These books feel like a personal gift to me. After years of possessive heroes, and jealous heroes, and lack of boundaries, and Happily Ever Afters, all the things that fit the modern romantic narrative, it’s a gift and a balm and a blessing. I’ve said it before, but Tiffany Reisz is so good at introducing characters you can’t help but love, even in the midst of an eight-plus book series when you already have loyalties elsewhere. She’s also so good at capturing how relationships ebb and flow over time. Some endure and evolve; others burn brief and bright. And each one grows the story (and its persons) into something it (they) couldn’t be otherwise. Instead of narrowing down myopically (see my list above), she opens the world up.
I love it. I’d be remiss not to mention that this book has my favorite framing device yet— Mick and Griff’s wedding; Søren, Nora, and Kingsley hide out to hang out and talk— and after a quick detour through some angst, the story goes places I didn’t think it would go. (The convent! Haiti! Juliette!) There are characters throughout the series who only get a few pages, yet I love them (Jason; Maggie; Blaise), and characters who got those few pages but are ready to bloom as soon as they get room to breathe. (Mick, Griff; Sam. Daniel. Juliette!)
I’ve said this before too— I crave this kind of complexity. Down is up, dark is light. It makes me think, and gives me hope, and turns me on, and makes the world a bigger place but one that’s less frightening. I could use more of that in my life. Couldn’t we all?
“This is my favorite story already,” Kingsley said. “Go on.”