Blurb:
Taryn Landry was there that awful night fourteen years ago when Long Acre changed from the name of a town to the title of a national tragedy. Everyone knows she lost her younger sister. No one knows it was her fault. Since then, psychology professor Taryn has dedicated her life's work to preventing something like that from ever happening again. Falling in love was never part of the plan...
Shaw Miller has spent more than a decade dealing with the fallout of his brother's horrific actions. After losing everything―his chance at Olympic gold, his family, almost his sanity―he's changed his name, his look, and he's finally starting a new life. As long as he keeps a low profile and his identity secret, everything will be okay, right?
When the world and everyone you know defines you by one catastrophic tragedy... How do you find your happy ending?
Review: This entire series has blown me away. Roni Loren has handled a delicate subject with such tact, honesty, and respect that, more than once, I've had to remind myself that I was reading a romance novel and not a memoir. The emotions are real. The stories are heart-wrenching. The romance is... well, it's still hot, as always.
I was so happy that she chose to write a story involving the family member of a school shooter. It gave some spectacular insight into what the aftermath does to the families of those who do the shooting, especially when we already get so much information about what happens to the victims. We often forget that the families--most of the time--are victims themselves, albeit in a different way. The way Loren wrote Shaw's character was impressive and emotional. My heart-strings were tugged every which way so many times that I thought it must be spilling out of my chest by the end.
All the main heroines of this series experience their victimhood differently. Taryn has taken her pain and sorrow (and guilt) at losing her sister and channeled it into a profession, focusing her education into an attempt to stop what happened at Long Acre from ever happening again. She's intelligent, understanding, and strong beyond belief. Her ability to see past Shaw Miller's relation to the boy who destroyed her life is admirable and not something that every victim would be able to do.
This novel was just absolutely beautiful from start to finish, like the entire series has been. It's really something different from what's out there on the market today and I really recommend that anyone looking for something that will make them feel feelings pick up these books today. You won't be disappointed.
Out 1/1/2018. Pick it up here.