Review: An interesting and surprising story!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
I found this story very interesting and surprising.  As it started out, I felt I was going to read about a man named Ridge who had really screwed up his life and now we read the story of how he is going to go through day by day beating himself up, but at the end of the book, we find truth and redemption and the realization, he had all he needed from the beginning. He just decided to throw it away.Ridge was a messed up man with a history of drug abuse, drinking to numb his feelings, sex with a different woman every night to fill the void of kicking Mia out of his life.  The guilt was too heavy to carry, seeing Mia daily and knowing how he hurt his brother in the process was not something he could live with and stay clean.  Giving her up was the hardest thing for him, she was his heart, but he had to make a choice, family or Mia.After leaving Mia and trying survive in life with working out, drinking and smoking he finds Amy.  She would have given him the world and he felt he could make a future with her, but as the story goes on, he realizes she isn’t a replacement for Mia.  When he finds his Mia again, he sees how badly he hurt her when he kicked her out.  Mia was a mess, not being able to cope with life without her own self damaging ways, he carries that guilt with him on top of everything else.Things get really rough with Amy when he finds out she is pregnant with their child.  Determined to be a good dad, he can’t fight his demons enough to keep his true feelings silent.  When their relationship ends in horrific ways which means he is forced to face his past.  Mia had finally gotten some insight to her life and reached out to Ridge, telling him together they were toxic, but she can’t let him kill himself with guilt he refuses to deal with.Now this is when the story took a turn that left me breathless.  As they search for answers they find the connection they had from the beginning.  Their lives came full circle and the biggest demon was exposed for Ridge. The secret he held on to, the one he was sure would make people shun him, was the one thing that set Mia’s family free. What was a journey of putting the past behind them now becomes a journey to see if they have a future together, building on the newly discovered truth?I have to say the beginning of this story was depressing and I wondered how I would be able to finish but just when I was ready to give up, the author grabbed my attention and I needed to seek the truth with Ridge and Mia.  I enjoyed this story, it was unique, intense in the last half and totally changed my view of Ridge once I was able to see him for the young broken man he was.  What he was forced to do in his childhood was heartbreaking.  I think this story will be with me for a while, it just goes to show what guilt can do to a person and those who love them.Reviewed by Tbird for Crystal’s Many Reviewers*Copy provided for honest review*