Take Me Home

Author Melanie Sweeney On Tour
Road Trip Rules: No bad music. No detours. No falling in love.

Hazel Elliot never looks back. If a door closes, she burns the whole house down. But when she’s invited to her father’s wedding, she’s forced to return to Lockett Prairie, Texas, for the first time since she fled for college.

Ash Campbell has been in love with Hazel since she dated his best friend in high school. Now, Ash and Hazel’s relationship is limited to playful feuding over the best chair in their favorite coffee shop, but his attraction to the prickly girl from home has only grown stronger.

When Ash’s car breaks down just as family obligations pull him home, only one person can get him there on time. But Hazel has a condition: Everything between them must stay the same. And if it doesn’t? She gets the coffee shop. So the frenemies endure bad music, inclement weather, and B&Bs with only one bed—and that’s just the drive across Texas. When they finally arrive, Hazel must face that, in a small town, there’s nowhere to run . . . and maybe, for the first time, she's found a reason to stay.
"Sweeney’s strikingly realistic tangle of family dynamics and forced proximity between two believable characters overcoming past presumptions about each other, along with sexy love scenes, make this a must-read." —Library Journal

"Smart, layered and emotionally resonant, Take Me Home is an absolutely perfect love story." —Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script

"With razor sharp sexual tension and crackling banter, this is the frenemies to lovers book of my dreams." —Christina Lauren, author of The Soulmate Equation

"Funny, angsty, heartwarming—and so satisfying." Abby Jimenez, author of Just For the Summer

"A delightful enemies-to-lovers chock full of zippy banter, sexual tension, and holiday charm. If you love sassy, prickly girls and hot, patient boys, this small town romance is for you!" —Georgia Clark, author of It Had To Be You

"An absolute stunner of a debut! Melanie Sweeney has crafted a novel that is part tension-riddled romance, part family drama, and part self-discovery. . . . This is the kind of book that reaches into your chest and grabs onto your heart."  —Falon Ballard, author of Right on Cue

"Both youthful and mature, both tender and bold, both melancholy and hopeful, Melanie Sweeney's Take Me Home is a gem of a romance. . . . Sweeney is brilliant at infusing her plot and her characters with thoughtful, unique specificity. . . . A book that transported me, moved me . . . and one I won't soon forget." —Kate Clayborn, author of Georgie, All Along

"Take Me Home is like the book version of that Taylor Swift song you play on repeat. Sweet. Sexy. And full of heart." —Trish Doller, author of Float Plan
© Lenora Stein Photography
Melanie Sweeney holds an MFA in fiction from New Mexico State University. Her work has appeared at Babble.com, as well as in several literary magazines. Take Me Home is her debut novel. View titles by Melanie Sweeney

About

Road Trip Rules: No bad music. No detours. No falling in love.

Hazel Elliot never looks back. If a door closes, she burns the whole house down. But when she’s invited to her father’s wedding, she’s forced to return to Lockett Prairie, Texas, for the first time since she fled for college.

Ash Campbell has been in love with Hazel since she dated his best friend in high school. Now, Ash and Hazel’s relationship is limited to playful feuding over the best chair in their favorite coffee shop, but his attraction to the prickly girl from home has only grown stronger.

When Ash’s car breaks down just as family obligations pull him home, only one person can get him there on time. But Hazel has a condition: Everything between them must stay the same. And if it doesn’t? She gets the coffee shop. So the frenemies endure bad music, inclement weather, and B&Bs with only one bed—and that’s just the drive across Texas. When they finally arrive, Hazel must face that, in a small town, there’s nowhere to run . . . and maybe, for the first time, she's found a reason to stay.

Reviews

"Sweeney’s strikingly realistic tangle of family dynamics and forced proximity between two believable characters overcoming past presumptions about each other, along with sexy love scenes, make this a must-read." —Library Journal

"Smart, layered and emotionally resonant, Take Me Home is an absolutely perfect love story." —Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script

"With razor sharp sexual tension and crackling banter, this is the frenemies to lovers book of my dreams." —Christina Lauren, author of The Soulmate Equation

"Funny, angsty, heartwarming—and so satisfying." Abby Jimenez, author of Just For the Summer

"A delightful enemies-to-lovers chock full of zippy banter, sexual tension, and holiday charm. If you love sassy, prickly girls and hot, patient boys, this small town romance is for you!" —Georgia Clark, author of It Had To Be You

"An absolute stunner of a debut! Melanie Sweeney has crafted a novel that is part tension-riddled romance, part family drama, and part self-discovery. . . . This is the kind of book that reaches into your chest and grabs onto your heart."  —Falon Ballard, author of Right on Cue

"Both youthful and mature, both tender and bold, both melancholy and hopeful, Melanie Sweeney's Take Me Home is a gem of a romance. . . . Sweeney is brilliant at infusing her plot and her characters with thoughtful, unique specificity. . . . A book that transported me, moved me . . . and one I won't soon forget." —Kate Clayborn, author of Georgie, All Along

"Take Me Home is like the book version of that Taylor Swift song you play on repeat. Sweet. Sexy. And full of heart." —Trish Doller, author of Float Plan

Author

© Lenora Stein Photography
Melanie Sweeney holds an MFA in fiction from New Mexico State University. Her work has appeared at Babble.com, as well as in several literary magazines. Take Me Home is her debut novel. View titles by Melanie Sweeney