“She was the one then and nothing changed in the time in between.”
A story of past decisions gone awry, secrets that change directions, and emotional second chances, this gripping love story is what happens when two paths again collide. The final standalone title in New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley’s Magdalene Series, THE TIME IN BETWEEN is a rich, heartfelt love story available now!
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5% of the proceeds from the first week of sales of THE TIME IN BETWEEN release will be given to HALO Animal Rescue in Phoenix, a no-kill shelter. HALO stands for “helping animals live on” and is a shelter started by a mother/daughter team of committed animal advocates who have done a huge duty for animals in this area, and continue to do so with unwavering love, support and energy.For more information on HALO or to donate to the work they do, go to www.halorescue.org
About THE TIME IN BETWEEN (The Magdalene Series #3)
After a painful loss, Cady Moreland is coming to Magdalene to start the next chapter of her life. A chapter that began eighteen years ago but had a heartbreaking ending. The time in between was full of family and friendship, but Cady could never get the man she fell in love with all those years ago out of her heart.
Coert Yeager has learned to live without the girl who entered his life right when she shouldn’t and exited delivering a crippling blow he never would have suspected. The time in between was full of failing to find what he was missing…and life-altering betrayal.
But when that girl shows up in Magdalene and buys the town’s beloved lighthouse, even if Coert wants to avoid her, he can’t. A fire in town sparks a different kind of flame that won’t be ignored.
As Cady and Coert question the actions of the two young adults they once were thrown into earth-shattering circumstances, can they learn from what came in between and find each other again?
Review
5 “running to catch up” stars
Kristen Ashley has done it again! I pretty much always love her books, but some stand out more than others, and this is one of them. A stunningly beautiful, emotional second-chance-romance, this is everything that I love about KA – incredible characters and a heart-clenching, swoony, sexy and functional romance that has all the feels! This is the third and final book in the Magdalene series, but it can easily standalone. I loved every moment of it.
“Stick with me. Believe in me, Cady … Don’t give up no matter what.”
Cady Moreland has just moved from Denver to the small coastal town of Magdalene, Maine. She has bought the local lighthouse and is planning an epic renovation to return it to its former glory and turn it into a cosy home for herself, looking for a fresh start after experiencing a tragic loss. And she’s making that fresh start to be closer to two estranged men in her life – her older brother, and more importantly, the love of her life, Coert Yeager.
Coert is the Sheriff in Magdalene, and we’ve seen briefly in the previous books in the series. In the last book we watched him have a heated altercation with a woman on the street, and it turns out that woman is Cady, so I knew this was going to be a fiery reunion and holy hell was it ever!
18 years ago, Cady and Coert had an epic love. It was intense, all-consuming, and both of them knew it was forever, but their unique situation saw the future they so desperately wanted ripped away from them, and neither of them have recovered from the loss. They have both tried to move on, and Coert even has a five year old daughter, but it’s always been about each other, and Coert’s immediate reaction to Cady’s presence is anger and hurt at the way it all fell to pieces so many years ago. He doesn’t want her in his town, and he wants nothing to do with her, and it makes the first part of this book absolutely gut-wrenching, with scenes that had me holding my breath more than once.
Cady is understanding, empathetic and quietly dignified about the whole thing, and Coert finds himself drawn again and again to the woman who shattered him but who has always owned his heart. It’s a confusing time for them both and incredibly emotional as they get used to being in each other’s presence, and all of those feelings from so long ago – that have always simmered just under the surface – are finally given the opportunity to consume them once again.
“I wouldn’t be here … if I wasn’t all in, if I didn’t still love you. You said you still loved me too. So we have that. We hold on to it. And we ride these rapids until I can get us to safety. You with me?”
“I’m with you.”
And that reunion! Holy hell, that scene is utter perfection! It’s hot, it’s intense, it’s emotional and the feels are off the freaking chart! The honesty between Cady and Coert is one of my favourite things about them and once they start to lay it all out, they hold nothing back from each other. They talk and they share, and they don’t hide how they’re feeling or what they want. They are all in, “running to catch up” and finally claim the life together that they always wanted.
“We have to learn something from what came before.”
“What’s that?” she asked quietly.
“We have to learn, even when it gets hard, we can’t give up and we can’t let go.”
And here comes the epic romance! OMG, Coert is one swoony alpha, and the romance is sweet, passionate, intense and super-emotional, and had me in a puddle of goo on the floor more than once. You can feel the love between these two, and seeing them together and creating their HEA was absolutely gorgeous.
“I missed your smell. I missed those green eyes. I missed holding hands with you. And I missed just having coffee with you … We had a version of paradise, but this here? This is the real thing.”
It’s an emotional ride as they find their way forward, and there are some pretty significant steps they need to take along the way, and we get to see every sweet, funny, sexy and dramatic moment as they work through it all. And that is the beauty of a KA romance – that we get to see all of that detail and become a part of the characters’ lives, and it’s just beautiful.
“With him right there, nothing else mattered, nothing else even existed. This was simply where I was supposed to be. No matter what.”
Cady is a wonderful heroine. She’s incredibly strong and brave, sweet and forgiving with a caring nature, and though she could have easily as come across as being a doormat, she absolutely doesn’t, and I loved her big heart. And of course Coert is awesome. He’s a protective and possessive alpha without being OTT, and he is madly in love with his girl and wants everybody to know it. I just loved him.
Jake & Josie, Mickey & Amelia (and Junior & Alyssa) are along for the ride as Jake’s best mates, and of course the girls adopt Cady into their posse, and it was great to see them. But the best side characters were little Janie, and Cady’s extended family. They are a big, and important, part of the story and I absolutely loved them! I love their protectiveness and the love they have for Cady, and some of those scenes with them all together had my laughing out loud. I thought they brought a lot to the story, and they were a wonderful inclusion (and that mini-romance storyline was a real treat). KA fans will also love the Chaos series tie-in, and the Rock Chick cameos which were pretty epic, I’ve gotta say.
It all combines to give us a gorgeous read that is super long, but that I was happy to lose myself in as Cady and Coert reconnect and get the happy ending that they so desperately deserve together – and yes, there’s an epilogue, and yes, it’s awesome!
I loved this book. Super romantic, emotional, sweet, fun, dramatic and so, so functional. It’s pure KA, and it’s just beautiful.
5 stars!
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Magdalene Series
The Will (#1) (Jake & Josie)
Review
Buy: Kindle Ebook | Paperback | Audio
Soaring (#2) (Mickey & Amelia)
Review
Buy: Kindle Ebook | Paperback | Audio
The Time in Between (#3) (Coert & Cady)
Review
Buy: Kindle Ebook | Paperback | Audio
Excerpt
Present day…
I took in the mess of the large, circular room we were in and at first saw nothing but the mess—decaying furniture, a soot-covered stone fireplace, a kitchen that might have been put in in the forties but had not only not been touched the last nine years, it perhaps had not been touched the last nineteen (or more).
Then I saw more.
The extraordinarily carved railing to the sweeping wood staircase that ran the curved side of the house. The red brick walls. The plank wood floors.
“Once upon a time, long ago,” the realtor was suddenly talking wistfully, “someone loved this place. Put that love into building it. Put that love into keeping it. Nine years and more when no one really gave a whit, and still you can see it once had a lot of love.”
Oh yes.
You could see that.
“It’s got a basement, more like a big crawl space,” the agent declared, surprising me with his quick change in tone back to businesslike and informative. “The furnace is down there. You can get down there through a door in the floor. The furnace was put in a while back, and full disclosure, though an inspection will catch it, it probably needs to be replaced.”
Through his words I stared at the fireplace, which scoured would be magnificent, and I noticed it didn’t have a chimney as such, but the smoke probably went out a vent in the wall.
“This floor has a powder room under the stairs,” the realtor kept on. “You can look at it if you want, but if you wanna save yourself that, I’ll just tell you straight, it needs to be gutted.”
I decided to take his word for it and told him that.
He looked relieved when I did before he stated, “Place has a garage, two car. Not in good condition, but think you saw that. Still, it’s close to the house and there’s a covered walkway to that door over there.” He pointed at a door that was across from the door we’d walked in. “Means you might feel a chill but you won’t get wet, unless it’s raining sideways, which happens.”
With a breeze that plastered my jacket to me on a sunny, early spring day, I did not doubt that.
“Garage has a loft space above it, which could be renovated as a studio rental if you’ve a mind to do that sort of thing. As for the property itself, it also has a building where the generators are stowed,” the realtor carried on. “Hook up for a washer and dryer and good space in there. Lots of it for storage. Which is good because there’s not a lot of storage in here for tools and Christmas decorations and whatnot.”
I glanced around seeing he was right. There wasn’t even enough cabinetry to house the things a decent cook would need in her kitchen. Though there was room for them. In fact, if you fought back the gloom, there was quite a bit of room.
“And there’s a place outside, could call it a studio, could call it a mother-in-law house,” he shared. “Whatever, it’s got goodly space, two bedrooms, big kitchen. Could be renovated to be a guest house. Or like I said, a studio if you’re artsy. Or you could rent it out like a B and B. I’ll show you all of that after we have a look at the lighthouse.”
“Thanks,” I replied.
“Now, since I mentioned full disclosure, you have to know it all,” the realtor continued.
Slowly, my eyes went to him.
When they did, he launched in. “Like I said, it’s automated. And like I said, you won’t really have to concern yourself with the functionality of that unless the electricity goes out, but then the generators automatically kick in. There are two. But you’ll need to keep fuel on hand to keep them going in case a blackout lasts awhile. And just to say, this is coastal Maine. We get weather. Blackouts can last awhile.”
When I nodded to share I took that in, he kept going.
“And if you’re, say, away on vacation, you need to make sure someone is playing backup in such a case.”
“Okay,” I replied when he stopped talking, thinking this probably wasn’t a good thing since I knew no one in Maine (or not anyone who wanted to know me) and thus couldn’t call on anyone to do something like that.
I also didn’t hold high hopes I’d make friends and win people. I hadn’t had a lot of success in that in my life.
And last, although Patrick believed it completely, I held no hope that the reason I was out there was going to come to fruition.
That being me having a happy ending.
That being what Patrick thought would be my happy ending.
Which might mean I’d have someone, a certain someone, or actually two (at least), even though I knew I never would.
Giveaway
Signed Magdalene Series Set and Vera Bradley wallet for 1 winner; 1 signed paperback of The Time In Between for 1 winner; 1 eBook copy of The Time In Between for 5 winners
ENTER RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HERE
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About Kristen Ashley
Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA and nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorize and she hadn’t taken her first breath!). Her mother said they took Kristen away, put her Mom back in her room, her mother looked out the window, and Gary was on fire (Dr. King had been assassinated four days before). Kristen’s Mom remembered thinking it was the end of the world. Quite the dramatic beginning.
Nothing’s changed.
Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana and has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus, she’s blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her family was (is) loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write. They all lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the heartland. She grew up with Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.
And as she keeps growing, it keeps getting better.
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