Moments for You (The Wilder Brothers #7)

Carrie Ann Ryan

Blurb:

Two widows. One wedding dress. And a promise of forever in the next installment of the Wilder Brothers from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan.

A wedding dress is meant to be worn only once.

When a stranger finds herself in need of a miracle at the last minute, I do the unthinkable: I offer mine to her.

The same one I wore down the aisle for my late husband.

Now I’m invited to the wedding and finding myself wondering why I shut myself away from the world for so long.

I’m only meant to be at the Wilder Retreat for a single day except I go home with not only a job offer, but the promise of something more.

Ridge Wilder is hiding secrets of his own. And the undeniable chemistry between us burns before we even contemplate taking that first step.

Only I’ve already had my happy ever after. I never planned on finding another.

And Ridge is even far more broken than I am—with a past that might come back to haunt us both.

Themes: Contemporary, Second Chance love

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

Ok wow, I have to say I did not see any of that coming! Carrie Ann Ryan always manages to blow my mind and I am not sure why I was surprised that when she added a new branch of the Wilder family, she’s done it again, but I kind of was. This story I know was a difficult one for her to write and probably hit close to home in a lot of ways, but at the same time it seems like a story that was just begging to be told. Two people that have both lost someone so important in the worst of ways finally get a second chance at love and find one another at the perfect time for the both of them to move on with their lives together, even if neither of them are ready to admit it. Aurora is slowly digging herself out of the grief and pain of losing her husband and the future they thought they would have, when she finds herself pulled into the world of the Wilders in the most unlikely of ways. She knows that offering her help will offer a semblance of healing, but she never imagined how much it would change her life, and that it would shape her into a new person in the best of way. Ridge Wilder joined his cousins in their crazy venture, pulling his brothers in, because he needed to escape the trauma of losing his pregnant girlfriend in a tragedy that he felt responsible for. He has kept the darkness inside, not sharing with even his brothers and the grief has festered into a wound that doesn’t seem to be healing. When he meets the incomparable Aurora, they are instantly drawn to one another, though they both resist at first, but son the chemistry and passion is too much for either of them to deny. As they begin to get closer and closer to one another, a darkness from the past comes to stalk them and threatens any chance of them having a future if they can’t get over their fears and find a way to embrace their second chance at love and their moment to be together.

Moments for You truly is a story of finding not only a chance at love again, but finding yourself again after the grief has swamped you so much you lose yourself in the dark. Aurora has been fighting her way back from that darkness, backsliding some, but never giving up on living again, as she tries to honor the love she shared with her man. Her bravery, strength, love, sweetness, and backbone, certainly remind of her creator and I enjoyed getting to know her; I also loved how she slipped right into the wilder family, finding her niche and finally finding her happy place again bother personally and professionally. Ridge was a broken alpha male for sure, enigmatic in his pain, hiding secrets from the very people he needed to share with, until it finally was no longer something he could hide from. I was so terrified he would lose his chance with Aurora but allowing his fears to rule him, but luckily with the help of his family he found the way to be just what she needed and managed to used his strength, love, and protectiveness to keep her safe, happy, and show she made the right choice in loving him. The passion between these two was obvious to us, even as they tried to hide from it, but the love that slowly blossomed between them as they healed from their pasts was even more beautiful. I am dying to see more of them in future novels and cannot wait to see what comes next as the Wilder boys deal with the pain and trauma that sent them to their cousins and will bring them back together as a family. Carrie Ann Ryan has a way about her, like a doctor lancing emotional wounds to allow the infection to release so they can be healed, and there are so few authors out there today who manage it with such skill. As always, I’m humbled to have had the chance to read her latest installment in the Wilder series.

*eARC provided by author for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.