“Touching and complex…Tucker unerringly hits all the high notes of romance–the spark, the emotional depth, the mental and physical struggles–while creating a couple who seem perfectly attuned even when they are in conflict.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review) Twenty-four-year-old truck stop waitress and single mother Catherine Wright has simple goals: to give her five-year-old daughter a … five-year-old daughter a happy life and to never again be the talk of the town in Balsam, Pennsylvania (population three thousand outside of tourist season).
And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed date, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has rescued: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling.
Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works. For a time.
But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. There’s an immediate connection, and it’s more electric than the bond of two people who endured a traumatic event. It’s something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something she is afraid to trust.
Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine…before the spark fades?
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4.5 stars!
I loved this story! The slow build up is almost torturous! The story is not rushed. The writing flows from one chapter to the next alternating between the present and the past.
Catherine Wright is doing the best that she can to get by. When Catherine (Cath) was young she made some bad choices. Living in a small tourist town made those choices even more difficult for her and her family. She became the gossip of the town, the villain.
Fast forward to the present day, Cath likes living a quiet life, working hard and being the best mom she can be to five year old Brenna. Working as a truck stop waitress, pushing through all of life’s daily challenges are nothing new to her. But now, she is faced with the biggest challenge of her life….
On a dark foggy night Cath is driving home and comes across a horrible car accident. She attempts to pull the victim out of the mangled car and eventually saves the man’s life! My heart was beating out of my chest as I read this scene! Little does Cath know, he is not just any man, he is Brett Madden, hockey superstar and son of the world famous actress Meryl Price!
Years of mistrust, guilt and shame keep Cath from wanting to come forward and be exposed as the hero who saved the famous hockey player. She is afraid that the media will bring up her past and she will once again be the talk of the town only this time she has her five year old daughter to consider. She doesn’t want her hearing about her mom. Cath is able to hide her identity for a short while.
“What can they say that hasn’t already been said?”
“Consider this your second chance. A way to redeem yourself, if you feel you need to.”
Brett Madden feels an immense amount of gratitude for the person who saved his life.
“It was a woman who pulled me out of the car before I burned to death, and I would really like to
thank her in person…..”
The emotions are everywhere! The story also has few twists here and there. I very much enjoyed it. The characters were well developed. There is so much more to this story than the accident but I don’t want to spoil it! I also adored Cath’s daughter Brenna! Such cute interactions with her!
I am a huge KA Tucker fan! I was not disappointed. If you haven’t read any of her work I would highly recommend Ten Tiny Breaths. It was an amazing series and remains one of my favorite reads.
4.5 stars
#KATucker #romance #UntilItFades #SingleMom #romance #Sexy #SportsRomance
Love it defiantly my new fav
#team catherinewright&brettmadden all the way
Is there a book by Tucker I don’t enjoy?! My love for her writing continued in this standalone famous sports romance story.
This story followed Catherine and her 5 year old (hilarious) daughter – Brenna. When one fateful night, circumstances bring her in the right place at the right time, where she meets Brett, a famous hockey player.
Their worlds then collide, with the media circus bringing them closer and closer.
You can tell from day one, there is a connection. And I adored the way Brett didn’t stop fighting for it. Catherine did annoy me at times – especially when lies from her past come back to bite her. But fortunately, the love Brett has for he overrules anything else.
I would love to see a sequel!
A light, happy story that is leaving me with a smile on my face.
Catherine Wright has had quite the life. Dealing with the dramas from a small town, to having to face the world head on, but she does it all with stride. When she does the unthinkable and is named a Good Samaritan, she is not ready to be back in the limelight of her town. She comes to realize she can’t hide from this forever, especially since she saved the life of Brett Madden.
In this sweet story that gives you a bit of a slow burn from her point of view, she finds herself fighting her feelings but knows Brett is not one to let things sit idly either. He’s the perfect book boyfriend.
I loved the feel good this has left me with. If you’re looking for a story that is light and perfect, with very little angst, this story is for you.
This was just an all feels kinda of book. It’s about Catherine and her journey to recovering a scandal that nearly broke her.
Catherine falls for her High School art teacher, but it isn’t a simple crush. The teacher engages in romance with her at the age of 17. Her mother finds out and forces her to come forward. Once this happens Catherine gets bullied into redacting the statement. A few months later the teacher moves to another state.
7 months later Catherine finds herself pregnant and working as a waitress at the truck stop. She moved out of her parents home and is sleeping on her friends couch. She learning how to make the best of the situation.
6 and half years later she stumbles upon a car accident and saves a man that is going to change the live she once knew.
This was an emotional read about a girl who is making the best of what she has to better her and her daughters life. You find out a lot as you read about Catherine’s story. Definitely keep a box of tissues around for this one.
Where do I begin? I absolutely loved this story. Catherine had an experience in high school that caused her to be the talk of the town and destroyed her relationship with her mother. Now, she’s a single mom who works in a diner and keeps to herself. She saves a man’s life when she drives toward a car accident. That man ends up being a famous hockey star (who she’s never heard of) and there’s no way for Catherine to avoid the spotlight again.
This book is a romance but it also covers family relationships, friendship, and personal growth. It was a beautiful story and I stayed up super late at night to finish it. I just couldn’t stop reading. This was my first K.A. Tucker book. Soon after, I read The Simple Wild and I look forward to reading more of her books!
I enjoyed the characters and the story line in this book. K.A. Tucker got the small town attitudes to a T.
Whew! This was a tough one for me. GREAT writing & premise & I love the characters! But our H/h aren’t together for 3/4 of the story, and it’s only told from Catherine’s POV, so I struggled. And by “together” I don’t mean that they needed to be a couple for more of the book, just that there needed to be more page time with them in the same space or at least communicating (texts, calls, whatever).
Every time they WERE “on page” together, it was fabulous. The touches, glances, conversations, texts, and interactions w/ Brenna – very enjoyable & they just sparkle! I LOVED Brett & would have liked part of the story to be in his POV, but the writing was done well & communicated how he was feeling (even when Catherine didn’t “get” it, the reader did)!
And the last few chapters, the revelations & things, the way Catherine grew through the story, all very well done & I loved the HEA! So, I would consider it a book to recommend if you like really slow burns w/ excellent writing & an HEA!
: )
* A review copy was provided by the author/publisher via Netgalley *
What I love the most about K. A. Tucker is the fact that she can give us totally different books with every new release. On one hand she can give a romantic suspense story that will leave you on the edge of your seat and then the next book is a sweet love story between two people from different worlds.
Her stories are always thought provoking and poignant. She has the ability to take her readers into the story itself and make you feel everything the characters feel. Until It Fades was no different!!!
Until It Fades is a standalone novel told solely from Catherine’s POV. This book was on the lighter side of K.A. Tucker. This is a great beach read or if you aren’t in the mood for heavy drama, this is the book to read. It does cover a taboo topic from Catherine’s past but that isn’t the main focus of the story.
This story is about Catherine a 24 year old single mother making a new life for herself after a very heartbreaking and public embarrassment left her alone to raise her daughter. This book is primarily told in the present tense but we do get some flashbacks to what happened to Catherine 7 years ago and what has lead her to where she is now. All Catherine wants to do is live her life and raise her daughter the best she can under the radar. Well that all changes the night she saves a man from a burning car. What she didn’t know was who she was saving…..Brett Madden….Famous Pro Hockey player. And by saving his life, it turns hers upside down. Catherine is determined to keep her identity a secret but when Brett finally finds out who she is and shows up at her place, the sparks fly!! It’s not an insta-love connection but the attraction is there. I loved the pace that K.A. took these two on. Will they be able to get past all the Cameras and hoopla?? Can these two find their HEA?? Read this book to find out.
So if you are a fan of K.A. Tucker’s writing and books, then you don’t want to miss this one. If a sweet and swoony love story is your type of book then this is a book to read!!
Utterly fantastic. This was a bit different than other K.A. Tucker’s book. Maybe a bit les angtsy..but still beautifully written. Catherine shows such growth and maturity and Brett was absolutely delicious. Can’t recommend this enough!
As my first reading… this was like sweet strawberries on a breezy spring day. I was expecting a heart racing but this modern fairytale Cinderella had me smiled the whole time.
Catherine was a young teenagers who had made a terrible mistake. Does she need to be punished like a castaway? No… She is a strong woman who would do her best raising her daughter. I adored the whole story of her meeting a hot hockey player..
Loved, loved, loved this book. <3
Catherine lives in the small town of Balsam, Pennsylvania working as a waitress in a truck stop while trying to quietly raise her five year old daughter. At twenty-four she has already seen her fair share of press due to her involvement with the son of a prominent Balsam family and she wants to steer clear of anything high profile and just quietly live her life. One night while traveling home from a bad blind date she comes upon a sports car that has crashed against a tree and even though there’s danger from the car catching on fire she saves the life of the passenger of the vehicle. Little does she know that by that one event her life will be put back in the spotlight. She has just saved the life of NHL star Brett Madden.
There were moments in this novel that I really enjoyed. I liked Catherine’s fight against adversity. She had gotten involved with a teacher while in high school and because he was from a prominent family she was black balled and treated horribly as the temptress while the teacher who was thirteen years older got off without a slap of the hand. Reading about that subject from Catherine’s perspective was tough. You feel so bad for her and want her life to be better than it is. You also totally get why she doesn’t want anything to do with Brett and the publicity machine that follows him. Of course, it’s a love story and you know Brett’s going to help her overcome that stigma, but that didn’t make it any easier to read although that contrast did make their love story shine brighter.
Brett was a pretty normal guy for being a pro NHL player and son of a super famous movie star and he was written as the white knight in a way. However, the bulk of the conflict centered around Catherine, her daughter, and the town of Balsam. She had some great friends who added character and humor to the novel and I enjoyed how her true spirit was portrayed and how she finally got the respect she deserved. I found it kind of strange that the romance felt underplayed, but Catherine did have a lot of inner turmoil to work through.
If you like romances where your heroine overcomes adversity, Until it Fades is the novel for you! I enjoyed the outcome because of what Catherine went through in her past and found she and Brett easy to root for.
I was dying to read this story, apart from K.A. Ticker being one of my favorite authors; I feel that she returned to her “roots” so to speak with this story.
I’ll start with the main characters. Cath was someone very nice to read, was not extremely funny but had her moments, besides that is someone very cute and that kind of character you feel that she could be your best friend, also I loved she’s a fighter and never gives up. I enjoyed seeing her maturation, since life has not treated her so well, to see her struggle to be herself and to overcome those obstacles along with her fears and insecurities was something I enjoyed reading. And Brett! What a beautiful man, he was sexy, funny, understanding and humble despite being who he is, I loved how he was and how he had the world’s patience with Cath, this couple was so beautiful and they were perfect the one for the other. As always with this author, the secondary characters were very good and contributed with great things to the story that made it a complete package now I want more of them! And Cath’s daughter, she was so beautiful and fun to read.
I loved the story! I feel it was K.A. Tucker at its best, she had already brought us a lot of suspense and reading it again in the genre with which I met her, I felt like coming back home! I’m not joking with that feeling of being where you have to be, I had not noticed how much I missed her with this kind of stories, although I’m obviously dying to continue reading her suspense stories. The rhythm and development of it was very well carried out, the two times I read it (yes, twice!) I was totally hooked from the beginning and I did not want to be disturbed in order to finish it, everything had its time and happened just when it was needed.
I was very pleased with the love story, if you we are talking about days it can seem to fast, but it was very well justified and carried out and that made it more beautiful and credible, it really had me sighing throughout the story. I also enjoyed the part of Cath’s past and how she dealt with it, I felt that it had the right touch of sadness but still being light. To see the things that happened to Cath and how she overcame that it was something nice and admirable to read.
In conclusion, you have to read it! If you enjoyed the Ten Tiny Breaths series, I am sure that you will love this, is a light and romantic book, with very good characters and a good story that you are going to enjoy a lot and will leave you wanting more.
4.5 stars
“With Brett… I wouldn’t fall in love, I’d plummet.”
Until it Fades had been on my radar ever since I read the blurb. It is one of my most anticipated reads of 2017, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. KA Tucker hooked me from the start, the prologue was very unconventional and it intrigued me to find out more. Catherine Wright is a twenty-four-year-old single mother and truck stop waitress. Every decision she makes, she makes with her five-year-old daughter in mind. It was very obvious that she is a great mother to her cute little daughter Brenna. I loved how Cath saved Brett’s life, it was very original and it had me curious to see how their relationship would develop. I was happy that Brett wasn’t your typical athlete, and most of that was a result of his great upbringing.
“It’s good to have dreams. Without dreams, we wouldn’t have goals. And without goals…what’s the point of living?”
Cath is very reluctant to be in the limelight and to start something with Brett. I loved both of their personalities, and I was glad the author took her time to develop the bond between them. I also loved the side characters, Keith (Cath’s best friend) and Jack (Cath’s brother) in particular. I wouldn’t mind them getting their own story. There were so many amazing characters in this book that I couldn’t get enough of. I especially loved the scenes with Brenna, she was such a cute, happy and curious little girl. I do wish there were a couple of extra chapters to really cement the relationship between Brett and Catherine, it really felt like that the last chapters were a bit rushed. Overall Until it Fades was a great contemporary romance and it kept me interested from start to finish. I really wish this was a series, and that the other characters would get their own book.
I was a little late to the KA Tucker game, but my introduction to her was worth the wait. I wanted to end 2017 and begin 2018 with a 5 star read, and this proved to be perfect.
Catherine is just trying to get by with life. Scandal when she was a teenager left her with a now 5 year old daughter, and life isn’t easy, but she’s working hard to provide for them. Coming home one night, she passes an accident. She stops to assist, and saves a man’s life. That man- Brett Madden- ends up changing her life.
I really enjoyed the writing in this novel. While it was relatively predictable, the characters were so well-developed and complex in different ways. They really came to life on the pages. The plot was also done extremely well- it gave plenty of vision to my imagination, and the story flowed quite smoothly. If there was one drawback, I’d say that I would have liked a little more from the epilogue- something a little further into the future to know what happened with this group of people. All in all, this will not be my last KA Tucker book!
Until it Fades is a heartwarming tale that is sure to have you completely captivated the moment you crack the cover. It’s full of moments that will have your heart in knots, moments that will leave you smiling, and moments that are sure to have you swooning. This was my first read from this author and I have to say that I am really impressed with what I found, her beautiful story is by far one of the best first reads that I have had in a long while! Highly recommend this touching tale, it’s sure to give you the feels and leave your heart happy!