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I am Lover of romance, who indulges in the romantic adventures of literature

My name is Renee, and I am the host of this site. I am a 34 year old woman, on the prowl for her mate, searching out the best of books, exploring the wilds of the imagination and delving into the heart of a beautiful love story.

 

Book Review-The Time In Between by Kristen Ashley

by | Jun 22, 2022 | Book Reviews | 8 comments

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

About The Book

After a painful loss, Cady Moreland is coming to Magdalene to start the next chapter of her life. A chapter that began eighteen years ago but had a heartbreaking ending. The time in between was full of family and friendship, but Cady could never get the man she fell in love with all those years ago out of her heart.

Coert Yeager has learned to live without the girl who entered his life right when she shouldn’t and exited delivering a crippling blow he never would have suspected. The time in between was full of failing to find what he was missing…and life-altering betrayal.

But when that girl shows up in Magdalene and buys the town’s beloved lighthouse, even if Coert wants to avoid her, he can’t. A fire in town sparks a different kind of flame that won’t be ignored.

As Cady and Coert question the actions of the two young adults they once were thrown into earth-shattering circumstances, can they learn from what came in between and find each other again?

It was about that moment. Me being fully present in that moment. The only one of its kind we’d ever have. Our first kiss. Our beginning. The beginning of us which was the beginning of everything.

My Review

First Impressions

The Time In Between is the last and the finale in the Magdalene trilogy and I can’t believe that I am done with the series and part of me is so sad but another part of me is glad to have worked through some backlogged books of one of my favorite authors. I have really loved how this author has developed this trilogy and what we get in this story. I knew that there would be part to this one that might be tough in some aspects but I also knew that it would deliver in every way and yep KA definitely delivered a truly superb read and it flew by and this is probably one of her biggest books too at over 700 pages (according to Amazon and other purchasing sites) and I will say that I love the length of her classic KA books because this is where we really get more focus on relationship building, couple page time and just lots of HEA and I love that since most romances don’t have this and it’s more unique to this author as she tends to not drag out conflicts at least for the inner aspects of the relationship. The Time in Between is such a heartfelt novel and will touch you in ways that you probably don’t expect.

He said there’d come a time when Coert Yeager realized he’d been a fool and then the world would stop spinning, that’s how fast he’d run back to her.

Summary

Coert Yeager and Cady Moreland have a painful past. They once met and fell in love when they were young, Cady was caught up with bad people and Coert was working undercover, but in the end they weren’t strong enough at the time to have their HEA at the time of their painful parting. They both moved on, Coert became a sheriff in Magdalene and had a daughter,. Then Cady found her family and now it’s her turn to find her love and embrace the after the time of the time in between them being separated. But Coert is bitter at the loss of losing her, but with Cady buying a lighthouse and refurbishing it, she will find her way to reconnect with Coert and his precious daughter. And Coert and Cady will have to realize that while their past is painful, they both built lives and families since their separation, and now it’s time to embrace their happy ever after….

“Now you know that I wasn’t happy because I didn’t have you,” she told him. “But I was taken care of and I was loved and there were a lot of really good times and you left me to that. You left me with Patrick. It wasn’t your choice and it wasn’t the way it should be, but it was the way it was and what came of that is beautiful. And you got your job and this Jake person and Mickey, and you got Janie. We both suffered but neither of us stopped living our lives and we got so much out of them, so, so much. And now we have each other. So we have it all. If we believe that we can have it all. And I believe. Now, are you with me on that?” “I’m with you, Cady,” he told her quietly. “Good, because I’m going to have to get angry if you slip back there again.” 

What I Loved

The Time in Between was such a superb novel and one of the most heartfelt romances I have read in a while. Kristen Ashley has the capability of just winning me over so quickly and I adored the journey that I am led with on this one here. One of my favorite aspects is seeing the heroine fighting so fiercely for their relationship (which as much as I love a hero fighting for the heroine, a heroine fighting for her man —is swoon-worthy) and you see how her family is with her every step of the way and how much her late husband wanted this for her to reconnect with her brother and the man she never stopped loving. It was so interesting to see how driven she was to find her way back to Coert and he was fighting it and it was pretty funny at times because you can just see how much he wants to go alpha and throw her over his shoulder and take her back to his home and have his wicked way with her, but stands firm (for a while) and seeing how our heroine just lives her life and finds her way back to Coert in these little moments that will just strike you deep. We do get to see some flashbacks of seeing them meet and their first Christmas together and I really loved these snippets and how the majority of the story was seeing them reconnecting with each other. It was charming to see how his daughter Janie and Cady bonded, it was so adorable, and the way that Cady’s family just takes to Coert was so good. They are protective of her as she helped raise them but they view her as a sister and it was so endearing the way that they stand by her side in her journey with Coert. I absolutely got a kick out of seeing so much happy couple page time and a “splice of life” type of feeling you get with this book (which is typical of KA especially in her longer reads). And the steam in this book is off the charts which is no surprise, she always handles the spicey times so well.

The only time she ever belonged to anything, to anyone, was when she belonged to you.

What I Struggled With

Nothing…..everything was just right!

Overall View

The Time In Between is a delicious finale that is a powerhouse of an emotionally satisfying read. It’s a romance that will make you believe in the forever type of love, it has a sense of majesty, deep layers, and a taste of home and family to bring your emotions to the surface in a memorable way!

Now I think I understand why you’re prettier when you look at Daddy. Because what’s inside is coming out.

Title: The Time In Between

Author: Kristen Ashley

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: eBook

Source: Library

Length: 718

Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club

Book Evaluation

Storytelling Quality: 5

Story Itself: 5

Character Development: 5

Writing Style: 5

World Building 5

Feels + The Romantic Heart 5

Pacing 5

Plot 5

Cover Art 5

Ending 5

Book Ratings

Overall Rating of the Book

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Steam Level

Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy

Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.

Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.

Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.

Series Order

Magdalene Series

The Will-Pub 2014 #1 in the Series

Soaring-Pub 2014 #2 in the Series

The Time in Between-Pub 2017 #3 in the Series

About The Author

Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorize and she hadn’t taken her first breath!).

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

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8 Comments

  1. shygirl19748

    Great review! I have this trilogy but haven’t read it yet. (I know!!) But I’m a KA fan, just like you, so I’m sure I’ll love it too 🙂

    Reply
    • Lover of Romance

      oh this trilogy is one of my favorites Michele! I think you will really love it! And it has the classic KA vibe to it too which is fun. Passionflix even adapted one of the books to film which was so neat.

      Reply
  2. nbiblioholic

    Absolutely stunning review! xo
    I’ve got this series on my list and you have me wanting to move it up ASAP!! I freaking love classic KA!!

    Reply
  3. Rachel @Waves of Fiction

    I loved the first two books in this series and you’re reminding me I need to finish it. I love the idea of living in a lighthouse! I went on a lighthouse road trip vacation a few years ago and visited a bunch of the lighthouses up along the Pacific Northwest. So pretty! I love this cover, too, so I need a print copy for my shelf. Glad to hear it was a 5 star read, Renee! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Tanya @ Girl Plus Books

    It’s so bittersweet to finish a beloved series. I’m so glad this one wrapped up well.

    Reply
  5. Nadene

    I think I need to try her books again. The romance here sounds awesome.

    Reply
    • Lover of Romance

      Yes Nadene you definitely need to! Which books have you read from her? Her small-town romances especially are superb

      Reply
  6. simplydreareads

    I need to revisit that series, I didn’t care for it the first time around but that was a few years ago! I’m currently making my way through the ‘Burg series, again! I just adore some of her earlier series!

    Reply

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