Endlessly Yours (Wilder Brothers #10)

Carrie Ann Ryan

Blurb:

Four years ago, I promised my dying wife that I’d do one thing: I’d move on.

And I knew as I took that oath, I would break it.

Then I saw Rory. The woman I’d met on one of my darkest nights, and the woman I can’t ignore. Our one night is a secret we swore we’d never tell.

When I see her, I see a glimpse of what could be in the fire in her eyes.

When she sees me, she sees the grumpy, annoying Wilder brother who could shatter her dreams and her heart.

With one stolen kiss, we both know we have a choice: to keep running or finally give in.

Only when she suddenly finds herself the guardian to her two nieces, the world crumbles around us once again. She needs to protect her family, and I know I can’t let her do it alone.

The pull between us refuses to go away, but now I’ll have to choose which promise to break. And if I’m strong enough to be the final Wilder to fall.

Themes: Contemporary, Series Finale

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

Bittersweet doesn’t even begin to explain my feelings on the ending of this series as we finally get to see Brooks get his chance at another HEA after losing this first love of his life. We often throw that phrase out there, “love of [his/her] life”, without understanding that just because that person has the capacity to love and be loved for our entire lives, if they are taken from us, we can live again and love again if we are VERY lucky. Carrie Ann Ryan is one of the few authors that truly understands and embraces this concept in her writing, and I love that she always gives her characters the capacity to open their hearts again and remind us that the human heart has the beautiful ability to grow and expand to include any amount of love if given freely. This story has been a long time coming, ever since we first met this group of Wilders and fell in love with them, feeling Brooks’s pain and hoping that his heart would heal enough in order to embrace love again. For long time reader, Brooks and Rory will break our hearts as they work through their pain and fear and find a way to make a family and forgive not only themselves but those that are gone so that they can move forward together. I am sad to see the series ending, but hoping to see more of these characters in the new spinoff series (Ashford Creek) involving Callum and the other Ashfords.

Brooks Wilder thought that he had found his happily-ever-after and the woman that would be by his side until the end of his days when he was just a teenager, then fate stole her from him, and he his heart has healed, nor has he truly moved on. But he made her a promise as she died that haunts him still—to move on and try to find love again. He knew when he made the promise he was lying to her, but Rory Thompson makes him feel alive unlike any woman since his wife and it terrifies him. Rory moved to be near her best friend when she married a Wilder, but running into the gorgeous one-night stand she never forgot wasn’t part of her plan and now she and Brooks have to pretend and fight their attraction at ever turn because he wants nothing to do with her or a relationship. When her life is thrown into a tailspin once again by the death of her sister, leaving her the guardian of her two young nieces, she leans on the Wilders and especially Brooks even though she knows she shouldn’t. Unable to deny his feelings any longer, Brooks is all in and soon cannot see his life without Rory, or the girls, but are either of them truly prepared for the future as a family that they are getting themselves into or will they have to step back and accept that some pain is too strong to overcome?

Brooks is the epitome of a tortured hero, the brooding, broken hearted, confused alpha male that has to come to terms with his past, even as his heart is leading him to make choices and take actions that show others the feelings, he is denying to himself. His love for his first wife remains a shining beacon in his heart, leaving him tangled up about his growing emotions for Rory, but he always acts instinctively like a man in love, protecting and providing for Rory and the girls, even if his brain doesnt understand why. He is brave, strong, sweet, and sexy but the most compelling characteristic Brooks portrays is his determination to heal the hurts of others (specifically two broken little girls) even though he doesn’t acknowledge his own need to heal half the time. That selflessness and need to give to others make him the most loveable and endearing of all the Wilder brothers. Rory hasn’t had an easy time of it lately, but despite that she is determined to make her way in the world and even though she wants Brooks, she won’t settle for the shabby way he’s treated her since she came back into his life. Rory knows that the loss of his wife left him damaged, but she wants so badly to love him and have his love in return because she understands how wonderful of a man he is. The shift in her life to full time caregiver requires Rory to makes some major changes in her life, but through it all she flows with the changes with dignity and despite the constant fear of failure and disappointment she refuses to give up. She is smart, dedicated, loving, and sassy especially when she is dealing with Brooks’s bad behaviors, but when she is struggling, we can see her determination to never fail those she loves. Rory truly is the type of woman that will give everything, including her life to protect those she loves, and she shows that again and again, even though others aren’t always treating her nicely in return.

Endlessly Yours in one of those “second love” stories that will require a box of tissues along with a decent glass of wine (or whisky for those like me), but in the end you will be glad that you went through the trauma and joy of experiencing it. I knew going in that I would be heartbroken for Brooks as he was forced to finally come to terms with the lose of his wife and accept that even though she was gone, he was still here and that taking a second chance at love wouldn’t diminish how much he loved his wife. Brooks has finally come to a point where the pain of losing his wife has dulled enough that it doesn’t fill his chest and burn through him every moment of the day, but moving on like he promised her still seems like a betrayal, even though every time he sees or touches Rory, he wants her. When her life is changed irrevocably, Brooks cannot fight the need to be there for her and help her through the changes, but he also needs her in his arms and the more he is with her his heart slowly heals enough to allow her in as well. Rory never imagined her life would shift into becoming a guardian with two little girls she barely knows and a man suddenly living in one big happy family, and she doesn’t trust the change. She wants Brooks and knows that she has fallen for him but trusting that he has finally moved forward and will give his heart is another matter and only a true act of love can show her just how deeply he has fallen, so that they can have a future together. Obviously, the passion between these two is combustible every time their eyes meet, much less when they touch or allow themselves to slip the chain of their control, but the moments when their love shines through heat (even when they both still deny the feeling) are my favorites. Ending this series was difficult, even knowing we’d get to see more of them in coming spin-offs, because we have been with the Wilders for years now and come to love them as much as we did the Montgomerys. If you are a Wilder Brothers, fan I will tell you this story will be everything you hoped and more, but for those just coming into the world, I beg of you PLEASE at least go back to the beginning of the cousins (Moments for You) and start there before you dive into this story. Endings truly are never sad because they only make room for new and beautiful beginnings—and I know Carrie Ann Ryan will give us beauty.