Two hearts in the darkness…
Makenna James and Caden Grayson have been inseparable since the day they were trapped in a pitch-black elevator and found acceptance and love in the arms of a stranger. Makenna hopes that night put them on the path to forever—which can’t happen until she introduces her tattooed, pierced, and scarred boyfriend to her father and three over-protective brothers.
Must … brothers.
Must fight for love in the light…
Haunted by a childhood tragedy and the loss of his family, Caden never thought he’d find the love he shares with Makenna. But the deeper he falls, the more he fears the devastation sure to come if he ever lost her, too. When meeting her family doesn’t go smoothly, Caden questions whether Makenna deserves someone better, stronger, and just more…normal. Maybe they’re just too different—and he’s far too damaged—after all…
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Out of the darkness
Caden fights his demons of PTSD and depression. Only Makenna is his light. An emotional rollercoaster of a man’s struggle for life.
This book picks up a few months after the previous book left off. Maknna and Caden have been inseparable since they were trapped in the elevator. They are getting ready to spend the holidays with Makenna’s family. Caden can’t get over how happy he is and is terrified it is going to be taken away at any moment. That fear turns into a spiral of doubt and depression that almost ruins their relationship.
The focus of this book is mostly on Caden and his struggle to accept his past, his PTSD, and his fear of losing MaKenna. Things were going great for these two until they went to her family’s Thanksgiving and her ex was there. This was the start of Caden’s spiral of depression and was very hard to read. Seeing him slowly fall apart and causing a larger rift between them was heartbreaking. Kaye does an amazing job at showing how destructive and devastating depression can be on someone and their family.
MaKenna has been supportive of Caden from the beginning. She knows about his issues and helps him work his way through them. So having Caden push her away was very upsetting. I do wish that when he pushed her away MaKenna hadn’t waited so long to reach out to him. I feel like she should have made more of an effort to contact him or see him. It takes drastic measures and loyal friends to get Caden back on track and healthy, and I wish that MaKenna had been a part of that. They had to fall completely apart to come back stronger than ever. They are united now and you know they can work through anything that happens in the future.
“Then it’s you and me, ‘til the end. In the darkness and in the light.”
Overall, I loved this duet and couldn’t get enough of Caden and MaKenna. I really wish Laura Kaye would write more novella’s like this because I love her work.
Coming out of the darkness was what Caden needed to do in order to be whole again. Makenna and Caden’s fight for each other was a remarkable story. Depression and PTSD are very serious issues and were handled quite well throughout this story. No one should ever be or feel alone. This story made me laugh and cry. I loved it.
Caden and Makenna are now in a relationship that is red hot but will Caden’s past haunt them? Makenna wants to introduce Caden to her family of brothers and a protective father. Caden is dealing with some serious issues of depression and feeling like he should let Makenna go for a better life. I liked the way she stood up and stayed with Caden to work things out. A short but great read.
Ugh my heart. I loved this. This was a great continuation to Caden and Makenna’s story. It’s so easy to devour and so addictive.
This book is everything!!!
When I first saw that this book had been released, I was filled with some pretty intense, and conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I squealed like a kid at Disney World in excitement. A sequel to Hearts in Darkness?! That first book was one of the main inspirations for me to start my blog. On the other hand, would this sequel live up to everything that book one was for me? Is it worth reading if it ends up being worse than what I loved about the first book? Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, as this book not only surpassed every single one of my expectations, but it takes you on an unbelievably emotional journey exploring depression, family and love. One of the few romance novels to actually bring tears to my eyes.
This book starts off in a rather humorous situation: Caden meeting Makenna’s family for the first time. They met in an elevator, have only been dating for 2 months, and Caden’s covered in piercings and tattoos. Should be an interesting meet and greet! It’s filled with challenges and humor, and I thought this was going to be the main feature of the story line. Turns out it was just the beginning.
Spoiler alert: Who knew there was something more stressful than introducing your boyfriend to your overprotective dad and three brothers? Well hello unplanned pregnancy! Makenna struggles with how to reveal the big news to Caden. Just when she starts to gather the courage to tell him, we see that Caden is slowly pulling away from her before abruptly severing all communication between them. We are then introduced to Caden’s dark spiral into a deep depression.
It ties back to the loss of his mother and brother years beforehand, as well as his fear of losing Makenna. She’s the love of his life, yet he comes to convince himself that he’s not worthy of her love, and that she’d be better off without him. This book provides an insightful glimpse into what it’s like for someone dealing with depression. How the person can push away all that is good in their life, and the intense struggle to try and get out of that dark hole. Laura Kaye’s writing was superb and went far beyond the excellence of book one. In my opinion, this novel was on a whole other level.
Expect an emotional roller coaster ride with this one, as you experience all of the highs and lows of Makenna and Caden’s relationship. This one left me floored.
A deeply emotional story that I won’t soon forget that gave me all the feels I’m looking for when reading a book. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out how Caden and Makenna were going to find their way back to one another. Their story broke my heart a little, but mended it back together with a sweet HEA ending.
Absolutely Wonderful!! Love In The Light was a perfect ending to Cade and Mackenna’s journey.
Love in the light picks up a couple of months after Hearts in Darkness ends. We see how Caden and Makenna’s relationship is developing, and how they choose to deal with life’s difficulties. There is much more focus on Caden and his PTSD, and the complications that come with it. Basically the story is one giant emotional roller coaster, but I love these characters.