The Long Road Home

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Pub Date 01 Jul 2019 | Archive Date 12 Sep 2019

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Description

Emily Winter has spent more than half her life hiding from her past and the demons that still reside in it. She has tried to hide her pain with booze and mindless sex, never letting anyone close.

When her social worker and the closest thing to a friend she’s ever had calls Emily for help, Emily knows she can’t say no. Paige’s daughter Casey had been kidnapped and held for days in a foreign land. Paige knows the only person who could understand what Casey is going through would be Emily.

Going back to the town she hated, Emily is confronted with her past in more ways than one. Besides trying to help Casey work through her trauma, Emily discovers someone remembers more about her past than anyone else in town, and that someone is eager to pick up where they left off.’In order for Emily to survive, she will have to confront her own demons, the ones in her mind and the real ones waiting to finish the job they started years before.

Emily Winter has spent more than half her life hiding from her past and the demons that still reside in it. She has tried to hide her pain with booze and mindless sex, never letting anyone close.

...


Available Editions

ISBN 9780578507491
PRICE $5.99 (USD)

Average rating from 38 members


Featured Reviews

This book was not what I expected! It was brutally raw, the characters, the story line and especially the nightmares. It's a long book, so I expected reading it to take a while, but I couldn't put it down. It's the most emotional book I've ever read as well as the most memorable. This book is definitely not for everyone. It's ugly, it's brutal. And yet filled with hope. All the characters are full of mistakes and flaws. And that's what makes this story so special. It's real and gritty. I love that the main character is so openly broken and yet still willing to help someone else through the trauma of assault and how they both need to find healing in their own way. The twists and turns kept me on my toes from beginning to end. I cried more times than I'm willing to admit over their pain, their path, their story. An absolute must read!

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This story blew me away! I just want to take the protagonist and hug her tight and tell her she's my hero! What an incredible ride. This is not a book that starts off slow, it's one emotionally intense moment after another. I connected with the characters on a deep level. The relationships between the protagonists and how they form their rock solid bond throughout made me wish I could know them and be a part of their lives! This is one of the most honest depictions of recovery after rape that I've ever read. I would recommend this one to anyone. I know it's marketed towards women, but I think it's a story that every man should read, so that they can understand the depth of hopelessness a victim feels. I'm emotionally drained after reading this book, but feel triumphant as though their victories are my own, I couldn't wait to turn the page

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An exceptionally powerful story of two very different women trying to come to terms with their own personal kidnapping/rape ordeals and the aftermath that follows them. The story line flows effortlessly and while the dialogue seems punchy and choppy, you soon discover that it suits the characters and their personalities. Fair warning though, the content of this book is definitely not a "fluffy" romance, in fact I hesitate to call it a romance at all. Not because there's no romance in the story, there definitely is, but because the story focuses on so much more than rekindled love affairs or excitement of a new relationship. The writer gives a brutally frank and honest look at the after-effects of rape and trying to recover.
"Survival is just about trying to breathe. It’s not living, it’s just being alive and there’s a difference." Such an honest portrayal of the emotions the characters feel, no pretense of being strong when they aren't but finding that strength when they need it.
While the protagonist, Emily, is trying to help a younger woman overcome her terrible ordeal, she is not only been haunted by her own demons, but discovers some of them are alive and well and want to finish what they started, destroying Emily in every way possible.
This book should come with a content warning, it will probably trigger a lot of emotions in a lot of readers, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Along with the dark and traumatic experiences, the writer effortlessly weaves in the story of hope, connection, compassion and support.
I would love to have a Paige in my life! But I'd also love to know an Emily. These characters became so real for me that I found myself shouting out loud, cheering them on.
A definite must read. I also thought the dedication was beautiful. I didn't really take it in when I started reading, but by dedicating it to both the victims and the survivors, I could really feel the writer's personal compassion for people who have been through such an experience.

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I was given a copy from #netgalley for an honest review. The book wasn't what I expected from the description but I was drawn in right from the beginning when I'd been in a book rut. It was a good satisfying read.

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Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

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The Long Road Home, by Jolien Hitzeroth, is a compelling thriller about three remarkable women. Two of the women are survivors of kidnap and brutal torture. The third women is a friend of one and the mother of the other. Emily, the main protagonist, reminded me of the “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” incredibly courageous and equally closed.

This is a book that pulls you in on the first page and does not let go until the last page. The characters are damaged and flawed and yet, capture your heart. It is not my typical thriller genre, and I admit there were parts that were tough to read. But, it was one of the most satisfying books that I’ve read in a while. Although I am sure some one criticize the neat resolution, I appreciated it.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me the opportunity to read an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I will rate The Long Road Home by J H Morgan a 5/5 stars. This book was simply amazing. Actually amazing may not be strong enough of a word to describe the magnitude brilliance that demonstrates how impressive this read was. This story had any and everything that a thriller should contain within its pages. It intricately detailed the devastation that a sexual assault leaves upon its victims, even almost after 20 years has passed. Emily Winter, a brutal rape survivor turned entrepreneur, receives a phone call from her former social worker, Paige, which sends her spiraling back down memory lane to a horrific past life that she tries desperately on a daily basis to keep hidden when Paige's daughter is raped on a trip with friends. Paige asks Emily to help her daughter, Casey, to try to come out of a depressive state after her sexual assault since no one else knows how difficult a situation like this is more than Emily does since she experienced a similar abuse years ago. Emily is pretty much reclusive and pushes everyone away from her in fears of becoming too attached to people and doesn't want to return back home to Hawthorne, the place her attacked occurred, but relents due to the fact that Paige was the only person there to help her through her attack years ago. Emily spends her days working with her assistant, Glynis, and her nights binge drinking and doing random bar hops in search for meaningless one night stands. Emily feels obligated to help Paige's daughter and embarks upon a stressful, difficult, scary but rewarding journey that will force Emily to come to terms with her dark past and provide her with hope for a brighter future.

What I enjoyed about this book:

This story was intensely raw, realistic and gripping. It was very detailed and the storyline was one that kept you engaged and intrigued to discover more about Emily's past and how her brutal rape affected her present life. The emotions that each of the characters had were ones that I could feel myself. I sympathized with Emily and Casey as they spoke about being sexually assaulted. The ongoing nightmares that Emily endured were heart pounding and fear inducing. I felt incredibly saddened for her when I read about the abuse that her captors placed upon her.
This book shows the readers how one can find faith in the darkness of a crisis after turning away from God for so long. I believe that this is something the author was trying to get across to their audience.
All of the characters of this book were well thought out and believable. There wasn't a dull moment while reading this.
I enjoyed the fact that the author showed how difficult it was for Emily to let her guard down and try to trust people and find faith in humanity again after being damaged by the brutality of her abusers. Reading about Emily discovering love again with her first love Liam was heart touching and beautiful. I cannot express that enough.
I enjoyed reading about the deeply rooted family issues and seeing how things played out with family members as they all try to heal and forgive one another.
The affects of alcohol and self-medicating was very vivid and realistically told in this story.
This book also focused on religion and how one could twist religion and religious practices to serve their own sick and demented purposes.

What I did not enjoy about this book:
As this was a proof copy, I do understand that it needs to be edited, that is why I did not take off any points for the errors in my review, but please fix the fluidity of the story. Lots of parts are jumbled up and are out of place which made it very difficult to read and follow along in some spots. Also, please address the issues of fluidity within the storyline during the transitioning scenes, especially when Emily is transitioning from dreaming back into her awakened state. Also, the fluidity of transitioning scenes going from Emily's viewpoint to another characters: I.E. moving to Cathy, Liam's mother, speaking.
I also did not like how many times coffee was referenced in this story. Good grief, did these characters not drink anything else? It was so aggravating. "Do you want me to make coffee?" How many times does one drink coffee and need to write about it? I only remember tea being referenced once. And tequila was referenced a lot as well, but not as much as the word coffee.
Also, consistency of references to items should be addressed: I.E. Cotton Candy or Cotton Floss... Stick to one or the other.

Trigger Warning:
Do not read this book if you are sensitive to the following: sexual assault, molestation, murders, family crises, alcoholism, abuse of any form and sexual references used as mental escapes.

Thank you NetGalley and J H Morgan for the opportunity to read and review this book for the exchange of an honest opinion.

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

The Long Road Home was an emotional, raw, tragic story. It's on the longer side, but I feel like i read it quickly.

The blurb doesn't do it justice. wow.

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This was a great read, although a little tough mentally at some parts. A friend of mine reviewed this book and loved it so much, so I immediately came to grab a copy, and I'm happy I did.

The writing was a bit choppy in some parts, but hopefully that was fixed with editing. I definitely want to read more by JH Morgan.

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I really enjoyed read it, the characters were great the plot was great. Emily Winter is trying to escape here past but when her past comes back to haunt her and people close to her will she run away or face her demons for one last time?.

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Emily’s past haunts her, but having to really face it while helping Casey deal with a similar situation is tearing her apart.

Terrifying and heart stopping. Hooked from the first line to the last

Thank you NetGalley and J. H. Morgan for this early edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

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The Long Road Home was by no means an easy read. Based around the brutal events that happened to Emily Winter as a teenager, this may be triggering for some readers. That being said, it was a book that kept me on the edge of my seat and I did become fully immersed in the storyline that reached a wholly satisfying conclusion. J H Morgan writes suspense brilliantly, and for anyone who isn't of too sensitive a disposition, I highly recommend this book.

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I received The Long Road Home from NetGalley in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I found this book amazing, it was so well written and the emotions it invoked in me were hard to describe. Being able to pull all my emotions is what a book needs to earn a 5star rating from me. I was hooked from the beginning and all the twists and turns in the book only helped to draw me in more to this storyline. At times the rawness of this story was hard to cope with, yet I couldnt put the book down. I stayed up most of the night reading this book. For those that enjoy thrillers I would certainly recommend.

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This thriller tells how sexual assault follows the victim throughout her life and often influences choices, good and bad. This is a realistic telling of how women can spiral into alcohol and drugs, closing up and not trusting anyone or anything. The three main characters are deeply flawed and are just like us as we discover in this raw novel. Emily, the heart of the story, is a kickass ,take no prisoners woman as a result of her personal history which, when asked to help a friends daughter, flares to the present and has to be handled once and for all. It was draining to read, and empowering to finish. Brava!

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Brutal, raw, emotional ride. Amazing book that I just could not put down. I felt for the characters as if I knew them. Read this book!

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The Long Road Home is about 3 remarkable women. Two of which survived kidnapping and brutal torture and the third is a friend of one and the mother of the other. This book grabs your attention from page one! The characters grab your heart right away. Couldn't put the book down and such a page turner

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What an amazing book! It was hard to read what these two women went through
but it was very much a 5-star book! I could not walk away from it for long! I would love to read this
book again someday after it's published and the errors were fixed.

Thank you so much, JH Morgan, the publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to
read this wonderful book!

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Thank you to Netgalley, J.H. Morgan and the publishing company, for allowing me an electronic copy for an honest review of the book.

This is a story about 2 ladies who have had the same similar experiences, and then also it does portray one of the ladies' mom as a minor character. While the characters were very vivid and honest and you could resonate with them, sometimes the book was hard to follow.

The experiences for Emily and Casey were very thought out and you could feel their pain through the pages of the book, even as an electronic copy. It also was very easy to understand the pain that these characters went through and how they start to try to come to terms with the issues.

I truly did enjoy the book, and would like to read more from this author.

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What an emotional read!!!!
Story is full of so many twist & turns and raw emotions.
Parts of this book were quite difficult to read but it was awesome to know that the women over came the hell that they were put thru.

Thanks BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the ARC !!!

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I was on an emotional roller coaster while reading this story. I was hooked from the first page and these women captured my heart by their tragic ordeals.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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This book is an amazing read. Not pleasant at times but raw events and feelings. Should imagine it is what plenty of women feel and go through when they have been exploited, kidnapped and raped. Not for the faint hearted but a must read for men and women alike

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Really intense psychological thriller with great character development. I was hooked from the beginning. This story will not be for everyone, the content is raw and could be triggering for some. But overall I thought it was a great read. I would recommend anyone who likes this genre to check it out.

Thanks to Netgalley, J.H. Morgan, and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

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This book was so emotional and raw that I almost put it down but it had me at page 1. It’s not an easy read so keep that mind when starting this book. I felt haunted by Emily’s past and even though in several spots it was hard to read, I kept reading and could not put it down. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book for my honest review. WOW!

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Very good book. Kept my interest during the entire book. Very good storyline. Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. #netgalley #thelongroadhome

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Complementary book provided for honest review.

This book was such a raw psychological experience. It took me on a deep journey in to self discovery that I will not soon forget.

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This is about testing the boundaries of loyalty, family and making a life that requires leaving the past is firmly behind.

Emily works for herself and is a computer expert and her skills are much sought after by companies worried about their security. On a trip to Paris, whilst working, she receives a frantic phone call from her friend Paige. Her daughter is in hospital, in Germany, after been attacked whilst traveling.

Emily met Paige many years before when she was having difficulties at home. With her mother gone her father was struggling to cope and found relief in a bottle. Emily left Hawthorne as soon as she was old enough to leave.

Her own experience of trauma and the hands of others is what has shaped her now both mentally and physically. The company she has started is doing very well, but the rest of her life appears to be on hold. The only relationships she has are of the very one night stand variety. Only her PA sees her regularly and looks out for her.

Her story comes out very slowly, so the reader is caught up in trying to find out what happened as soon as possible. I enjoyed this book, especially the main characters which include her personal assistant who puts up with Emily's sometimes strange behaviour. By revisiting her home town she also has to face demons and gossip. Most of the town has got it wrong in their assumptions, but this just makes her angry. An old love re-appears and all the assumptions at the time, are put to rest.

Her struggles with mental and physical scars from her time back at home are shocking. How she survived is a mystery.

Things begin to change for the better and more positive, but these come from pain and fear.

This is an exciting book and hard to put down.

I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are all my own and completely unbiased. My thanks to NetGalley for this opportunity.

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An amazing emotional story with strong characters. At times it was so written so well with such true to life emotions it was hard to read but yet I could not put it down. A psychological thriller that shows what you can overcome if you have enough strength and pure will power. I highly recommend this book, I was hooked from the first page to the end! I am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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While the subject matter is deep, emotional and engrossing, the story doesn't snag or crawl and seems to gain momentum the longer you stick with it. Well thought out characters and plot.

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This book was deeply emotional and difficult at times to stay with, not because it is slow -- it is definitely not slow moving - but because of the dark subject matter. Overall, the book is well written and ultimately does draw the reader into this compelling story. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

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What Emily went through in her home town of Hawthorne was devastating. Her Mom had died, her Dad had taken to alcohol and a friend suggested she go to church for help and support. That is when the real tragedy happened. The pastor dragged her off, hid her,shacked her and brutally raped her over and over again....telling her she was his “Mary”. Eventually almost at death’s door, often wishing she could be left alone to die, she managed to kill the pastor and escape. No one thought she would survive. Her boyfriend called her a whore , and her father was no support. As soon as she could she left Hawthorne to disappear from the rumours abounding......that she was having an affair with the pastor and there had been a car accident and the pastor killed. Very few knew the truth and the father asked that it not be divulged.

Living in the city she managed to survive as a computer expert, living a solitary life. Except she could escape the nightmares. Drink and sex were her only escape. Getting drunk she could forget for a short time and she would clutch on to any man who would have her, but only for one night.....no relationships.

Years later she received a phone call from Hawthorne from her Counsellor and only friend. Paige’s daughter had been raped and was refusing to talk to anyone. Paige thought Emily may be able to help her. Reluctantly Emily returned to Hawthorne to talk to Cassie, Paige’s daughter.

The story then takes many twists and turns, and I found myself reluctant to put the book down. It is a very well written story, one that will break your heart in places, and one that gives an insight as to how rape victims deal with a life changing horrific event. 4 to 4..1/2 stars

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Part romance and part suspense, I enjoyed this title from the start. There's a bit of romance. And a lot of facing your inner demons.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Books Go Social for this copy in return for my honest review. This book was a lot to give. Part suspence with a bit of romance, this book ticked all the boxes for me.

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Emily Winter is living in the city working as a computer expert, but leading a largely solitary life. She manages to escape the nightmare horrors of her past through drink and liaisons with men, clutching on to any man that will have her, but with no strings attached. She receives a phone call from her home town of Hawthorne, a place she escaped from many years ago, hoping never to return. But her counsellor and her only friend, Paige needs Emily's help with daughter, Casey who has been raped and is refusing to talk to anyone. So a reluctant Emily returns to Hawthorne to offer whatever assistance she can...

Although The Long Road Home was a lengthy novel at nearly 500 pages and quite a difficult read due to many of the topics covered, I found that I didn't want to put it down, being so fully absorbed in the story. The storyline is rather brutal but J.H. Morgan's fantastic characterisation helped to make this compelling tale rather special and Emily was terrifically gutsy. With suspense, romance and embracing inner demons, this was an engrossing, though draining read from the start. A powerful, deeply emotional story that wound its way to a wholly satisfying conclusion.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

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Wow. This one was a roller coaster! I was hooked from page 1 until the very last page. This one is an emotional read and at times tough to read. Don't let the length of the book or the subject matter stop you from diving in!

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Loved this book!!!!!!!!! Emily's character is such a strong badass but she doesn't know it. She had to fight through her demons to find her true self. Thank you to Netgalley for my honest review.

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Very good book. Very emotional. At times, hard to read but grabs you in and you cannot put the book down. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

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