I received this book for free from Sourcebooks Casablanca in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The One You Fight For by Roni Loren Also in this series: The Ones Who Got Away, The One You Can't Forget
Series: The Ones Who Got Away #3
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on January 1, 2019
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 382
Format: eARC
Source: Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN: 149265146X
How hard would you fight for the one you love?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?
The One You Fight For is the third book in the latest series by Roni Loren and I admit that I am really enjoying these books. With each book, they only get better. But I have to say that this book was PHENOMENAL….there are NO words and I don’t think that my review could ever give this book the justice that it deserves. This book will make you cry, make you think, make you want to be better and will give you all the feels upside and down and sideways. It has everything that suckers punch a reader in all the best of ways and The One You Fight For is a powerfully packed romance that is guaranteed to satisfy you from head to toe!!
You’re sexy as fuck. Smart. Interesting. And when I kiss you, your whole body responds like you’re starved for something only I can give you. You know what that feels like? …..Like a goddamend drug Taryn.
Our beautiful love story begins with one fateful night on prom night, where there was a high school shooting by two boys who left behind a trail of bodies and trauma and grief in their wake. Our heroine, Taryn Laundry, has made a promise to her sister who was killed in the high school shooting. That her death wouldn’t be in vain, that she would go into research and develop a way to prevent future shootings. And so she has worked hard to get a plan in motion, that will be a preventive measure for future school programs to get to the children before they get to the point when they make a disastrous decision to kill. That love and guidance and confidence and attention are what they need, but she needs to get the school board to approve her plan. She has hardly any life because of her sacrifice in her research and is left to blind dates being set up by friends. But when walking home she walks into a bar, gives into temptation and sings her heart out in a way she has never done on stage and bumps into Shaw Miller.
There are sparks that fly between them but then she is shocked when she sees him again at a fundraiser for children and before she knows it she is doing a workout at his new gym and kisses and passion explode. But Shaw is hiding a great secret….who he really is. He has hidden away for years, doing everything he can to not let the press know of his location or his new name. But when he ends up kissing Taryn he knows that she deserves the truth….he refuses to take any woman to his bed unless they know his true identity….that he is the brother of one of the boys that shot out the high school on prom. He never expected that Taryn, a woman who family his brother hurt unimaginably, accepts him as he is and sees him for the good man he has become and not what his brother did. They have a secret fling, hidden away and learning each other. But the past comes back to haunt them and they will have to make a difficult decision either to embrace the love they have or run away from each other and keep what they have a secret….
The One You Fight For is a story that I didn’t expect to be so emotional. This book TORE ME TO SHREDS….yep I was sobbing in many parts of this book. I haven’t felt so torn in a book in a long time and this book really is heartbreaking in many ways but I honestly loved every moment I was reading this book. It does begin a bit slow at times, but overall it just captures you in a way you don’t expect. I was cheering these two on from the first moment. This book is my favorite of the series so far, I really am grateful that Roni Loren approached this book in such a way. I really liked seeing that grief when a crime like this happens is that it happens on both sides….families of the criminal feel pain and sorrow too and it shows so well in this book. The hero has hidden away from the press and his family and hasn’t had hardly any friendships or relationships except for his best friend. He blames himself for his brother’s actions but we see his pain and torment in this book and how much he has grieved with everyone else. Then we have the heroine who has devoted so much of her energy and time to this cause and her research that she hasn’t really lived her life and once she meets Shaw, she begins to do things for herself and builds her own happiness.
But for once, all that mattered was how she felt in this moment. She was happy. This was right. They loved each other. She’d been wrong. Sometimes love was enough.
I have to say I really enjoyed the way that this romance is built….so slowly and carefully and with great attention. It is more of a fling type set up, but not your typical fling romance at all. We see the chemistry that these two have with each other but we also see that unless they are both willing to go forward to their families, friends and the press with their relationship that it can only go one way and they just want to enjoy being together. Their fun bantering is charming and their connection is powerful. They have so much in common and seeing them fight for each other was truly beautiful to see. The ending is EPIC and so worth the read, even if I was crying my eyes out. One of the BEST endings that I have ever read, it was so perfectly written and really speaks to the heart of the reader.
Because in that moment, with his body pumping into hers and his arms wrapped around her, she was lost to him. Her soul and her heart. She’d spent her whole life fighting. She would still fight. But when it came to love, she’d learned that she didn’t need to fight for it…..She needed to surrender.
Overall I found The One You Fight For is a passionate story of the pain of grief, of sole purpose of striving to be better and a tale that will tug at your heartstrings….. A TRUE TREASURE TROVE.
About Roni Loren
Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. She holds a master’s degree in social work and spent years as a mental health counselor, but now she writes full time from her cozy office in Dallas, Texas where she puts her characters on the therapy couch instead. She is a two-time RITA Award winner and a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.
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