What would you do if the love of your life had no memory of you?

A man tries to win back the love of his life after an accident has her in a coma in this emotional, romantic drama…

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OMG. OMG!! What a beautiful book! I finished reading it with tears pouring down my face. Don’t worry though – they were happy tears! This was a story of true, undying love that was strong enough to overcome even the most heart-wrenching situation. And seriously… THE FEELS!! This man loved his wife so incredibly much. Just wait til you read it and you’ll see what I mean. You can feel it in your heart on every single page of this book. They went through something incredibly catastrophic and painful, but the love, healing, and pure heart-warming happiness that brings this book full circle are absolutely gorgeous. If you’re looking for a ROMANCE WITH FEELS, this is it!!

The hero and heroine were childhood best friends who spent every moment they could together and, as they grew older, fell in love. They were everything to each other. They were the kind of couple who everyone knew were meant to be. But after a tragic accident left her in a coma, everything came crashing down when she woke up with no memory of her husband. Even though it was tearing him apart, he knew he had to find a way to help her remember their love so he began to write her letters. Nineteen letters, to be specific. Each one told her a little part of their history, how they fell in love, how much they meant to each other. Each one gave her back a piece of the past she’d lost in hopes that someday, even if she never remembered him, she might one day fall in love with him again.

The blurb was actually what drew me to the book in the first place so I’ll share it here:

“The 19th of January, 1996 … I’ll never forget it. It was the day we met. I was seven and she was six. It was the day she moved in next door, and the same day I developed my first crush on a girl.

Then tragedy struck. Nineteen days after our wedding day, she was in an accident that would change our lives forever. When she woke from her coma, she had no memory of me, of us, of the love we shared.

That’s when I started writing her letters.The stories of our life. Of when we met. About the happier times, and everything we’d experienced together.

What we had was far too beautiful to be forgotten.”

And if that blurb alone wasn’t enough, by the time I read the prologue, I was beyond HOOKED on this story. I don’t know how anyone could read the prologue and not desperately want to read the rest of this story!

I did however begin reading it rather cautiously, both craving the emotional emersion that I was sure was coming, and feeling slightly scared of it. Emotional reads are kind of like diving into a cold pool on a summer’s day. You know you want get in, but that initial contact can be a little intimidating until you finally commit to jumping in.

My heart was in my throat as the officer pulled into Braxton’s driveway to tell him that his wife had been in the accident. Barely a few pages into the book and I was already FEELING for this story. And my heart strings just kept on being pulled as I read on.

Bending down, I place my lips on her forehead. “Please come back to me soon.” I lie back down on the recliner and slide my hand under the blanket that’s covering her. I need the contact. Maybe this might help me sleep; I need to be a my strongest when she wakes. “I love you,” I whisper as my fingers wrap around hers. We have never gone to sleep without saying these words.

It’s one of everyone’s worst nightmares — to have a loved one torn away, not knowing if they’re going to survive. But Braxton was hit with it twice — once when the accident happened. And then a second time when the relief and sheer joy of having Jem wake up was quickly followed by the panic of realizing that she had no memory of him or any part of their life together. It was like losing her all over again.

I’m not giving up on us. Never. Optimism is all I have right now. We belong together, and in time I’m sure she’ll come to realize that as well. My heart belongs to her, like hers belongs to me.

When the accident happened, I worried she would never wake up, and I would lose her. Not once did I contemplate the possibility that she would wake up and I would lose her anyways.

But I loved his determination to never give up on her. Whether she remembered him or not, he loved her with every part of his heart and soul and he was going to stick by her side each day and try to help her remember everything they’d once shared. The letters he wrote were such a beautiful way to help her regain the memories she’d lost. Even if she couldn’t get back her own memories, she was able to experience their story again through his eyes.

Enclosed you’ll find a memory bracelet. For not, it’s empty, but over time you’ll understand why I’ve called it this. Since you’re not comfortable talking to me, I’ve decided to write to you instead. I hope you take the time to read my letters when you’re ready. They’re letters about our past, and of the happier times we’ve spent together. Memories of your life through my eyes. It’s my way of trying to give you back a piece of what you’ve lost. Whether or not these letters lead you back to me, you need to know what we once shared, and what out life was like for us… What we had is far too beautiful to be forgotten.
Yours always,
Braxton

My favorite thing about this book was that there is literally not one bit of ‘extra drama’ to it. There is no love triangle, no cheating, no stupidity, nothing. This is a LOVE STORY. It’s about a men who loves his wife more than anything. This is their story. It’s a pure love story with nothing else to distract from it and I absolutely loved that about it!

Just because she doesn’t remember our bond, doesn’t mean it’s not there. All those old feelings are buried somewhere deep inside her, I know it. You can’t love someone so completely one day, and feel nothing for them the next. It’s not possible. It’s just going to take time to coax those feelings back to the surface.

I read over the letter before folding it in half and sliding it into the envelope… These letters were supposed to help Jem get back pieces of her past, but they’re helping me as well. She may be lost to me for now, but reliving all these precious memories I’ve made with her over the years will keep me going until I have her back.

Even though so many parts of this story were heart-wrenching, the only tears I cried were happy ones. While this book does deal with saddness, it is ultimately a story of healing brought on by the unwavering strength of true love. I cried at the end and through the beautiful epilogue. It had all the gorgeous heart-warming feels that so beautifully and completely brought this story full circle.

I thoroughly loved this book and highly recommend it to any romance reader who crave reading emotional, heart-felt stories that’ll stay with you long after you finish the last page.

Rating: 4.5 stars. Standalone Contemporary Romance

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He finally looked into her eyes. “I loved you and I made you live a hell.”
“I loved you and I was happy to be in that hell if you were there with me.”

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Kristen Ashley is truly the queen of Alpha romance and she’s back with this absolutely gorgeous, heart-warming, and fulfilling second chance romance! I read it in one sitting and loved it!! The hero and heroine reconnect 18 years after being torn apart and OMG their reunion was EPIC!! Holy freaking FEELS!! But the very best part about reading a story with a more mature couple was how satisfyingly functional they were in their relationship. After losing nearly two decades of time together and happiness, they were deeply appreciative of how precious their second chance at a happily ever after was. If you love single dad romances too, you’re going to swoon hard over what an amazing father this hero was to his little girl. Ooooooooh and for longtime KA fans, you’ll be treated to cameos galore in this book as well! Bottom line, if you’re a fan of Alpha romance, this is a must-read!!

After a painful loss, Cady Moreland is coming to Magdalene to start the next chapter of her life. A chapter that began eighteen years ago but had a heartbreaking ending. The time in between was full of family and friendship, but Cady could never get the man she fell in love with all those years ago out of her heart.

Coert Yeager has learned to live without the girl who entered his life right when she shouldn’t and exited delivering a crippling blow he never would have suspected. The time in between was full of failing to find what he was missing…and life-altering betrayal.

But when that girl shows up in Magdalene and buys the town’s beloved lighthouse, even if Coert wants to avoid her, he can’t. A fire in town sparks a different kind of flame that won’t be ignored…

As many of you know, Kristen Ashley is one of my most favorite author. I’ve read over 40 of her books over the years and I love everything about her unique writing style, characters that feel so real it’s almost as though you know them personally, and her epic romances that are just brimming with sexiness and emotion. She’s a true gem of an author.

This story has a bit of a slow start due in large part to the complexity of the story. The hero and heroine met in their early 20’s. He was an undercover cop assigned to use her to infiltrate some criminals she was friends with by gaining her trust and making her fall in love with him. He was falling for her for real though and it absolutely tore him up to lie to her, even though he had to do his job. She loved him with all her heart too and when the truth of what he’d done was revealed, it shattered her world and drove them apart.

“It breaks me.”
I turned back to her and it took a great deal, too much, to stare into her beautiful brown eyes shining with tears and not allow my own to come.
“What you could have had,” she finished. “What you two could have built together. When I think about it, it breaks me.”

Eighteen years later, they got their second chance at happiness. But there was a lot of history to heal. The time in between their past and present had changed so much about their lives — she had found a family she never expected, and he’d become a single father to a little girl who he adored with all his heart — but the one thing that hadn’t changed for either of them, even under the layers of pain, was the love they shared. They were each other’s one-and-only, and though that love had been buried, it had never truly dimmed…

Eighteen years ago Coert and I fell together against all odds.
Then it ended.
And neither of us got over it.
No more missed opportunities.
It was time to risk everything.

The story alternated between the past and present as KA slowly wove all the threads of their story together. As mentioned, it had a slow start due to the many storylines that needed to converge, but once the picture came into focus, the FEELS just hit. The heart-break, the longing, the gut wrenching pain of “what if” that came with being in the same town as the only person either of them had ever loved…

“I think it’s safe to say out loud that you went back there because you’re still in love with him and you wanted to see if that could be salvaged,” Kath said baldly.
I drew in a sharp breath and kept staring at the view.
“Right?” she pushed. “Is that safe to say?”
“Yes,” I whispered.

My favorite thing about this book was how functional they were as a couple. Like seriously FUNCTIONAL. Because of a combination of their ages (early forties) and the fact that having lived through the consequences of their own mistakes and knowing how much they’d lost, once they became an official couple, the way that they supported each other, had each other’s backs, and dealt with things so efficiently and with no unnecessary drama was just incredible. There is zero stupidity in this book. There are mistakes and misunderstandings because after all, we’re all just human. But they’re honest mistakes. I don’t even have words to describe how much I love reading about couples like this — who just make it them against the world and work together to make things better.

“If we do this, we have to learn something from what came before.”
“What’s that?” she asked quietly.
“We have to learn, even when it gets hard, we can’t give up and we can’t let go.”

Just for example, his situation could have easily been complicated because he had a daughter with a woman he’d never loved and so there was his child and her mother to add to the equation. That whole scenario could easily have spiralled into drama but I’ll just show you in his own words how easy he made it just by not making it hard:

His voice dipped low when he said, “If we make it hard, if we make a big deal of it, if we communicated there’s something to worry about or if we feel we might be doing something wrong, Janie’ll read that. If we are just what we are right here and right now, and your family is good to her and me, which I know they’ll be because they love you, then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

This couple didn’t play games. They told the truth. They were open with each other. I loved them so much!

One of my favorite things about KA is the way she portrays extended families. Family dynamics can be so complicated but they don’t need to be fraught with drama and the way she writes them is so beautiful. The heroine in this book has an incredible family and support network that had no blood relation to her. And something this story showed with grace, beauty, and reverence was the way family is made up of the people who’d give anything for you, who want to see you happy, and will stick by your side even when things get rough. I love the concept that family does not have to be determined by blood alone, and the dynamics in this book were pure Kristen Ashley gold.

Another thing that I love about KA books is that you aren’t just told a snapshot story about a couple. Instead her detailed writing style and lengthly novels leads you more into a situation where you just get to LIVE with the couple for a while. You don’t just hear about their higlights, instead you read everything. You see trips the grocery store, random phone conversations, running errands, everything. You step into their life for 400 pages.

“Can you see how all this is intense?” she demanded. “It isn’t like we were too young and hadn’t learned how to communicate yet, how to compromise, how to be in a relationship. There was murder and felonies and my family didn’t help… It went wrong. Okay, so it went horribly wrong, devastatingly wrong. But not we have a choice. Keep letting it go wrong or make it right.”

And omg. THE BUILD UP.
I had tears in my eyes.
My heart was in my throat.
I was breathless in pure anticipation of their reunion.
And IT. WAS. EPIC!!!

“Are you, um… going to ravage me again?” I asked.
“You want me to sit here and try to find words to tell you how much I love you or you want me to show you?”

You can definitely read this book as a complete standalone (even without the others in this series) and be totally fine. Or you can read it as the third standalone of the Magdalene series. The focus though is really on this couple. There are however some other fun cameos from another KA series that were a really fun surprise! If you haven’t read it though, don’t worry at all. You’ll be good either way.

This is definitely another solid KA favorite for me! It’s a slow building, slow burning romance that was deeply heart-warming, incredibly sexy, and truly beautiful. Alpha male romance at its best. I loved it and highly recommend it!

Rating: 4.5 stars!! Contemporary Adult Romance, can standalone.

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• Buy THE TIME IN BETWEEN (Audiobook)
• Buy THE TIME IN BETWEEN (iBooks)

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Series of standalones.