Come To Me Quietly hooked me early on and just wouldn't let go. This is a story of pain, love, and twisted paths. Jared and Aleena have known each other all their lives, at least until Jared left town and didn't return for 6 years. A chance meeting at a bar gives Jared the opportunity to stay with Christopher, his childhood best friend, while he searches for his own place. Finding that Aleena, Christopher's little sister, also lives there only gives Jared a reason not to leave town so easily this time. 
 "Uncontrolled chaos. That's exactly how they described me. ... I destroy everything I touch." 
 Tatted, tortured, so full of anger, fear, and hurt, Jared has been avoiding his hometown for the past 6 years, avoiding the memories and pain he blames himself for causing. He believes he doesn't deserve any happiness in his life and that he destroys everyone he loves. As a result he has cut himself off from everyone close to him and keeps everyone at arms length. There are hints when we meet him of how he hurt her, and destroyed everything about his family, but we don't learn what happened to set Jared's path until later in the story. The glimpses we get of him as a child are very different from the man he became, and only served to set those differences apart further. 
 "She'd been the only one who managed to move me, a touch of joy in the unbearable dark." 
 Aleena, or Aly as she's known to those close to her, has been in a holding pattern of sorts. She has refrained from being in relationships because something was always missing, and though she knew what (or who) was missing, there was nothing she could do to change that. 
 These two have known each other all their lives. Jared was best friends with Aly's older brother and she tagged along after them as children. Now that they're no longer children, and haven't had any contact in 6 years, they all have to redefine their relationships. As children, Jared constantly looked out for Aly, almost more than her brother did. But as an adult, Jared has a hard time figuring out where he fits because he feels like he has to protect her from himself. 
 "Hearts have a way of finding their way home." 
 This was such an emotional story. It didn't draw tears until near the three quarters mark, but every time I had to put it down to attend to real life I left with a heavy heart. As more of Jared's past comes out, those events that led to him leaving six years previously, that darkness that gives over the story became clear and it only made me hurt more for him. There's a conversation between Aly and Jared where the truth comes out that gutted me, and then later on a conversation between Aly and her mother that left me with tears streaming yet again. Once the waterworks began for me, it seemed the wouldn't stop. 
 Beautifully wrought. So well written. AL Jackson is a master of the beyond broken love story, somehow finding the thread of hope in all that darkness and winding a truly beautiful story around it. Already this is one of my favorite books this year. 
 Thank you, AL Jackson, PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL / Signet Romance, DAW, and NetGalley, for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.