“Now there was nothing holding me back. I kissed her deeply, passionately. Kissed her for every time I’d wanted to and couldn’t. For every time I’d stared at her with longing in my heart, wishing we could be where we were now.”It’s never too late. Loving a woman you can’t have isn’t easy. Ben Gaines knows this all too well. He endured the slow torture of watching Shannon Miles live a life with … Shannon Miles live a life with another man—a man who didn’t deserve her—but he doesn’t regret a minute of it. And he has his reasons.
Now, she’s free. No longer shackled to a loveless marriage, bound to someone who was unfaithful and heartless.
But Shannon thinks her time has passed. That she won’t get another chance at love, especially with Ben. The man who’s been there to see it all. Her mistakes. Her hurt. Her heartache.
If only she knew. Ben loves her with everything he is, and he wants nothing more in life than to spend every moment with her. After all, he’s waited a long time for his chance.
It’s time for their happily ever after.
Author’s note: A sexy silver fox who’s waited half his life for the woman he loves. A peek into the past. And the happily ever after you’ve been waiting for. Finally.
The Miles Family is best enjoyed in order.
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Oh my goodness! What can I say about this book besides it was everything?
From the moment we met Ben and Shannon in Broken Miles, I just knew these two would be absolute perfection together. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching them interact and inch closer together in the previous books of this series. Watching it all culminate in this final Miles family book was just a joy, and Claire Kingsley went far above my expectations with their story.
Ben is the groundskeeper who has worked for the Miles family at their vineyard for 26 years and has probably been in love with Shannon for almost that long. He is just the swooniest! He spent more time parenting the children than their own father did. I mean, the man waited for decades, never knowing if or when he would get what he really wanted. He was just content to stay in the background and love on this family, that he considered his own, with everything he had.
“Shannon had been the name my heart had whispered for a long time.”
Shannon is the matriarch of the family that she has put first for her entire life, barely stopping to remember that she is also just a woman. As a woman with grown children, I was so very happy to see her find her way back to herself in this book.
“I’d lost so much of myself over the years. In pouring everything I had into my family and our business, I hadn’t saved much time for me.”
So, now that their clocks are finally in sync, this is the story of them realizing that they both deserve so much more than what they’ve been given. I loved every bit of this story. Even though it is a novella, it ties up everything and ends this series just beautifully. The author did a wonderful job in making sure this story had just the right amount of sweet and heat (and many laughs, courtesy of Cooper) and left me with happy tears and a big swoony smile on my face. The epilogue had me over the moon and the bonus epilogue has me hopeful that we will see more of this family in her next series, The Bailey Brothers (which I have grabby hands for,) where Grace’s story will be told. I couldn’t love this family or this ending more!
“After everything we’d been through, we had each other. We had this. And that meant we had it all.”
This book really needs to be read after the previous books in the series, which are best read in order. While each book is a complete story about a different couple, there is an ongoing backstory.
I have loved the Miles family from the very beginning which made this book equally dreaded and anticipated. If ever two characters deserved a happy ending, it was Ben and Shannon. We’ve come to know and love them throughout this series, and Claire gave them the ending they absolutely deserved.
I absolutely loved the way everything came together in this book. The flashback glimpses of the Miles kids were the icing on the cake. Not only did Claire send this series off in style, the epilogue has me so excited for her next family series as well.
As I’m thinking of what I want to say about Gaining Miles, it occurred to me that I am closer in age to Shannon and Ben than I am to the Miles kids! Wow!
Claire Kingsley does it again with Mama Miles’ story. Throughout the series, we’ve seen how groundskeeper Ben is so much more than just an employee. He is Shannon’s confidante, not-so-secret admirer, and has been more of a father figure to the Miles children than their own father was from the time that they were all very young. I’ve always liked Ben, so I was thrilled to see him go for Shannon and find his own mattress-burning moment!
This novella is the perfect length for a one-sitting binge read, but it packs a powerful punch and has all of the emotions that I’ve come to expect from the Miles family series. Thank you, Claire, for giving Ben and Shannon their own moment to shine! And I can’t wait to see what comes next for the family’s half-sister, Grace!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
I could barely stand the wait for these two but the magic was worth it. Claire Kingsley’s book delivered all of the feels and was beautiful perfection. My eyes are getting sweaty again just thinking about it. Shannon is so endearing and Ben was the swooniest (those gifts!), dang the man had moves! I just loved every word. The epilogue wrapped everything up nicely in a bow for this series and even though
my heart is extremely full after Gaining Miles, I am incredibly sad that this is the final book. Thank you for bringing this wonderful family to life for us. I am looking forward to some glimpses of them in the future when I read your next series The Bailey Brothers.
What can I say – Claire has managed to capture the end of this series perfectly. This is a novella, but oh my goodness it finishes off the series on a high!
The love a man has for a woman over so many years is truly touching. Ben has watched Shannon raise a family with a man who doesn’t appreciate her or really love her. Ben has secrets which no one is aware of, until he finally lets Shannon in!
Shannon is a mother of 4 grown children, she has been cheated on and betrayed over and over again. In Ben, she has a real friend, but she wonders what would happen if it became more!
There is no messing about, they both know what they want and go for it! It’s also nice to see an older couple fall in love.
I’m writing my review through tears in my eyes….I absolutely love this family….I feel like they are mine. I’ve seen them grow up, fall in love, get married and now have babies. Shannon and Ben’s story was perfect….it was the perfect ending to an absolutely amazing series. I can’t believe it’s over….my heart is broken but I’m so thankful Claire Kingsley gave them to us and we can catch up on their lives in her next series the Bailey Brothers.
Gaining Miles is book five in the Miles Family series by Claire Kingsley. Even though I felt like I had enough closure when I finished book four, Leo’s book, Hidden Miles, I didn’t realize that I needed more until I had it. This book is Shannon, the matriarch of the Mile’s Family’s story, and Ben, the man who has spent a lifetime loving her from afar. This book wrapped up this series perfectly and also set up the spin off series Claire is working on.
Shannon Miles is Fifty seven years old and spent most of her life in an awful marriage. But she wouldn’t change a thing because she has four wonderful, now grown children from that marriage. Not to mention all of their significant others. Now that her divorce is final and her ex-husband is in prison, she has truly let go of the past and found peace with her family. Shannon is content to live the rest of her days working at her winery with her family. She feels like she’s too old, too broken, for anything more. Even if she has secretly harbored some feelings that might be more than the friend variety for her long time manager and friend, Ben.
Benjamin Gaines came to work for Shannon twenty six years ago as a broken man. He was drifting from place to place trying to escape his pain. He knew this job would be no different, just temporary, until he met Shannon and her children. In an instant, everything changed and he’d been there ever since, watching Shannon from afar, knowing her husband was worthless. Ben was more of a father to the kids than their biological father ever was.
Now, Shannon is legally free. Now is his chance to let her know how he feels, because he can’t hold it in any longer. But, he soon realizes that this is easier said than done. That Shannon has given up on love. So somehow Ben must find a way to convince her that she is still a beautiful, sexy woman. And that they can finally have the future he always dreamed could be possible for the two of them.
“Fifty eight years old, and this woman made me feel like a shy kid again.”
Let me tell you, this silver haired fox still has all the moves! I couldn’t imagine how he was going to woo Shannon and woo her he did. I heard myself sigh out loud while I was reading this.
As I said, this was the perfect ending to this series. We get glimpses into the futures of all of the siblings’ lives. When I set the book down last night after the final page, I couldn’t help but smile. I loved the way Claire set up the new series. I’m already so intrigued. We are going to meet Grace Miles in the brand new series, The Bailey Brothers. I can’t wait.
What a great way to end this series! Loved Ben and Shannon and all the kids, especially Cooper! It was so great to learn more about Ben, why he arrived at Salishan, and why he stayed. I was hooked from beginning to end.
This novella is everything!!! From the start of the Miles series you get to know Ben & Shannon. I’m so happy Claire decided to give them their own!! This novella closes up the series nicely. So sweet & swoony. Just all around feel good pick you up book!!! A great bonus epilogue leading into Grace’s story and new series!!!!!
Thank you so much Claire for giving their love story a voice!!!!
Finally we get Ben and Shannon’s story!! This was a perfect ending to a series that has set Claire Kingsley apart form other authors. Every book has had characters we all have fallen in love with, storylines that had us wiping tears from our eyes as well as laughing out loud. But this book was the icing on the cake. Ben has loved Shannon from afar for numerous years, only to watch her fall apart over and over at the hands of her ex-husband. Now that the divorce is final, all of the kids help Ben win over a woman who thinks her love life is over. I am so sad there will not be anymore in the series. Perfect in every single way!!
I loved it. I loved that this book has finished the series, and that Shannon who went through a lot of hell in this series….got her HEA. We also got to have a sneaky peek at what Roland, Brynn, Cooper and Leo are up to a wee bit into the future.
Dating when your a bit older is complicated and a bit messy and also hard because you have emotional baggage that needs to be set aside….and i loved how this book dealt with that. Benjamin is the truest gentleman and EXACTLY what Shannon needed.
PLUS we got a sneak peek at whats coming next from Claire Kinglsey. Can’t wait!!!
Ben and Shannon together at last!!! I love that the opening chapter was their first meeting. And I have 2 words…TODDLER COOPER!!! In true Cooper style, he plays a pivotal roll in the start of a their beautiful friendship.
After 25+ years Benjamin Gaines decides that the time is right to claim his family. He begins with the typical Miles way of declaring his intentions. After a few false starts, he launches a gentle assault on Shannon to show her that she is worthy of a second chance at love.
This was such a beautiful story of love, second chances and enduring friendship and an absolutely wonderful way to end the Miles Family Series.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us that have read the Miles Family series have been in love with Ben & Shannon’s characters from the very first book. I’m so glad that we were finally gifted with their pasts, present & futures!
This is what all the readers of the Miles family series has been waiting for. I loved every single minute of Ben and Shannon’s story. Ben left me smiling the whole time because omg can you say swoon?? That man knows how to sweep a woman off her feet! Also, watching Shannon rediscover herself as a woman not just a mother was everything. I know Claire has reservations about the love scene for someone we’d known as a mother figure but it was done so tastefully while still steaming up your pages. Everything about their story just warmed you from head to toe.
Every time I think oh this story is going to be amazing Claire Kingsley just takes my expectations and blows them to smithereens! She goes above and beyond anything I could expect every time!! I loved the Miles family series and though I’m sad to see it end Claire did a spectacular job closing it out and leaving us wanting more with that bonus epilogue all at the same time!
What a perfect way to end the series. Loved Ben and Shannon and so glad they got their story. Well done!
5*
Ben had worked at the vineyard for years and watched Shannon build the business up along with the children growing up. He’s seen the hurt caused by her ex but has never acted on his desire but is it time? I’ve waited for this story falling in love with both characters in fact the whole family is one I will never forget.
So happy to read Claire is starting a new series The Bailey Brothers.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
Another amazing series a must read.