Ryan's Love - Book Review

By C.A. Harms

Synopsis

One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was bury my wife.

The second hardest thing would be watching my twelve-year-old daughter fall to her knees as they lowered her mother into the ground to rest.

A heart-wrenching vision that will forever be etched in my mind.

Claire was my best friend—she had been since we were barely old enough to talk. I always knew, one day, I would marry her. I think I may have even told her that a few times while we were growing up.

Never did I think I would lose her so suddenly.

I knew at that moment…

Our life would never be the same again…

Review

RYAN’S LOVE is a beautiful and heartwarming story and it starts not from the prologue, but from the dedication, which serves as a reminder to live in the now, for tomorrow might not be.

Ryan has spent the past three years grieving his wife Claire’s sudden death, with their daughter and his job being the only things that have kept him going. He’s going through the motions, but he’s not really living at all and he has no desire to be with another woman, until he stumbles upon Amber kicking and cursing her flat tire. She’s a breath of fresh air in his home town of Livingston, Montana, one that fills him with desires he hasn’t felt since Claire.

Ryan: “I just want to live again, and you make me feel alive.”

I liked both Ryan and Amber and thought they were perfect for each other. There’s an eight year age gap between them, but Amber was a very mature young lady at 25 yo. Ryan lost his wife and Amber’s fiancé cheated on her, yet neither let their pasts dictate their current relationship. Not once does Amber question Ryan’s loyalty to her, and although Ryan experiences some guilt, feeling like he’s betraying his wife, he never lets that stop him from pursuing his happiness, from pursuing Amber. Both Ryan and Amber have to be mindful of his daughter, Olivia, and Amber was completely selfless when it came to putting Ryan and Olivia first, even at her own expense. She’ll clearly be a very good mother. Amber’s best friend and business partner, Bailey, is also very loyal and has a wacky sense of humour. Ryan has two brothers, Noah and Jackson, but you don’t really see too much of them. Jackson will be getting his book next, titled JACKSON’S DESTINY.

I don’t normally talk about a favourite scene, but one scene really stood out to me, so much so I could really picture the scene in my head, and that would be the fireworks scene. No, not those kind of fireworks, actual 4th of July fireworks. Separated by a street, the fireworks could not distract them after their eyes connected. You could feel the pull they had on each other; the scene was that sweet, hot and intense.

RYAN’S LOVE is told in dual POVs, with the bonus chapter being told in Olivia’s POV. It gives us a glimpse into how Jackson’s book could go, with Amber’s absent parents perhaps not being so absent anymore.