Winning Back His Wife

Camp Firefly Falls #1

by Gwen Hayes, Zoe York

Twenty years ago, Michael Tully fell hard and fast at summer camp. Now his soon-to-be ex-wife has quit her job and invested every last penny into re-inventing Camp Firefly Falls. It’s a crazy, ridiculous plan–which he ignores, right up until he’s served with divorce papers.

First book in an interconnected series coming summer 2016!

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Novella, Second Chance, Amazon, Adult

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2016

About the author

Gwen Hayes (that’s me) lives in the Pacific Northwest with her real life hero and a pack of wild beasts (two of whom she gave birth to).

She is a reader, writer, and lover of pop culture (which, other than yogurt, is the only culture she gets).

Gwen also edits kissing books.

Reviews

[Zoe]

This book will release July 1 officially, should start to roll out to the various retailers a few days before that because we need to get it price matched on Amazon--because it's going to be FREE! Gwen and I are so excited to share this first in series prequel to the Camp Firefly Falls world. www.campfireflyfalls.com

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love a marriage on the rocks story. As long as there’s no OW/OM involved. This was a novella but felt like a full story. Like this one a lot. Definitely need to read more from this series.

[Rejane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book boring. And I think it was really unfair for only the husband being blamed for the "failing" of the marriage. I know at some point the heroine also took blame for it. But still...
In the end, for the husband just giving up his family business after years working with his father just to go back to rebuild a camping was so unbelievable and again, so unfair to him. I don't want dive in how marriage should work. Give some, take some. But for what I understand and the little I could see (short book, no development, not enough background, etc.) hero never asked the heroine to change to please him and play the role of a corporate wife. she did under pressure of her "mother-in-law". With whom she never had a good relationship. She did it because it was what she thought it was going to please the husband. She pretended she liked so in the hero's eyes she was happy. You know, men see what they see. It's black and white. If she never told him she wasn't happy, I'm sure he couldn't read her mind either. And then comes the same old workaholic husband who failed to paying attention to the wife. My point is, they should have worked for the marriage equally. Not only him was to be blamed and I didn't like he gave up everything to stay with her to fulfill her dreams. Just my humble opinion. And for a short book, it really felt too long and again... boring

[Lynn]

Free novella that is a set up for a continuing companion series. It can be read alone.

This story was what I was looking for. Not too long but sweet and fluffy. It's about a married couple who have grown apart but still love each other. They met long ago at a summer camp and were each others first kisses. They reconnected in college and went on to wed. The husband gets a wake up call when his wife serves him with divorce papers and it shocks him into going after his wife and working to fix what had broken.

I liked that it pointed out that they both brought problems to the marriage that resulted in what happened. I like the few flash backs to the past that we got with them. Actually, I would have preferred even more. Low angst. No outside drama other than his difficult, disapproving mother.

[Tammy Blackwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello, Summer!

This book is perfect for a day at the beach or lounging by the pool. Lots of story and emotion packed into a quick, easy read. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series!

[Dar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great second chance romance! The depth of emotion between these two was evident from that start, and their desire for each other, emotional and physical, radiated. Once they moved past all the ‘stuff’ plaguing them, they were more committed to each other than ever <3

[Jo Reads Romance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple but effective story
5 stars

This story ticked so many boxes for me. It’s the story of a husband and wife who have found themselves drifting apart despite still being madly in love with each other. It’s almost a second chance romance despite the pair never really being apart.

It’s a simple enough story - and I was pleased to see it was written in a very linear fashion. Yes there are flashbacks to the couple’s time at camp and into their young adult years, but it starts with the divorce papers and ends up with a satisfying ending. It keeps things simple to focus on Michael and Heather, their feelings and their future plans.

It’s easy to like both Michael and Heather - and to see where they went wrong. I liked the way that both took ownership of their mistakes and their problems, but not without getting grumpy about it, first. It’s the way normal people would behave in situations and that made the pair seem real to me.

I was surprised to find a little bit of spice in this book. I had just assumed that this would be fairly tame on the sex front so I was pleasantly surprised when a little bit of heat appeared. Oh, it’s not melt your pants, bring steam out your ears kind of heat - but something a little bit unexpected and nicely spicy to add to the storyline.

Not being American, I only have second hand knowledge of summer camps but the authors did a great job of bringing them to life and making us understand why they were so special to Michael, Heather and so many others. I’m still not so sure I would have been comfortable going to one as a child but I definitely want to go to the adult Camp Firefly Falls now.


There are other books in this series, some by these authors and some by others. They all stand alone, as does this book. I’m going to look for other books in the series as I really enjoyed the setting and the feel of this romance - and want to read more.

Overall a fun, well-written book that flows well. It’s not too angsty and deals well with what could be a heavy subject with humour, romance and positivity. A recommended read and at only 108 pages it can easily be read in an afternoon. 4 stars.

[Kimberly / Love Notes Book Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. This was a pretty good book. This was a novella freebie that is the first book in the Camp Firefly Falls series. This is the story of Michael and Heather. They have been married for many years, but Heather feels Michael doesn't really love her anymore. He works so much that he didn't even notice for three days that she had left him and moved out. After 6 months living apart, Heather served him divorce papers. Michael is shocked and finally realizes that he isn't willing to let her go. Heather has decided to go back to the place she was the happiest, Camp Firefly Falls, where she met Michael as a teenager. She has bought the camp and is going to renovate it to make it an adult summer camp experience. Michael follows her to camp and shows her that he is willing to give up everything to make her happy and prove his love for her.

This was a quick, easy read. I didn't feel a big connection to the characters, but I understood their emotions and it was easy to identify with the way they drifted apart in their marriage. I didn't quite understand why Michael was so shocked to receive divorce papers from Heather, when they have been separated for 6 months and living separately. I liked the camp story line. It was original and interesting. I liked the fact that Michael was willing to do what he needed to do to get his wife back. Overall, this was pretty good read and I will probably try to read more from this series.

[Aarati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winning back His Wife is a prequel to the upcoming Camp Fireflies series and it was indeed a really sweet and sexy start to the series. This is a second-chance romance featuring a married couple.

Heather and Michael Tully met at summer camp when they were teenagers. They had a crush on each other during that time, but it never went much further. They meet again at college and since then they are inseparable. It's been 10 years since they've been married and they still love each other as much as they did when they first fell in love. Except something is missing, and when when Heather servers the divorce papers to Michael, he knows it's time to buckle up and get his wife back.

Winning Back His Wife, the title is quite apt, as that's exactly what Michael does. It's beautiful to see how the rule following Michael and the free-spirited Heather find their way back to each other. Even in the few short pages on which this book is written the authors manage to include a range of emotions from love to anger to a little bit angst and pure, unadulterated joy. The best part about this book is that it flows seamlessly, you never feel like this was written by two different people. I am eagerly awaiting the start of this series. I'm sure they are gonna be great.

[diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.7 of 5 stars

Oh my gosh! This book was all SWOON and I just can't not love it! It was too short for my taste but I really enjoyed it!
I love reading about Heather and Michael's love story - from the first time they fell in love to them falling in love again. They're so different and yet they bring out the best in each other. Seeing Michael win back Heather just melted my heart. It was very sweet, romantic and fun.
I'm not married (I'm only 21) but I think Heather and Michael's story perfectly captures the reality of marriage. Sometimes couples drift apart without them noticing and unfortunately fall out of love. Now it is up to them to find the spark and passion they once had and remember why they married each other in the first place. I have only ever read one book with the same plot as this and it was Every Wrong Reason by Rachel Higginson. And just like the case with that book, Winning Back His Wife made me fall in love with its characters at the same time they were falling in love with each other again.

I am so excited for the rest of the series!!

I received an arc to read and review.

[Aarann · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 20%.

Yeah, so this one didn't happen. I tried, I really did, but when in the second scene the two shared together they were making out without speaking and there was utterly no "winning back" of anyone, I realized this was not the book for me. I'm guessing the book must have been pretty short because there hadn't been much content prior to the 20%, but for me that's enough of a percentage to give a book a single star because I was bored.

To be fair, the writing was pretty good and I can't say I wouldn't pick up this author again -- but the plot that was promised on the back of this particular book wasn't what I was getting, and life's too short to read a book whose blurb and title both promise a good grovel and delivers pretty much nothing.

[Kait Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG this made me so inexpressibly happy! Every summer I get totally nostalgic about summer camp and I think about how somebody really ought to have adult camp. This series is going to give me EXACTLY WHAT I WANT. Every single one will be an autobuy for me. What fun!

Now, who's going to make this camp a reality?

[Miranda Whore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect!

This novella has everything a romance lover could ask for. Having a couple on the verge of divorce instead of insta-love was an amazing change of pace for one of these sexy novellas.

I loved every minute that the couple spent reconnecting. An emotional and sensual journey back to each other. Swoon.

Five stars and three wet panties.

[Cher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet second chance story.
Boy met girl, girl got away, they reconnected after some time then married to each other. Apparently that's not the formula of a happy ending. Because 20 years later, they drifted apart pushing the girl to serve boy divorce papers.

[RedRedtheycallmeRed · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like something light to read before I go to sleep. I just finished a book about a serial killer, and that's not what I want to be reading right before I go to bed. This seemed like it would fit the bill, as I've read (and enjoyed) both of these authors before. It's a short novella, but it took me a week to read it because it just wasn't holding my interest.

Heather and Michael were on the brink of divorce, but Michael decides he wants to make it work. It seemed like he was shouldering almost all of the blame, but there was plenty to go around. Heather clearly never communicated her unhappiness, and I thought her idea to buy the camp was ill-advised as well. Can you image the $$$ you'd have to sink into that?

I never really got a sense of the characters, they just weren't developed enough. I know they weren't that old, but I kept picturing them in their late 40's/early 50's for some reason. There were quite a lot of sex scenes and they seemed to come at the expense of the story.

I might give some of the other stories a try, the camp setting is kind of a fun idea, I just hope the characters are a little more defined.

[E-Reader Addict · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love second-chance romances, and this novella - co-written by Gwen Hayes and Zoe York (of whom I'm a HUGE fan) - hit me in the feels.

Was it a perfect story? No. I feel like this one came down hard on blaming the hero for all that went wrong in the marriage (even though we know that the undoing of a marriage is rarely the fault of a single person - unless someone cheats, but that wasn't the case here). Becauses the story is only about 100 pages long, and a sufficient amount of pages were spent on the story of how the couple met and fell in love (which is important for a second-chance romance!), we don't get a lot about how and where things went sideways in the marriage. The book starts with the wife giving her husband divorce papers after a six month separation, and from there the husband steps things up to win his wife back.

I'll read anything that has Zoe York's name on it. I'm glad I read this one...even if I would have liked far more about this couple than we got!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Tully gets a wake-up when his wife, Heather serves him with divorce papers; he realizes that Winning Back His Wife is the most important thing in the world to him. She left him six months earlier and bought Camp Firefly Falls where they met as teenagers. The camp is need of major repairs and she has a business plan to make it into an adult camp offering a variety of types of adult camping experiences.

Michael joins her and they begin working together on the camp and on rebuilding their marriage. This is a big change from the structured corporate job Michael has in his family business. They have a few challenges but stick to the plan for the camp and building their relationship again. It is a sweet second chance love story and one of my favorite type of endings ~ a happy one.

[Trudy Dowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how this ended up on my Kindle, but I am so glad that it did. I had never read anything by Gwen Hayes or Zoe York. That will be rectified very quickly. They way the story flowed kept me engaged, excited to see what happened next. Michael and Heather first met at camp. Years later they crossed paths at Dartmouth. Was it fate? The story has you believing just that. Along the way they get lost. The journey back was beautiful, challenging, and at sometimes intense. The story gives hope that love can repair a damaged relationship.

[Elena Johansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like seeing a romance exploring the rekindling of a failing marriage, but this felt rushed and occasionally awkward. It hit me in the feels quite a few times with elegant prose surrounding the emotions of the characters, but the plot was fairly thin, and the flashbacks to their summers at the camp where they met, or unexpectedly reuniting in college, either needed more attention--they were all super-short--or needed to be cut as separate sections altogether and worked into the narrative as memories or conversations about their past.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the chemistry that the characters had in their flashbacks and after their reconciliation, but found myself not understanding how they got to the emotional place they were in. I can't imagine making a huge decision like starting a business, quitting my job, and cashing out my retirement without breathing a word of it to my spouse. All of those decisions would impact him in some way, so the idea that it's never even discussed between them? Shocking!

The premise for this series though? I totally want to jump in.

[Fedora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely enjoyed this second-chance story. Michael and Heather meet at summer camp, and the roots of their romance were sown under the blue skies and in that cool lake. Years later, they find themselves potentially ready to walk away from each other.

Camp Firefly Falls is not only Heather's passion project, it ultimately gives them both a chance to reaffirm what they love most and what shape their lives will take.

Definitely looking forward to revisiting Camp Firefly Falls soon!

[Sarah Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the introduction to Camp Firefly Falls which turns into a serial sequel kind of thing. I'd give it a 3.5. It's a novella so it seems a bit squished. She serves him with divorce papers, there are some flashbacks, they get intimate again...it just felt sort of cramped but it was a good read

[Lakeisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fighting for forever

I loved everything about this book. Nothing better than reading about a married couple who is willing to fight for each other. Heather and Michael may have been from two different worlds, but their love for one another was kick down the walls awesome. Everyone deserves love like the love this couple has for each other. Amazing writing by Gwen Hayes.

[Bewaji · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay...

The story of Michael and Heather reads short and rushed to me. It’s king of a short book. That will be okay if it covers all the bases. It is kind of sex and, that’s pretty much all. Nothing about their NA relationship, marriage, work etc. Just a line here or there about he latter. So, just an okay read for me.

[Sheila Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful feel good reading experience! This story will remain in my "to read when I need a pick me up" pile forever! Some books are good enough to be read over and over and over and this is one.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rekindling

She needs a less corporate life, they seem to have lost each other. She bought the camp they met at and wants to make it four grown ups. He ius suppose to take over his father's company. He realized he loved his wife more. How can they make it work.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying short story. I liked how the format had you flashing back to different periods in the couple's history. I was sort of surprised how smoothly and quickly the problem was solved. I had thought there'd be more emotion.

[Emilee Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet

Love Michael and Heather. Love their story. Their love story is sweet. Hope to see glimpses of them through out the rest of the series

[Karen Jukes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this quick read. Looking forward to the next one.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novella! I read it in a little over an hour. The chemistry between the characters was amazing. A quick read and I'll be sure to read more in the series.