Raising Elle (Sweet Valley Series Book 1) by S.E Reichert – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

Raising Elle by S.E. Reichert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elle Sullivan returns to her hometown of Sweet Valley in the hopes of leaving the life she lived in LA behind her. She returns to her family home battered, bruised, and holding tightly to secrets of the lifestyle she left behind. Feeling frightened and alone, Elle is unsure what reaction to expect from her family that she has not spoken to in years. When her family welcome her home with open arms, she feels relieved, but is still nervous and on edge as she flees her past life. Elle is determined to get a fresh start, so she pushes her fear to the side, puts on a brave face, and throws herself into helping her family fix up the family ranch.

What Elle did not count on facing was her childhood sweetheart, Blake, still living in Sweet Valley. When she runs into him immediately after returning home old feelings start to surface. Blake is just as surprised to see Elle and is forced to come to terms with his feelings for the girl he never got over. After Elle left, Blake’s life started to spiral downwards, and when she returned, he had finally hit rock bottom. When Elle needs help around the ranch fixing it up, she offers Blake the chance to help her. She feels that this will give him the chance to sober up and start getting his life back on track. In the process, Elle, and Blake work together to help one another get their lives back and build a brighter future.

Warning, this has some sensitive subject matter and may cause triggers. It also has some strong language that may offend some. As a survivor of domestic violence this book was a hard read for me. It had a lot of triggers and dredged up some painful memories of my own past with my abuser.

As hard as it was to read about what Elle had gone through it was truly inspiring to see how courageous she was as she pushed through her fears and trauma. Moving forward after abuse is hard to do and there is always a part of you that feels scared and vulnerable. It is difficult to face those fears head-on and push through them so that you can create a better life for yourself. I appreciate how difficult this was for not only Elle, but for Blake as well. Facing the demons of your past like Elle and Blake had to do is scary and requires inner strength and courage that you do not even realize you have.

I loved Elle’s family and the love they had for one another. It was heartwarming to see how they stood together no matter what. It pulled on my heartstrings when her family embraced Elle with open arms even after years without speaking. They were there for her, no questions asked, and without judgement. That brought tears to my eyes and truly moved me. Even the way the small community was so close-knit, and all pulled together was truly inspiring. This was a beautiful read full of gut-wrenching emotions and hard topics like domestic violence and alcoholism. The author did a good job of writing about these sensitive topics and making the characters relatable.

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