A Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2018 winner!“Absolutely unputdownable, delivers all of the feels! Roni Loren is a new favorite. Loved this.”―COLLEEN HOOVER, #1 New York Times bestsellerMost days Rebecca Lindt feels like an imposter…The world admires her as a survivor. But that impression would crumble if people knew her secret. She didn’t deserve to be the one who got away. But nothing can … secret. She didn’t deserve to be the one who got away. But nothing can change the past, so she’s thrown herself into her work. She can’t dwell if she never slows down.
Wes Garrett is trying to get back on his feet after losing his dream restaurant, his money, and half his damn mind in a vicious divorce. But when he intervenes in a mugging and saves Rebecca―the attorney who helped his ex ruin him―his simple life gets complicated.
Their attraction is inconvenient and neither wants more than a fling. But when Rebecca’s secret is put at risk, both discover they could lose everything, including what they never realized they needed: each other
She laughed and kissed him. This morning she’d melted down. But somehow this man had her laughing and turned on only a few hours later. Everything inside her felt buoyed.
She felt…light.
She’d forgotten what that felt like.
The Ones Who Got Away Series:
The Ones Who Got Away (Book 1)
The One You Can’t Forget (Book 2)
The One You Fight For (Book 3)
Readers are Raving About about The Ones Who Got Away:
“Phenomenal. Gets my highest recommendation!”―LORELEI JAMES, New York Timesbestselling author
“Richly layered and full of emotion… Unforgettable.”―KRISTEN CALLIHAN, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
“Unique, swoony, and lively.”―SARINA BOWEN, USA Today bestselling author
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The One You Can’t Forget is one you won’t forget anytime soon! I was completely fascinated with the storyline and I was trying desperately to figure out what Rebecca had kept a secret for so many years. I love how Wes helped Rebecca open up and know that she deserved a second chance. This story was about forgiving others and yourself and how second chances can mean everything.
Rebecca Lindt and Wes Garrett’s first encounter saved her from being mugged, but it also led to the realization that the woman he rescued…the one he felt an attraction to…the one he wanted to see if there could be something more with other than a simple fling is the same woman who helped his ex-wife to dismantle every single one of his dreams.
And if that wasn’t enough to be a significant obstacle to impede anything developing between them, the fact that Rebecca and Wes both carry some pretty heavy baggage from a past that constantly rears its head and makes it extremely difficult to move forward, the idea of putting their hearts on the line is a risk they don’t know if they’re strong enough to take.
Rebecca and Wes may not see it this way, but they’re both survivors, and even though their experiences differ, they’ve been in situations that have unequivocally changed them and set them on the path they’re on now. As a divorce attorney, it makes sense that Rebecca would have a less than stellar opinion about love and marriage, but her strict focus on her work stems from more than just her perspective as a lawyer; in fact, a significant reason for who she is and what she does can be related back to a school shooting that she survived but still harbors scars and secrets from even though it happened more than a decade ago.
The secondary characters definitely made everything more difficult for Rebecca and Wes, and what made things worse is the fact that they both allowed their family members to interfere with their happiness instead of taking a stand for one another and relying on the connection they share and the possibility of what that could lead to in the future. I get that Rebecca and Wes are struggling and they need someone to lean on and share their worries and concerns with but the way they allow themselves to be steamrolled didn’t set well with me. They are two adults who have had rough patches but they are also perfectly capable of making their own decisions so I was perplexed as to why they allowed others to speak for them instead of speaking for themselves when it comes to their future.
Overall, I enjoyed One You Can’t Forget; it took a bit for me to get into the storyline and my frustration over other people’s interference and misjudgments made it taxing, at times, to focus on what was building between the hero and the heroine instead of wanting to drop kick the supporting characters, but, in the end, Rebecca and Wes get things figured out and do their best to deal with their baggage, focusing on the possibility of things between them becoming something worth the risk.
3.5/4 Poison Apples
There’s an indescribable feeling about a story of personal redemption. This was my first Roni Loren title and you can rest assured that she is now a one-click author for me. Filled with danger, personal struggle, steam scenes, and triumphant successes; The One You Can’t Forget is a heart stopping, pulse-racing romance!
Rebecca’s life isn’t what it should be. A survivor of her high school’s tragic past, as an adult she’s still coping with the stress and what amounts to PTSD from the shock and guilt of that fated day. A recent documentary of the event has pulled all of those nightmares to the forefront. When a late night attack sparks them again, a knight (technically two if you count the dog!) comes to her rescue and sparks another memory. Though their past maybe rocky, Emma and Wes have an undeniable chemistry that allows them to easily float in one another’s orbit. Rebecca can’t deny her attraction to Wes, as a man and as a friend. But her past is a demon that threatens to pull hr down under again. Wes will have to fight harder than he planned to keep this red-head afloat.
Wes is in shock when he realizes the woman he’s saved and the woman’s he’s lusted over was a key factor is him losing everything he’d built. A nasty divorce that led to alcohol and depression and eventually a lost dream was all that was left of Wes’s life. Now he’s rebuilding and the last thing he needs is a woman who could only complicate matters. But there’s a sweetness to Rebecca that he can’t explain. He’s incredibly attracted to her and finds himself falling head over heals anyways.
When a cataclysmic twist comes that I never expected…this book threw me for a loop and has me begging for more! Wes and Rebecca share more sweet than sexy but don’t let that deter you; they steam up the pages whenever they’re alone. Mix in Rebecca’s desire to right wrongs against her past and Wes’s faith in finding his future dream! This is a romance for all readers and one that will keep you grinning and gasping (for MULTIPLE reasons)!
Second in the series, Those Ones Who Got Away, surprised me for a minute. It wasn’t like the first book, and I realized I would have been disappointed if it was. These survivors are moving on with their lives and at different stages. By the second chapter I was completely swept up with Rebecca and Garrett’s story. Both had past demons and that raised their ugly head at times. Rebecca and Garrett slowly learned to lean on each other and love began to grow Learning that together, they just might make it.
Roni Loren has written another great story worthy of a five-star rating and I highly recommend this series.
Awe…you guys!!! This author did it again. She totally made me ugly cry. Dammit. I was so sure I wouldn’t…and then BAM, waterworks.
Rebecca is one of the survivors of mass school shooting in their town. Not only was she a survivor, but she’s been holding on to a lot of guilt. Why? Because of how the shooting went down. Because maybe she had something to do with it. Because, as a survivor, you can’t help but ask the “what if” questions over and over again, looking for the meaning behind the tragedy. So while she’s felt guilty, she’s wrapped herself around her career (divorce lawyer), sacrificing a lot of herself to help her father with his career champagne and is on the verge of burn out. Now add in the fact that she’s mugged, saved by a stray dog and rescued by an amazing hot guy and you can see how her life has been completely turned upside down. Or is it right side up? Because for the first time, her life seems to be falling in to place.
Wes lost everything. His wife. His dream career. He’s even a recovering alcoholic. One can say he’d hit bottom. But he seemed to be doing the best he can. So on his way back from a gig, he finds himself rescuing a woman being mugged and a dog who’s been shot. Good thing his cousin is a vet. Now that the rescuing part has taken place, he’s noticing the woman he rescued. And it appears that she’s not only being rescued by him, but she’s rescuing him as well.
This is such an awesome book. Like I’ve mentioned in the first book’s review, these stories are about surviving. Not just an incident that’s tragic, but life in general. I loved the banter between these two characters. It made them falling for each other more enjoyable AND believable. The funny thing about this book was that I thought I’d be crying over the struggle Rebecca needed to deal with. Nope. I cried because something happened that I wasn’t expecting. Something that made this book even….MORE.
As soon as I finished The Ones Who Got Away, I began the countdown for The One You Can’t Forget. I was fortunate to get an eARC and I dove in pretty much the second I got my hands on it. I was so curious about Rebecca’s story from the lead up in the first book. Plus, I really just wanted more of this series in general. It’s such an interesting concept and one that’s quite relatable and timely. I fell totally in love with Rebecca and Wes and their story. I basically inhaled this book, not allowing anything to distract me once I’d started it.
Both Rebecca and Wes were great characters. Opposites to the core, you wouldn’t necessarily think they would work as a couple, but you would also be wrong. They had intense chemistry from the start, and somehow, the broken pieces they each carried fit together wonderfully. There was so much more to each of these characters than what’d you saw on the outside. I loved getting a deeper look at both of them. Wes gave Rebecca the push she needed to find something she was truly passionate about, and also helped her get over the guilt she still carried as a result of the shooting so she could really start living again.
My heart ached for both Rebecca and Wes throughout this book. Despite the subject matter, it wasn’t overly angsty or heavy. It was basically “just right” if you ask me. There were plenty of smiles and swoons to go with the sexy times and all the feels I felt. I enjoyed getting this piece of the Long Acre bunch story and I can’t wait to see what comes next. If it’s anything like the first two books, I’m going to continue really enjoying this special series.
FAVORITE QUOTES
Surviving a tragedy didn’t make you magical. It made you tough. Not special. Just lucky.
“Goodbye? That… felt like the opposite of a goodbye, Rebecca. That felt like a whole lot of hello.”
“There aren’t that many things in life that are pure pleasure. Think about it. The list is short—food, sleep, sex. They’re meant to be enjoyed. Why ruin it with all that guilt?”
Home had never felt like this. Like the right key sliding into the matching lock. Like forever.
Roni Loren weaves another fantastic tale. Rebecca is wracked with guilt over a past mistake and stumbles into a situation that feels like redemption to her. Wes is sexy and delicious and Rebecca’s partner in in every way. I love how the book’s titles have such a deeper meaning. “The One You Can’t Forget” was not who you might initially think. I highly recommend this series!
3.75 stars–THE ONE YOU CAN’T FORGET is the second instalment in Roni Loren’s contemporary, adult THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY erotic, romance series focusing on the survivors of a mass shooting the night of their senior prom-Finn Dorsey, Olivia Arias, Rebecca Lindt, Taryn Landry and Kincaid Breslin. This is thirty-one year old divorce attorney Rebecca Lindt, and chef Wes Garrett’s story line. THE ONE YOU CAN’T FORGET can be read as a stand-alone but I recommend reading the series in order, or at the very least book one, for backstory and cohesion as the details about what happened are revealed in THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Rebecca and Wes) THE ONE YOU CAN’T FORGET follows the building relationship between thirty-one year old divorce attorney Rebecca Lindt, and chef Wes Garrett. Rebecca is a survivor, albeit a survivor with physical and emotional scars, and it is these scars that control so much of her life. When Rebecca is mugged on the way home from work, her would-be rescuer is the man she destroyed in court a few years before. Enter chef Wes Garrett, and the man with whom Rebecca would fall in love. What ensues is the building relationship between Wes and Rebecca, and the potential fall-out as Rebecca believes she is not worthy of a happily ever after.
Rebecca struggles with the guilt and shame of surviving a shooting she blames on herself. From the outside, Rebecca is a successful attorney but looks can be deceiving as our heroine is unable to let go of the past. Rebecca battles her attraction to a man whose own demons may be a threat to their growing relationship, a threat perceived by someone in charge. Wes Garrett lost everything to divorce, a few years earlier, including the restaurant business he no longer owned. Working with at risk-youth, teaching them survival skills in the kitchen, Wes is hoping to one-day open his own curb-side business. Meeting Rebecca Lindt brought with it the painful memories of a time he wished he could forget.
The relationship between Rebecca and Wes begins when Wes becomes our heroine’s knight in shining armor. Their attraction to one another is immediate but Rebecca recognizes our hero as the man she all but destroyed a few years earlier. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
THE ONE YOU CAN’T FORGET is a story of one woman’s inability to let go of her guilt, and one man’s struggle to move on from the past. The premise is edgy, engaging and entertaining; the romance is seductive and provocative; the characters are broken, surviving, colorful and lost.