Buy:  Amazon

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Review

3.5 stars!

This is the third book in the Walker/McKinney series, and is the story of Luke Walker. It’s a really sweet, emotional and heartfelt romance with strong individual stories for Luke and his amazing heroine, and I really enjoyed this one.

Luke has returned to his small home town after retiring from the Army Rangers. He was in the Army for over 20 years and is struggling to figure out who he is and what he wants now that his military career is over, and is filling his time by helping out his younger sister, Hannah, on her horse therapy farm.

Ava has travelled from New York City back to her home town to care for her father. Ava is blind, and while she manages well in the big city, she is having difficulty navigating a smaller, mostly unfamiliar town. The one thing she looks forward to are her horse riding lessons on Hannah’s farm.

Luke and Ava meet at his brother’s wedding. They hit it off, and when they run into each other again on the farm, it seems like fate. They slowly get to know each other, and the attraction that has simmered between them since their first meeting only grows as they open up to each other, and their friendship soon turns romantic.

“I wish I could see you,” she whispered into the dark. “Not to see what you look like, but I wish I could see your eyes looking at me.”
“You see me, Ava. Maybe more than anyone else ever has.”

I love these two together. Their banter is great, and they open up to each other beautifully, and their relationship is a great mix of humor and playfulness, sweet and tender moments, and chemistry-filled passion.

I love the way Luke looks at Ava – not defining her by her disability, but instead marvelling at her resilience and intelligence and falling for her completely. Ava has been hurt badly by a man who was supposed to love her, and she is understandably wary, and she’s only in town temporarily as she’s determined to return to the city life that she loves so much, so she’s not keen to dive into something serious. But the pull between them is undeniable, and they both find themselves falling hard, despite the difficulties in their being together.

“If I knew I could have something real, something really real, with you, of course it would be worth the risk, worth anything. But how would I ever know that?”
“I don’t know, Ava. How do you ever really know?”

The story is just as much Luke and Ava overcoming their individual struggles as it is about the romance. They are dealing with very different issues, but they wholly support and encourage each other, all while coming to accept their feelings and figuring out what they want, and I thought their stories were beautifully told.

“You made me want to look at the future. And now I only want to look if that future includes you. I have my sight. You don’t. My eyes are wide open on that one and I’m sitting here, choosing you. Choosing us.”

Luke’s siblings are a big part of the story, and if you haven’t read the earlier books, it may be a bit overwhelming to sort out who is who, and how all of the kids fit into the picture, but you could read this as a standalone – just acknowledging that there are a heap of relatives. As someone who has read the previous books, I loved seeing all of those characters again, and I really enjoyed seeing Luke find his way back to his family after being away for so long.

This is a really enjoyable read. I loved Luke and Ava – their individual stories, and their beautiful romance – and I’m really looking forward to (hopefully) getting a book for Dallas, the last of the Walker siblings.

Really sweet – 3.5 stars.

 

McKinney/Walker Brothers