A second-chance romance and a wounded hero is the backdrop of this tender story that brings wounded marine Trey Rothchild and Gia Harris together. Former flames when they were in high school and now Trey is physical therapist's patient. There is a sizzle, that is undeniable. However, their broken past and Gia's policy of not getting involved with patients don't give the couple much hope.

However, old feelings come together with strong feelings of care and concern for Gia. It doesn't take long at all for Trey to begin developing a similar attraction. This clean romance was the perfect book for a couple finding love.

Many thanks to Harlequin Heartwarming and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

As I posted earlier, I’ve joined with Harlequin to bring you some romances throughout the year. Right now I’m part of the Investigator tour (mystery with some romance) and the Believer tour (faith and romance). I have to say that these are my cozy reads. Growing up I never would have thought that I would enjoy Harlequin romances, but when the world is crazy and life is stressful and I’m feeling down, I like to read about people who hold onto their faith and love others and have things work out. It’s that simple.
Out of this group of stories, I read Her Hometown Hero which dealt with a young man returning from war and his healing process. I felt it had a good message about the challenges of PTSD and getting help for those struggling with it.

This is a Clean Romance, and this is the second book in the Polk Island book series. I have not read the first book in this book series. This book took me forever to get pulled into it, and I almost DNFed it. Once, I was into the story I really enjoyed it and I liked the characters. There was parts of this book that I felt moved way to slow, and there was parts that just went over and over the same thing. I loved what this book was bring attention to, and I do think this book did a good job of showing what it is like for returning military that has been hurt. I do think this books pacing was off a little and characters needed to be a little more developed. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Harlequin Heartwarming) or author (Jacquelin Thomas) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Her hometown hero by Jacqueline Thomas.
Wounded marine Trey Rothchild has returned to Polk Island. People call him a hero, but will he ever feel that way after losing his team? Reuniting with high school crush Gia Harris buoys his spirits. Though she’s focused on making her physical therapy clinic a success—and avoiding romance with patients—Gia can’t bear watching the former athlete sit on the sidelines of life. Could helping Trey recover include loving him fearlessly?
I enjoyed this book. I do like romance books. Trey was my favourite. 4*.

Title: Her Hometown Hero
Author: Jacquelin Thomas
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.0 out of 5

Can a wounded hero let go of the past?

Wounded marine Trey Rothchild has returned to Polk Island. People call him a hero, but will he ever feel that way after losing his team? Reuniting with high school crush Gia Harris buoys his spirits. Though she’s focused on making her physical therapy clinic a success—and avoiding romance with patients—Gia can’t bear watching the former athlete sit on the sidelines of life. Could helping Trey recover include loving him fearlessly?

I enjoyed the family bonds in this novel but found the rest to be mostly a dud. I know Trey experienced something horrific, but he came across as a whiny brat who just wanted to sit around and feel sorry for himself and not actually do anything about his issues. He leaped to wild conclusions with no reason, and then was surprised when Gia got mad. And Gia seemed to be a head-in-the-sand person who was always surprised when her problems followed her. I felt like the characters were just talking heads, too. Maybe this just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Jacquelin Thomas is a bestselling author. Her Hometown Hero is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.)

Her Hometown Hero is a second chance for Trey in more ways than just reuniting with Gia, and she's got her past spurring her forward. These two couldn't be better suited, and it's a clean romance full of sweetness and hope. I think that's my favorite thing about these Harlequin Heartwarming books. They focus on hope and they're truly uplifting, which is just what I need to relax and destress after a long week. This is my first experience with Jacquelin Thomas, and I thoroughly enjoyed this romance. Trey and Gia are a great couple that I found myself rooting for pretty quickly. The book is well written and easy to fall into, and I'll be looking forward to whatever Thomas does next.

Solidly Realistic Jarhead Romance. This is a very grounded, very realistic romance novel featuring two 30s ish adults who grew up together before traveling different paths in their 20s, only to wind up back in their hometown. Both backstories are very grounded with the issues they portray (even as the author combines the location name of the Carolina Panthers with the team name of the New England Patriots to create her in-world NFL team ;) ), and the author treats both tragic backstories with the respect and care they are due. And manages to create a much more realistic romance novel because of it. This one is more for the clean/ sweet crowd, though there are a couple of things here that may have at least some in that crowd "needing the vapors" (including the female lead staying overnight at the male lead's house - though sleeping in separate bedrooms, in keeping with the "clean" mandate). Excellent story of finding romance even after major loss and tragedy, and very much recommended.

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day. This one took by surprise!