Austen’s Persuasion Inspires The Comeback: Houston Pumas Sports Romance (Book 1), by Ranee S. Clark

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:

Austenesque books are aplenty lately! Releasing this week is The Comeback, a contemporary romance with Persuasion vibes, by Ranee S. Clark.

I found it witty and charming. Here are the details and my thoughts:

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Eight years ago, he asked me to marry him, and I said yes … then I ran.

Ava
Even so, I never dreamed we’d end up here—him hating me for the choices I made to save his career. It’s fine. I’ve moved on.

I’ve had a few bumps in the road with my rising event planning career, but running my best friend’s wedding to her pro-football fiancé will fix all of that. If I pull off the perfect wedding.

There’s one more bump I wasn’t expecting—my ex, Jett McCombs, is a groomsman, and seeing him again makes two things clear.

I still love him.

He still hates me.

Jett
The last thing I need distracting me in the middle of a championship football season is a wedding, especially not some high-profile circus. And I definitely don’t need to face the ghosts of my past and the woman that got away. The woman who gave up on us and shattered my heart.

With her in charge of the over-publicized wedding, there’s no avoiding her or the fact that I’m not as over her as I thought.

One thing I know for sure is that I can’t trust Ava with my heart ever again.

Someone just needs to tell my heart that.

This sweet second chance sports romance is inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

MY THOUGHTS

Basing your story on Persuasion is a sure guarantee your readers will  have a compelling plot infused with tragic romantic loss, emotional tension, and redemption.

The Comeback was beautifully brought into the 21st century by updating the characters to a wedding planner and a football star living in Houston, Texas. The themes and conflicts of Jane Austen’s second-chance romance are palpable and relevant today, even 2 centuries after they were first written. Many lines in this new novel really hit home, like:

“There is so much of the girl I fell in love with inside this woman in front of me that I want to cry for the shame of it. How is the one person who’s perfect for me the one I wasn’t enough for?”

And, the building climax culminating with the hero Jett’s final proclamation of his love to heroine Ava, a la Captain Wentworth’s “I am half agony, half hope“ letter, just made me sob!

I highly recommend this delightful contemporary romance to those who enjoy Austen-inspired stories and are in need of emotionally rewarding joy ride.

4 out of 5 Stars

BOOK INFORMATION

• The Comeback: Houston Pumas Sports Romance (Book 1), by Ranee S. Clark
• Sweetly Us Press (August 27, 2024)
• Trade paperback & eBook (228) pages
• ISBN: 979-8991276009
• Genre: Contemporary Romance, Austenesque, RomCom

AMAZON | ADD TO GOODREADS

We were gifted a copy of the book from the publisher. Book Description & cover image courtesy of Sweetly Us Press © 2024; text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2024, austenprose.com, an Amazon affiliate. No AI: material on Austenprose.com may not be used in datasets for, in the development of, or as inputs to generative AI programs.

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