When a young woman searches her dark past for answers, she realizes that some secrets are best left unrevealed.In this touching Friessen family novel, as Cat searches for answers from a past that still haunts her, she unexpectedly meets a man hired to keep her safe, a man who reaches her in a way no one else has. When a dangerous flirtation ensues, and secrets are revealed, the ultimate cost … ultimate cost could be her first love.
Growing up, Cat Friessen didn’t always know who she was. In fact, her earliest memory is of being alone in a silent world, terrified and misunderstood, left like garbage in a Mexican orphanage. The memory haunts her, and it’s one she’s never shared with her parents, Neil and Candy Friessen, who have given her their name, their love, and a surgery that changed her life for the better. Now nineteen, Cat struggles with her sheltered existence and the fact that she doesn’t really fit in. Her identity lies somewhere between deaf and hearing, and even though she now has a life she’s grateful for, she can’t help feeling as if this world belongs to everyone else, as her past continues to follow her like a dark cloud of secrets.
Desperate to find answers, Cat can’t share with anyone what she’s thinking or feeling, but all that changes when she meets Xander Jennings, a man who takes tall, dark, and dangerous to another level. When the house almost burns down one night and Cat sleeps through the alarms, Neil hires Xander to make sure it can never happen again. Only Xander has secrets of his own, ones he doesn’t share with anyone. He sets one strict rule for his jobs: No getting involved with the client. That is until he meets Cat, who leads him into a dangerous flirtation and forces him to choose between doing the job he’s been hired to do or coming clean with her about everything he’s hiding, which could cost him this opportunity for love.
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Cat and Xander’s story is compelling. It draws you in and have you devouring the pages only to be left wanting more. Cat is at odds with her life because she is looking to find herself. She was raised as a Friessens who adopted and took her in and made her one of them. When Xander is hired to keep her safe he is in a catch twenty-two because he is drawn to Cat and being with her ignites a spark like no other. Will these two get their chance for a happily ever after when the truth comes out? I voluntarily agreed to receive an ARC of this book for an honest review.
This is Cat’s story. She is still keeping how she feels to herself about the suffocating actions of her father in particular. He tries to do everything for her and is really making her feel more isolated. After a fire at their home and Cat not being able to hear anything without her hearing aids in, her parents get desperate. They hire Zander to get everything in the home prepared for someone with hearing difficulties. What Cat’s parents do not know is that Cat actually met Zander in the library when she was researching where she came from. He is a gorgeous man and seems so caring. Cat gets a service dog from Zander called Molly and she makes such a difference for Cat. When Cat wants to go to Mexico to see where she came from, she asks Zander to go with her. What is her very protective father going to do now? What a wonderful story this was.
I listened to the audio book of Cat and Xander’s story. I had read Neil and Candy’s story years ago, but once they started talking about Cat’s background, I immediately started to remember details. That is how I can tell a story is well written, if I still remember it years later.
I thought the narration was decent, and the narrator did a good job with the male voices. I still wonder how it would sound with both a male and female narrator.
I liked the way Cat started to open up and come out of her shell after meeting Xander. I also liked the way he was as honest as he could be with her. I understand he knew a few more facts, but I really didn’t think it was his place to divulge all that he knew.
The book ended with an HFN, but left me feeling like there was more to come. There wasn’t a cliffhanger, yet Cat still didn’t have the complete picture, and it seemed like trouble might still be lurking in the background for Cat and the Friessens.
This was a 4.5 hr listen that had me engaged from the very beginning. The pace was quick. There was romance, mystery, and a bit of suspense. The question is, will there be more to come?
I voluntarily listened to and reviewed this audiobook received from the author.