Only Love Can Hurt Like This

by Paige Toon
Genres: Contempory, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction
Format: ARC, eBook
five-stars

Wren decides to visit her father and stepfamily on their farm in Indiana after her fiancé falls in love with someone else. Wren is no stranger to having someone walk out on her life. She hopes the time away from the UK will help her heal and find new perspective. Wren was raised by her mother in England and looks forward to spending time with her Dad and sister during her visit.

Anders is struggling to move on after his wife was in an accident four years ago. He goes home to his family’s farm in Indiana and visits more frequently now due to concerns about his brother.

After seeing each other in a bar, Wren and Anders have their first conversation in a cornfield. It is the first conversation, but it will not be the last. There will be many in fact but with all the talking, there is a very important bit of information that is left out….

I feel hard for this book about love, family, obligations, grief, expectations, moving on and second chances. This book has heart and tugged at my heart strings. I instantly liked both main characters. They had great banter which I adored. The supporting characters of Bailey (Wren’s sister) and Jonas (Anders brother) are both likeable and add to the storyline in their own ways.

I liked the fact that all the characters had their own issues. This made them feel real and believable. Many of the characters in this book have suffered loss in their lives in varying degrees, whether it be the loss of a family unit, loss of a relationship, loss of a spouse, etc. I appreciated how the author showed how this affects thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. I thought this was very nicely done.

This book was both thought provoking and evoked emotion. This made me think about the expectations that others place on us and the expectations that we place on others and how unfair that can be.

This was a moving, hard to put down book and I was glued to the pages. I didn’t want to put this down as I was fully invested in the plot and yearned to know how things would turn out for Wren and Anders.

Romance novels are all about the journey for me and I enjoyed the journey in this book. There are several journey’s in this book – not all of them the romantic kind.

Moving, thoughtful, and riveting.

I highly recommend this emotional and moving love story.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

five-stars

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