“Bronwyn Pierce has poured everything into The Haven, her family's exclusive mountain resort in Gossamer Falls. But when financial discrepancies surface and the numbers suggest something far darker than simple mismanagement, she's forced to call on the one person with the skills to help Mo Quinn, a former Army Intelligence officer, her first love, and the last person she ever wanted to trust again.
Mo has spent years avoiding the woman he once loved and the secrets that tore them apart. But when Bronwyn calls, he can't walk away--especially when it's clear someone wants her gone for good. As they dig deeper into the treacherous motives behind a blackmail scheme, their proximity reignites long-buried feelings neither of them is ready to face. And when the evidence points to an unexpected culprit, Mo faces an impossible trust the proof in front of him or trust his heart.
With danger closing in and no one else to turn to, Bronwyn and Mo must break years of silence to uncover who's trying to destroy The Haven. They'll have to risk everything--including their hearts--to expose the truth before it's too late.”
Series: Book #3 in the “Gossamer Falls” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here!
Spiritual Content- Psalm 19:14 in the Acknowledgments; A few Scriptures are mentioned and prayed; Prayers & Thanking Jesus; 'H’s are not capital when referring to God; Bronwyn recites part of Psalm 23 in a “breathe prayer” (inhaling with saying part of the Scripture and then exhaling with the next verse); In a flashback chapter, Mo doesn’t think his prayers have worked but hopes that another’s prayers will work; Mo’s faith “took a nosedive” after Bronwyn ran away and while he still believed in God, he felt betrayed by both God and Bronwyn & has had to work on trusting God again; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of someone in the Bible; A mention of church; A mention of a couple leaving room for “the Holy Spirit and a few angels” to sit between them;
*Note: Mo doesn’t “throw words like evil around lightly” but a gathering of Bronwyn’s family makes his “spirit protest”; Mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of fate; A mention of someone getting “her zen on” at a spa; A mention of someone claiming to have seen a ghost.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘duh’, a ‘good grief’, a ‘for the love of all that’s holy’, a ‘screw’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘son of a gun’, two ‘screwed up’s, two forms of ‘ticked’, three forms of ‘shut up’, four ‘oh my word’s, seven ‘idiot’s, and ten ‘stupid’s; Some crude phrases such as “crawled up [someone’s] butt” and someone “ripping” someone else “a new one”; A few mentions of curses (including a mention of a young Mo using “vocabulary his parents would be shocked he knew” and how it doesn’t help him feel better); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A drive-by shooting, Being shot at, Gunfire, Being grabbed, Being threatened with death, Injuries, Pain, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone shot & killed (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of blackmail, embezzlement, money laundering, & threats; Mentions of murders, attempted murder, kidnappings, & attempted kidnappings (including those in Book #1 and Book #1.5); Mentions of deaths & a grandmother’s cancer spreading; Mentions of fights, deaths, & weapons (guns and knives); Mentions of someone trying to kill Bronwyn (possibly a family member); Mentions of a drive-by shooting, being shot at, weapons, gunfire/bullets, injuries, stitches, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a mother almost dying from an allergic reaction to an antibiotic; Mentions of drug trafficking, drugs, a needle (implied drug use), drug dealers, alcohol, drinking, & a bar; Mentions of rehab (for alcohol or drug dependence & an eating disorder); Mentions of other crimes & criminals; Mentions of arrests & jails/prisons; Mentions of when Bronwyn ran away from home at age sixteen (see Sexual Content for more information); Mentions of manipulation (including from family members); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of a solider dying overseas; A couple mentions of a child being abducted (Book #1); A couple mentions of stalkers; A couple mentions of divorces; A mention of alcoholics & meth users; A mention of brown nosing;
*Note: In a flashback chapter, Bronwyn says her parents shouldn’t have had a child since “they have no clue what to do with one”; Bronwyn comments about her family members being narcissists and psychopaths; Bronwyn hyperventilates (once, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of fictional characters (Romeo and Juliet, Anne of Green Gables, Mary Poppins, Wonder Woman, Samwise Gamgee, Lucy Pevensie, and Captain America); A few mentions of brand name & items (iPads, Coke, Kool-Aid, Post-It notes, Band-Aid); A couple mentions of counseling and therapy (which Mo went to); A mention of the Oscar awards; A mention of Pinterest; A mention of Siri.
Sexual Content- Two fingers-to-lips touches, multiple hand/finger kisses (one unwanted), two forehead kisses, a cheek kiss, two nose kisses, a not-detailed kiss, a few jaw/chin kisses, five border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses (including two when they were fifteen), a semi-detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed); Seeing married/engaged couples kiss and embrace (including one person to tell a couple to “get a room”); Staring at lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Cuddling, Hand holding, Warmth, Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch, embrace, & hold hands (up to semi-detailed); Flirting & Blushes; Jealousy; Being hit-on (unwanted and by slimy men); Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); In order to protect her, Mo and Bronwyn sleep in the same house a handful of nights (a few times there is someone else there as well; Everyone sleeps in different rooms and nothing sexual happens); In two flashback chapters, Bronwyn and Mo hold hands (when they are thirteen) and have their first kiss (age fifteen); Bronwyn ran away from home at age sixteen due to family circumstances and because of an older man who complimented her (he is called a predator and a pervert) had “turned [her] head” (it’s said a few times that he groomed her, lured her, took her, and then deserted her; In a few flashback chapters, he winks at her and talks kindly to her; (*Spoilers* But two months after running away, she has learned it was all a lie and the man manipulated her with fake conversations and manipulated photos, so she ran away from him; Her parents never came for her because they didn’t want to offend the man who had a high status in Hollywood *End of Spoilers*)); A ‘hot’, two ‘strumpet’s, and five forms of ‘baby/babe’; Mentions of trysts, affairs, flings, & “hooking up” with someone (including a married man leading a younger woman up to a hotel room); Mentions of kisses & kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of couples kissing, making goo-goo eyes at someone, & being “gross” about it (to the point someone tells them to “get a room”); Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of flirting & giggling and fanning one’s self after talking to a guy; Mentions of crushes & liking someone; A mention of Bronwyn being careful not to throw herself at Mo; A mention of a man leering at Bronwyn; A mention of “pillow talk” between married couples; A mention of a sugar daddy (used as a jab against a woman); A mention of romance novels; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: In a flashback chapter, Bronwyn thinks that her parents think of her as if “she was breeding stock instead of their flesh-and-blood daughter”; *Spoilers, but about an eating disorder* Bronwyn met Laundry when she was in rehab for an eating disorder (it’s said that Bronwyn nearly lost the battle and had nearly starved herself to death in seeking control of her life); Because of this, Bronwyn is careful not to skip meals and others make sure she eats *End of Spoilers*; In a flashback chapter, Bronwyn recalls her grandmother giving her a tiny cup of chocolate mousse because she says “girls had to be careful to never overindulge”; A couple mentions of rear ends & kicking someone’s rear; A mention of a woman’s curves.
-Bronwyn Pierce, age 33
-Montgomery “Mo” Quinn, age 33
P.O.V. switches between them
354 pages
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Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
Ever since reading “Never Fall Again”, I’ve been curious to what Bronwyn and Mo’s deal is about each other. You could tell there was a lot of backstory between them and in this final book of the series, we finally get their story. It’s messy. Complicated because of a family feud and also because of very poor choices on our main character’s parts. Like the second book in the series, I have mixed feelings on this third book.
I do think there were a few too many parts where Mo felt a little too unlike the broody, moody grump he was: he would share about his feelings with his cousins/sibling/friends in great length…so it overall felt a little cheesy and mushy for my tastes. However, I did like his protector vibe and how he still showed how much he liked her with actions rather than words (because they didn’t talk directly to each other for half the book, mind you). I felt similar to the male lead in the second book, Gray, with his “definitely written by a woman” lines.
If you’re interested in this series, it would be best to read the prior two books in the series in my opinion because they are very intertwined with the characters, backstories, and inside jokes. There’s a lot that isn’t explained in this book that was explained in the other books. It took me a little bit to get into the story and try to keep everyone straight and all the family connections, but after a while, I stopped trying and just hoped for the best on remembering how everyone was connected. 😅
This book was mostly romantic, with not a whole lot of suspense. I think this is partially because that’s how this series has been set-up, but also because Mo does a lot of computer work to find out the bad guys rather than chase them down himself. I would put it at 75/25 on the romance vs suspense parts. The faith content was light throughout the book and I would have liked to see more of that from both Bronwyn and Mo. I found the ending to be a little unsatisfying and anticlimactic because the motives are explained as a catch-up for other characters rather than our main characters finding it out for themselves. I think this is a personal preference—or rather, something I don’t prefer—which is why I noticed it, but probably won’t bother other readers.
Little complaints aside, I did enjoy different elements of this book and read it within a day. The writing style flowed well and our couple was cute together (once they started talking—their friends/sibling/cousins have more patience than me for dealing with this for years). Because of mentions of an underage teen girl being groomed, seduced, and lured away, I would only suggest this book for ages 16/17+. There really aren’t many details about this which was good, but I wish it could have been a bit more of a warning about that happening rather than a “oh, that’s what happened. So anyway…”, which is what it felt like at times. There were a few crude comments I didn’t care for reading as well that affects the ratings I gave for this book.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.
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