Pretend it's Forever (The Cage Family #5)
Carrie Ann Ryan
Blurb:
Dance.
When Carson walks
into her life, all she can see is the broken person she’d been when they’d
first met. She’s stronger than the ghosts of her past, at least that’s what she
tells herself. Yet with each accidental encounter with the mysterious and
dangerous man who’s inserted himself into the Cage family orbit, she’s finding
it harder to walk away.
Carson Woods
doesn’t trust people. He’s spent his life protecting his sister from their
family and the world all while making sure his businesses are the best in their
fields.
Then he meets
her.
One wrong move
with the shattered yet pieced together Sophia could not only fracture his
working relationship with the only friends he has but harm the woman he tells
himself he cannot crave.
Themes: Contemporary
Rating: 3.75 stars
Heat Rating:
Review:
I
knew going into this that Sophia’s story was going to be filled with heartbreak
and pain before she was able to heal and find her strength and power. Carrie
Ann Ryan is the kind of author that knows how to build suspense, tear out a
reader’s heart, and then show us all that the love we find in life the second time
around is sometimes even deeper and more meaningful than what we think love is
the first time. The Cage series is becoming so intense and complicated that I fear
the ending of each story even as the love of each couple is fulfilled because we
know that we will be getting a sneak peek of the trauma coming for the next
couple. The love of a mother is shown strongly in this novel and it hits harder
for me this time that in previous readings for me because I have recently gone
no-contact with my own having finally come to the conclusion that some women
truly just aren’t made to be mothers, while others will love and protect their
offspring with their every waking breath until the end of their heart beats. I
am looking forward to the next in this series as much as it terrifies knowing
what is coming for Luna and Flynn, because their hearts and lives have some
serious pain coming soon.
Sophia
Cage Dixon has gone through a lot in her life working to become a principal dancer
and then opening her dance studio, while trying to be the best mother and wife
she could, but when her husband proves to be a bastard of the first order she
has to rethink that portion of her life. Carson Woods first met Sophia at the
lowest moment of her life and despite that he has never stopped wanting her,
but he knows he has now chance with her. When he comes back into her life,
quite by accident, Sophia doesn’t know how to handle the sexy and dangerous
man, but she wants to handle him and she wants him to handle her. Willing to
have one night together, both Sophia and Carson are not prepared for just how
deep their feelings become and when it becomes so much more for them both,
Carson breaks her heart in a vain attempt to protect them. However, sometimes
it takes a brush with truly losing any hope at a future to make them both see
that their love for one another is worth any fear and they give their
relationship a true chance, but there is someone out there that doesn’t want
Sophia to have a happy future and Carson and Sophia will have to face the
ultimate fear once again to have a future together.
Pretend
It’s Forever was one of those stories that move
extremely quickly from the moment that Carson returns to Sophia’s life until
the moment they are forced to admit their feelings for one another. I enjoyed
getting to know Sophia a little bit more, but to be honest didn’t feel like I got
to know her as much as I would have liked. While we learned about her past, her
choices in life and how she is working get over her past relationship, I don’t
feel like we got to know her as much as a woman as I would have likes, because
it was obvious she was strong and willing to fight strongly for her life, but
she didn’t fight as much for her hope for love or a relationship. Carson on the
other hand I didn’t feel like I got to know much at all except as a brother and
as a businessman, instead of a fully fleshed out character it seemed more like
he was a surface character until the near end when we finally saw him wake up
and admit his feelings for Sophia. I enjoyed the way he interacted with Sophia’s
twins and his sister, and of course there were plenty of family interactions between
the Cages and Woods, but in all I would have loved the book to be a bit longer
for Sophia and Carson’s story to develop more. The passion was definitely there
from the beginning and I can’t wait to see more of them in future stories when
they return as a couple. I fear I will be sobbing my heart out when the next
story begins after seeing the epilogue in this one (once again) because Carrie
Ann insists on attempting to make us insane while we are forced to wait between
stories. She truly is the most loveable of sadists!
*eARC provided by author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.
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