The One You Can't Forget

Starred review from May 15, 2018
Divorce attorney Rebecca Lindt has a demanding job and emotional baggage; she's aiming for partner in her father's firm and helping on his election campaign. Getting involved with the has-been chef she helped ruin is not a good idea even if he's smart, sexy, and just what she needs.After another successful yet depressing divorce proceeding, Rebecca is on her way home when she's mugged at gunpoint. A school-shooting survivor, Rebecca completely shuts down in the moment and would probably be killed if not for a stray dog and a passer-by who come to her rescue. The dog is shot, and the stranger arranges for his veterinarian brother to come pick them up. Rebecca is attracted to the man until she recognizes his name, Wesley Garrett, and realizes she represented his wife in divorce proceedings and he'd cheated on her. At first judgmental, she changes her tune when she hears his side of the story--a first step toward a less black-and-white view of the world, a perspective which expands as she is folded into his life in unexpected ways. She becomes involved in a cooking program he runs for at-risk teens and supports it through her firm's charitable fund. After their relationship turns sexual, her disapproving father threatens to expose her deepest, most painful secret if she doesn't stop seeing Wes and supporting the program. Rebecca must finally take a stand for her own happiness, facing her own deep-seated wounds and confronting her father's controlling manner.Loren's second title in a series that revolves around survivors of a high school shooting (The Ones Who Got Away, 2018) maintains the complexity and emotional intensity that earned the first book huge acclaim but never loses its way as a sexy, captivating romance.

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Starred review from May 21, 2018
Even better than the first in this series (The Ones Who Got Away), this bittersweet contemporary romance delves more sensitively into the adult lives of survivors of a high school prom massacre. Austin, Tex., divorce attorney Rebecca Lindt always wears pantsuits to conceal the scars on her leg from the bullet she took 12 years ago, and there are other, emotional, scars that she likewise keeps hidden. Those reappear all too easily the night she’s mugged at gunpoint. Luckily, a stray dog and Wes Garrett, a former chef turned cooking teacher, come to her rescue. There are immediate sparks, but as soon as Rebecca and Wes realize where they’d met before, their romantic future looks bleak: Rebecca is the lawyer who helped Wes’s ex-wife fleece him of all but the shirt on his back. They have a lot to overcome, individually and together, but Loren capably turns this seeming recipe for disaster into a delicious happy ending. Readers will be ever more impressed by how Loren thoughtfully and compassionately approaches trauma recovery. Agent: Sara Megibow, KT Literary.

Starred review from May 1, 2018
While walking home, Rebecca Lindt is caught unawares when two strangers approach and put a gun to her head, sparking flashbacks of a shooting at her high-school prom. Thankfully, Wes Garrett is walking by and, with the help of a scrappy stray dog, scares away the muggers. Rebecca is grateful for the assistance, but she recognizes Wes. As the divorce attorney who represented Wes' ex-wife, Rebecca played a part in leaving Wes penniless, thus crushing his dreams of opening a restaurant. Now he works for an after-school program mentoring troubled teens in the culinary arts while dreaming of opening a food truck. Rebecca and Wes are surprised to find themselves falling for each other. What starts as a casual fling grows deeper as they discover how to open their hearts and share their pain, and the lighthearted, flirtatious banter between them is smart and endearing. Loren (The Ones Who Got Away, 2018) masterfully balances heavy themes of trauma, addiction, and abuse with humor in this tightly plotted story, all while maintaining a consistently realistic feel. The title is apt: this is a romance readers are unlikely to forget.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)