Twelve years as a Marine are behind Adam Collins when he
returns to Dakota, shortly before a girl he used to date
gets married. He's planning to start an architecture
course, but has to rehabilitate himself to civilian life.
This isn't easy, when the first group of townsfolks he
meets contain two past relationships. Delaney is the
engaged girl, while Marissa has taken on an old mansion to
restore. Adam has a lot of memories - the good, the bad
and the bleak - while his teenage stupid acts remain
UNFORGIVEN. Clearly Marissa still finds him attractive, but
she has her own life to lead and there seems no reason he
should be a part of it. Marissa married an adrenalin
junkie, who drank and drove, and died young. She's been
self-sufficient ever since.
"It's easier to keep someone out than get them out once
they're in," Marissa tells Adam. He hurt her years ago and
she has no wish to hook up with a second adrenalin junkie.
Adam has to accept that. The town has a Carnegie library
which needs some work, and other buildings provide the two
with ample discussion points when Adam asks Marissa to keep
him company over dinner. But this is only paving the way
for what will happen when they're alone together, whether
it's a good idea or not....
Marissa needs an Art Deco wooden mantel to replace one that
Adam had destroyed years previously and she can't finish
restoring her house. The search occupies a lot of her time
and the damage is a constant reminder of how reckless the
young man used to be. No wonder it's hard for her to
forgive. She's also agreed to let her historic house be the
setting for Delaney's wedding and Adam has agreed to be
best man.
Between sailing, visiting Chicago and pulling nails out of
timbers, there's a lot of activity. There's also a lot of
adult action and Adam places great stress on not having
fooled around while a soldier, while Marissa, strangely,
holds it against him that he wouldn't go all the way with
her while she was just seventeen. I thought that people
coming from small towns and going back to them seem doomed
to find the same relationships in Anne Calhoun's book, and
only a new maturity can save them from the same old
disasters. UNFORGIVEN is a soul-searching read.
For as long as he could remember, he wanted her...
Raised by a single mother, Adam Collins resolved to
take no chances with a girl's future—or his own.
That's why, as hard as it was, he resisted everything he
felt for Marissa Brooks. Then one night a reckless
challenge left a fellow student dead and changed both their
lives forever. As penance, Adam took the boy's place in the
Marines, where he could disappear into discipline and duty,
and left Marissa behind to struggle with her dreams.
Twelve years later, Adam is back in Walkers Ford to
serve as the best man in his friend's wedding. The years
haven't diminished the electric connection he has with
Marissa. But Adam's mistake continues to haunt him, and
Marissa is stumbling under the weight of her family's
legacy. Together they wrestle with demons and dreams, but
if there's any hope for a future together Adam has to not
only find a way to forgive himself, but also ask others for
forgiveness—especially from the woman whose heart he
broke.
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