Monday, 30 May 2016

Review ~ A Right to Remain by Beth Rinyu


Book Description:

He had a right to remain suffocated by his pain.
She had a right to remain silent about hers.

For better or for worse. 
Those were the vows that I had taken with my wife six years ago. We had lived through the better and were barely getting through the worse. I tried to face our loss together, while she chose to have an affair instead.
Time apart was what we both needed.
What I didn’t expect in that time was her.
The beauty she possessed on the outside was a far cry from the scars she was harboring on the inside. She wasn’t looking for love and neither was I. She just needed someone to help her deal with the pain she had been carrying around for the past two years, and I was happy to oblige.
I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with her, but suddenly I was seeing a future that I never dreamed of right in front of my eyes….only to find that the past had other things in mind for us.

***
I always believed that we only got one true love in life, and mine was gone and never coming back.
Through the tear-filled nights and never ending days, I was slowly and tortuously coming to terms with the pain that was my reality.
And then he entered my life.
Tall, handsome, genuine and caring, he was a friend when I needed one most. Together, we were a temporary fix to our own permanent pain. Just two people helping each other to get through a very dark period in life.
But when the light begins to shine ever so slightly with each passing day, and his face is all I can see at the end of that tunnel…..do I run back into the darkness or move into the light with him?

Buy Links:


Our Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***



“I realize now that my heart is big enough to hold love for more than one person. You gave me my happily, and he will give me my every after.”


A Right to Remain is a book that brings together a few of my favourite tropes all wrapped up into a highly addictive story that will keep you page turning from first to last page. First and foremost, this is a love story, a story of two characters that have their own heap of hurt to contend with and a new love is the furthest thing from their mind. Then you have that air of mystery and suspense that Beth Rinyu cleverly wove throughout culminating in a suspense filled ending that will have you wringing your hands in anticipation and hope.


“Sometimes we need to stop wasting time trying to mend the things in life that are beyond repair. Instead, we need to allow them to fall completely apart so we can start rebuilding them with a stronger foundation, and Lacey showed me how to do just that. She reconstructed the pieces of my heart, day by day, little by little, piece by piece, until it was finally whole once again.”


Quinn Lavery was a character that you cannot help but fall in love with. This man had a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone. He was a police officer and he was married but at the start of this book his marriage is failing and he and his wife are in counselling. Having experienced a tragic loss, Quinn’s wife did the unspeakable, rather than seek solace and comfort in the arms of her husband she chose to seek it in the arms of another, the ultimate betrayal. Quinn had never been enough for her, she had always been career and money oriented and honestly, their ideals and aspirations had just drifted apart. It is through counselling that Quinn realises his marriage is over.

Lacey Sullivan had lost her husband in tragic circumstances and the scars from that event two years ago still haunt her to this day. Lacey decides a clean break in a new town is what she needs to try and heal and so she ups sticks and with her trusty companion they embark on a new life. They move miles and miles away, they rent a cabin and Lacey gets a job as a teacher. The cabin was quiet, on the edge of the woods and the setting was truly tranquil, the perfect environment to regroup and take stock of her life.

Lacey meets her landlord sooner than she anticipates as he is living in the cabin above her. Following the breakdown of his marriage Quinn is living in one of his cabins and once introductions are made and initial insecurities and wariness are overcome a beautiful friendship soon follows. Lacey and Quinn have a lot in common. They have both loved hard and both lost. Both are grieving and coming to terms with the hand that they have been dealt and both of them soon seek solace in the words of the other. Their conversations bring wisdom, experience and clarity in muddy situations and both are a stepping stone to healing for the other. The growth of their friendship was beautiful to watch. Whereas Quinn once sought his answers at the bottom of the bottle, he now has Lacey to steer him right and whereas Lacey once internalised everything and kept everything bottled, she now has Quinn and therapy to open up and begin to mend those scars. Spending so much time together though blurs the lines of the friendship, but are these two ready to embark on love once again or will their pasts hold them back?


“If I had one thing to be thankful for this year, it would be for the girl who moved in downstairs from me a few months ago, the same one who with each passing day was moving slowly into my heart.”


The past always has a habit of infiltrating our present and for Lacey her past consists of painful memories and a lot of emotional scarring. It seems someone does not want to leave her past dead and buried and herein lies the mystery and suspense element of this story that keeps you on your toes while reading.

Beth Rinyu cleverly weaves a story that will have you second guessing throughout. With secrets getting unearthed, revelations aplenty and a friend or foe mentality you never know who to trust. But the crux of this story remains the blossoming relationship between Quinn and Lacey and it was truly heart-warming. To see two people, mend their scars and take a second chance on love with one another was memorable and you couldn’t help but champion these two along. They have a lot of mountains to climb and it seems that the world is against them but these two have longevity stamped all over them, they just need to believe in one and other.


“You make me feel alive when I’m with you, and that’s something I never dreamed would be possible again.”


I will say, there was one revelation that I didn’t feel was necessary and when I came across it I kind of deflated and it was this one thing that really took the shine off of what was up until that point a five-star book. Sometimes less is more and for me this plot twist wasn’t warranted and just made me feel a bit yuck inside, I can’t really explain it, but once you read it, you may or may not feel the same. However, it didn’t detract from a fabulous read that I thoroughly enjoyed and for all you romantic suspense readers I am sure you will love this one too.

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