Contemporary Romance published by HTJB, Inc. 15 Feb 22
This is the kind of book I really enjoy from Marie Force, one so full of emotion you have no idea if either you or the characters you’re reading about will come out on the other side intact. The first two reads by Ms. Force that had me feeling that way are Five Years Gone and One Year Home. Since I read those, I’ve hoped she’d eventually have more such books in my future, and here they are. Prepare to have your heart broken…and then realigned just in time.
Apparently, this book is a spin-off from Ms. Force’s Fatal series, where readers met Roni just after the tragedy that threatens to consume her. Her husband of only a few months is taken from her in the blink of eye, hit by a stray bullet during an argument between strangers. Roni is riddled with guilt and if onlys on top of loss and grief. Though she doesn’t realize it so soon, her life is already on the move into the future – a new job at the White House (the First Lady is the cop who informed Roni of her husband’s death), and new friends she’ll be making when she joins the Wild Widows, a community group of widows and widowers who know what she’s currently going through.
Derek is also part of that group, but he meets Roni, before she joins, in an ironic way that ultimately leads to friendship and more as they navigate their different stages of life without their mates. They also find out they both work at the White House. I’m usually not a big fan of friends before lovers trope, but in this case it’s necessary. Roni’s grief is only a year or so old, while everyone else’s has had time to shift and change, giving them more of a perspective to help her. That includes Derek, and he gifts her with such jewels of wisdom as her journey ages over time. All of the Wild Widows have stories, and I can’t wait to read more of them.
While I enjoy all of Marie Force’s books, this one, along with the other two I mentioned earlier, is full of depth and growth in a way that outshines all others. I’ve not read her Fatal series, but learning Someone Like You stems from characters there, I’m going to be reading that series soon. Any series that eventually culminates with a President of the United States and First Lady, as well as characters like Roni, is one I should have started years ago. I highly recommend this book. Pick it up as soon as possible.
Grade: A
Summary:
Roni:
After I suddenly lose my husband, Patrick, in a senseless shooting, I’m lost in a sea of well-meaning people trying to make the unimaginable seem possible. How am I supposed to go on without the man who’s been at the center of my life for nearly a decade? My friends and family do what they can for me, but I quickly realize that surviving this loss is going to be on me. One day to the next, I have to make the decision to go on, but life isn’t done throwing me ringers, and just when I think I’ve got this young widow game figured out, I find out how wrong I am. When a friend of my sister’s connects me to the Wild Widows, I find a group of fellow travelers who understand my new reality in a way no one else in my life ever could. The Wild Widows have one requirement for membership to their group—I must be open to the possibility of a Chapter 2, which is what they call a second chance at love. While I’m not in any way looking for or ready for a Chapter 2, if I’ve learned anything it’s that I’m not in control of where this journey will take me.Come along as Roni and the other Wild Widows navigate their new realities with grace, humor and compassion. They will make you laugh and cry and root for each and every one of them.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
