I received this book for free from Harlequin Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Can't Let Go by Gena ShowalterAlso in this series: The Closer You Come, The Hotter You Burn, Can't Hardly Breathe
Series: The Original Heartbreakers #5
Published by Harlequin Books on October 31st 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Small Town
Format: eARC
Source: Harlequin Books
ISBN: 0373803672
New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter is back with a sizzling Original Heartbreakers tale about an icy war vet and the only woman capable of melting him…
With trust issues a mile long, Ryanne Wade has sworn off men. Then Jude Laurent walks into her bar and all bets are off. The former Army Ranger has suffered unimaginably, first being maimed in battle then losing his wife and daughters to a drunk driver. Making the brooding widower smile is priority one. Resisting him? Impossible.
To Jude, Ryanne is off limits. And yet the beautiful bartender who serves alcohol to potential motorists tempts him like no other. When a rival bar threatens her livelihood, and her life, he can’t turn away. She triggers something in him he thought long buried, and he’s determined to protect her, whatever the cost.
As their already scorching attraction continues to heat, the damaged soldier knows he must let go of his past to hold on to his future...or risk losing the second chance he desperately needs.
Can’t Let Go by Gena Showalter, is the fifth book in this series, and boy what a book. I honestly loved the previous books so much so I was curious to see how this book would match up with the rest of the books in the series. And I would say FABULOUS!!! There was something so endearing about this book that felt different from the previous books. I think what made the biggest impression was their chemistry. Because its like off the charts but there are other factors involved that keep them from just entering into a relationship smoothly.
So our hero, Jude Laurent, is suffering some emotional trauma. His wife and two daughters were killed in a car accident while he was injured and lost his leg. So its been a couple of years later and it still haunts him.
Loved ones left marks on your soul, and when they died, those marks became scars.
He is full on against anyone drinking alcohol and so he so doesn’t approve of Ryanne running a bar. He is this haunted brooding male that doesn’t approve of anything Ryanne does and always looks for the bad before the good. Our heroine isn’t ashamed of what she does and she is so careful in making sure no one goes home drunk and she is sassy, independent and strong. I love how she pushes Jude’s boundaries.
If you didn’t take time to enjoy your life, to make others happy rather miserable, did you have a life worth living?
There is a big obstacle though, Jude’s fear. His fear of the past and not wanting it to effect what he has with Ryanne causes some not so good tension. So we see our hero really deal with some real hard fears that he has to learn to overcome if he doesn’t want to lose Ryanne. There is so many various feels that Gena Showalter implements in this story and worked me more than I thought it would. This story did crack me up though, Showalter is one of those authors that makes you laugh and grin when you don’t expect it to.
Can’t Let Go is a story that delves into in depth emotion, rollercoaster of laughs and tears and a sexy small town tale any romance reader will be bound to love.
I need to read this one. I love this series! Nice review.
You had me at ‘haunted brooding male’ LOL. Great review, makes me want to pick this series up.
Stories about widow/widowers can be dicey for me with the not quite over their losses while starting over. But I trust Gena to get it right. This does sound good. 🙂
it’s been a while since I haven’t read a book by this author. Like a really long time
Awesome review, my friend. I love this author and need to catch up with her newest releases. Oh I feel so much for the hero. He’s been through so much. So curious about this book. Thank you for sharing, my friend. ?❤️
I like her covers 😀
And I have not actually not read anything by her
Wow this sounds like an emotional read! Great review!
You did say before that this is probably one of her best series, I need to pick up another contemporary soon. Oh gosh this sounds so emotional and wonderful
A couple of yall I know are really enjoying these. It’s been a while for me. I need to get back on her books pronto.