand and slid my palm against his. He gasped slightly—a small intake of breath only I heard in the darkened
auditorium. Then he let his hand settle into mine. Another heartbeat, and our fingers laced
together.
“And I will try,” Miller sang, his rich voice hovering in the air in that silent auditorium. “To fix you.”
A short silence fell before the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers, unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Miller’s version of the song was unlike anything I’d ever heard either, as if he were
singing directly to me. To us.
Because it’s our song.
Under the cover of applause, I let go of Holden’s hand and tugged the cuff of his coat. “Let’s go.”
I left without looking back but heard Holden’s footfalls following. Warning bells clanged in my head but were drowned in the thrashing beat of my heart that felt as it were trying to break free of its prison like it had at the pool. Only this time I was stone cold sober. No excuses.
I pushed open the door next to the auditorium—the back area of the band room that was for instrument storage. Huge basses loomed in dimness, and drums of all sizes and styles lined
the walls.
Holden followed me in and shut the door behind him. “Hello, friend.”
“I put in my college applications,” I said as he approached me in the darkness. “I’m going away to Texas or maybe Alabama this summer.”
“Establishing the rules, are you?” he drawled, though his voice was thick and tinged with nerves.
I swallowed hard. “Nothing’s changed. Nothing can change.”
“I told you,” Holden said, in front of me now. “I’ll never ask you for anything. I don’t have anything to give. Except this.”
I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true, that I was the one who had nothing to offer. I shouldn’t have led us here. I should walk out, but his goddamn voice, the scent of him, his presence was overwhelming. My hands itched to touch him, to grab him and...
Kiss him?
My first kiss with a guy. It seemed as if I’d been waiting a lifetime for it and yet the moment was rushing at me like a speeding train.
“Stop thinking, River,” Holden whispered. “We’re here. Right now.” He leaned in. “What are you going to do?”
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