Sunday, November 10, 2024

ARC Review: One Night with You (Montgomery Ink Legacy #7)

One Night with You (Montgomery Ink Legacy #7)

Carrie Ann Ryan

Blurb:


Never fall for your best friend.

That’s the rule. The code.

Claire Harlow always follows rules—except this one.

However, when an attack leaves both of their worlds shaken, she decides to walk away from what could have been and hide within her own shadows.

Kingston Montgomery is the man who saves the day.

At least that’s what he’s always told himself—until one day he was too late.

Now he’s trying to find his purpose while also ignoring the heat between him and Claire.

When a chance blizzard changes their plans, one night turns to two…and then there’s no going back.

Only the two must overcome what they thought their relationship should be and realize what it could become. Because if they don’t figure it out quickly, the spark that ignites them could burn them both.

Themes:  Contemporary

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

 I’ve been looking forward to this one for a little while now, hoping that Pheobe and Kane’s friends would find their own HEA, despite the obstacles that seemed to be in their way. Carrie Ann Ryan has a way of leading her characters on a merry chase for far too long for our (her readers’)  peace of mind, but in the end you have to believe she know she knows what she’s doing (or hope so anyway). Kingston and Claire’s love story is one that is filled with lots of healing and trust building as two friends with conflicting emotions finally come to realize that they’ve loved one another all along, even if they refused to acknowledge their feelings. I am looking forward to where Carrie Ann takes us next in their second generation of Montgomery greatness because it just keeps getting better and better and after that last chapter I cannot imagine how hot the next story could possibly be!

Kingston Montgomery is going through the paces of his life, trying to find his way and accept that there are some things that he can’t change—such as the fact that his friend Claire has been avoiding him ever since he let her get badly hurt in an attack. Claire Harlow is definitely avoiding Kingston, but not for the reasons he thinks. She doesn’t blame him for her injuries, but she can’t be around him anymore because her feelings have become more than she can handle since the attack and she doesn’t know what comes next for them.  But when a friend group weekend in the mountains turns into the two of them stranded alone in a snowstorm, things quickly heat up and soon they are friends with some seriously hot benefits. The more time they spend together though, the more both of them begin to understand their feelings are so much deeper than just friendship and lust, leading them to question is they should give a relationship a real shot, but can they get over their pasts and all the problems they each worry about in order to have a future together, or will they have to walk away from the most important relationship either of them have ever found in their lives.

Talk about two characters that are so lost in their heads that they don’t realize the perfect person for them is right in front of them! Claire went through a very traumatic experience at the hands of a psycho, but she is slowly (very slowly) finding her way out of that darkness, but she really needs to talk to someone and let others help her more. She is a smart, classy, sweet, and loving woman, but she so often refuses to lean on those she loves and instead depend on herself that she forgets that part of loving someone is being there for them and letting them be there for you. I really enjoyed seeing her finally open her heart as Kingston got through to her and made her accept his help and support, and of course the more time she spent being absorbed into the Montgomery cult, the more obvious it was how much she needed them. Kingston is obviously a protector, one that when he fails on that job (even just in his eyes) he flounders for a while and has to work hard to redirect himself. Almost losing Claire left him in a dark place, but when he finally got to have her in his life even deeper, showing her his love and protection, you could see him truly coming back to life. I loved seeing his strength, love, intelligence, honor, and devotion to his family, but I wouldn’t expect anything less with the triad he comes from. Truly these two were a match made in heaven and I am so glad we finally go to see them get their stuff together and admit their feelings for one another.

Often we read a story that begins with a couple snowed in together and it leads to all kinds of naughtiness, but One Night With You is an entirely different take on that trope if you ask me. Instead of being the climax or the beginning of their relationship, which was really the catalyst for two people that had been hiding their feelings to finally just accept that their feelings didn’t need to be hidden any longer and they could in fact have a relationship together. For Claire, that night give her the permission she needed to give into the feelings she’d been surprising from the beginning and give herself to Kingston, which leads her to find the inner truth she hid from herself that she loves him more than any man she’s ever been with. Kingston however has been running form his own feelings so long he still doesn’t understand anything beyond that one night being the hottest of his life and giving him the permission he needs to finally pressure the woman that he’s wanted from the first moment he set eyes on her. Together the two of them have a lot of emotional drama to work through, and while they almost let it go too late, they finally admit their love not only to themselves but to one another. That passion is apparent form the first moment though they try their hardest to hide from it and when they finally give into it, its hot enough to burn down the winder forest around the cabin where they find themselves trapped. I am dying for the next book (Accidentally Forever) where Carrie Ann is determined to drive us insane for sure with  Aria and Crew’s crazy passion and heat, though in between we will have a new connected series beginning (Always a Fake Bridesmaid) which looks to be interesting too.  I’m never sure how she does it but Ms. Ryan always finds a way to take us on a roller coaster and finally leave you begging for more and ONWY is a prime example of that torture, so run right out and grab your copy on release day! 

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

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