Pieces of Me (The Wilder Brothers #9)
Carrie Ann Ryan
Blurb:
Gabriel Wilder.
Rock
God.
Voice
of an angel.
And
in love with his best friend’s sister.
Resisting
Briar Ashford has been one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
Until
the one night he breaks his promise.
Only
when tragedy strikes, forgiveness slips through his fingers.
Briar
Ashford never let herself fall for her brother’s best friend.
Until
the night she did.
She
wanted to live in the shadows, writing the songs for the stars who shined the
brightest—not finding a way to co-parent with the man who refuses to pick up
his guitar again.
The
world is waiting for Gabriel Wilder to rise from the ashes. Only, first, he’ll
have to figure out if he’s ready to finally let himself love the one woman who
never knew had a claim to his heart all along.
Themes: Contemporary
Rating: 4.75 stars
Heat Rating:
Review:
I
really hate it when an author has me crying almost more than she has me falling
in love with her stars, but even more than previous novels in this series,
Carrie Ann Ryan was determined to tear our hearts out repeatedly in this story
of loss, healing, second chance love. There is so much happening in this novel,
both painful and healing that I honestly had to take a day off from reading
just to process everything before I could start my next book so that I didn’t have
an emotional hangover affecting my next read! I knew that I was going to enjoy
Gabriel’s story, but I wasn’t prepared for what was coming my way, in any shape
or form, but I am very glad I had the chance to enjoy it and can warm others to
be prepared for the coming heartbreak and trauma before the immense love
between him and Briar that will truly change your life and perspective on
emotions. Carrie Ann never fails to dig deep
into each of us and remind us of what made us fall in love with romance and
teach us repeatedly the bottomless potential of the human heart for recovery, love,
and redemption.
Gabriel
Wilder has finally found the pinnacle in his career, worldwide acclaim, a true connection
with his band, and he is living the life that he always thought he wanted
playing his music to the masses—but he isn’t truly bone-deep happy like his
siblings and cousins that have settled down and built homes in recent years as
he looked on. The one woman that his
heart has always yearned for is the one he can’t have, even though they gave in
one night, and when tragedy strikes it only drives a bigger wedge between them.
Briar Ashwood has loved Gabriel since she was a teenager, but she always new he
was not going to be hers as there was too much at risk for them to have a
chance together, but when their worlds crumble around them, they are left with
no choice but to face the consequences. Now Gabriel and Briar have to come to
terms with their role in one another’s life, but the more they are together,
the more their needs and emotional connection is undeniable and soon they give
into their chemistry once again. Can they finally find a way to be a family,
despite everything that has always stood between them, or will all the hurt and
pain that still threatens their future push them apart for the last time?
Gabriel
Wilder has got to be one of the most broken and screwed up of all the boys we
have seen, if not one of the worst of all of Ms. Ryan’s characters. In the
beginning of his story, he is simply a melancholy guy, dealing with being left
behind while his family changes and he refuses to acknowledge why he isn’t
happy, but when tragedy strikes he closes the world out and essentially gives
up on the world and himself. It was really hard to see such a bright light so
dimmed that I was afraid he was wink out, but thankfully he was forced to wake
up when his future basically slapped him upside the head in the form of Briar
and the consequences of their one night together. I was thrilled to see how he
stepped up for her, not only physically, but emotionally –as much as he could
at the time—as he tried to show he that he would be there for her and the baby.
He obviously still had a lot of work and healing to do even if he didn’t want
to admit it, but it was easy to see that he never stopped loving Briar and
would do everything he possibly could to be there for her and try to make it up
to her that he had been a ghost for months, including forcing himself out of
his self-imposed seclusion so that he could be a member of the world again for
her and the baby. While he continued for
far too long to hold a small piece of himself back from her, almost too long,
preventing him from fully committing, he did finally get the kick in the @$$ he
needed and give all of himself to the woman he’d always loved and show us the
strong, brave, sweet, and loving man he always was under the layers of pain.
Briar
has her own trauma to work through in order to be everything she needs, not
only for herself and her baby, but always for Gabriel and their family unit as
a whole. Briar it seems has a very rocky childhood, which we get some glimpses
of (but I imagine we will get more in the coming series about her family), but
the biggest loss for her is her brother and dealing with being without the man
she’s always loved while she tried to handle it. She luckily had the love and
support of her siblings, in their own strange ways, as she dealt with her pregnancy and reclaiming
her independence after her trauma, but once Gabriel steps up and they are able
to form their partnership it gives her much more breathing room to get back to
herself. I loved seeing how she blossomed under the love and care of the Wilder
woman and even as she interacted with the other Wilder men, but seeing her loving
Gabriel and their child made it obvious that she just really needed that love
and healing. She is smart, sassy, self-reliant, and private which makes living as under the
microscope of being with Gabriel difficult, but she refuses to give up the man
she loves when the chips are down and I loved her even more for that strength
and determination.
Pieces
of Me is truly a story of two people that are meant
to be together but have fought is so long they aren’t sure how to live any
other way and then when real catastrophe tears their lives apart they have to
find a way to rebuild, this time together for the good of their future. Briar
is a bright light that is determined to show the man she loves that while she
doesn’t need anything from him, she won’t give up on him and let him drown in
his own pain, even if he wants the world to leave him alone. Gabriel has truly
allowed the trauma to bury him and he doesn’t care, until he is forced to come
to terms with his past and future all at once and he will never again let Briar
down, even if it forced him to deal with the pain and heal from the breaks. Together
Briar and Gabriel will change their future and let their past become softer and
less painful, though they will never forget those they’ve lost and that meant the
most to them, showing that love truly can conquer all, even if the way to
conquer is just to show us that love never dies. Their passion when they finally
allow themselves to feel it through the pain is hot enough to burn through the
pain and to continue to burn all through their live together. I am looking
forward to seeing more of them together and the healing I know they will continue
to strive for, in the finale of the Wilder series (Endlessly
Yours) as well as in the new series all about Briar’s many siblings (Ashford Creek).
Carrie Ann Ryan is one of those authors that tears out your heart just to make
it grow three sizes bigger before she forces it back into your chest, so be
prepared for the pain as you lose yourself to Pieces of Me.
*eARC provided by author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.
