Only You by Samantha Young is live!

The fifth and final book in the Adair Family series, this is a heartwrenching friends-to-lovers, almost-second-chance romance that really brings the feels, as movie star Brodan Adair returns home to the Scottish highlands, and the childhood best friend and love that he left behind.

 

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Blurb

Once upon a time, Monroe Sinclair was Brodan Adair’s best friend, but now he’s a stranger and one of Hollywood’s leading men…

It took Monroe Sinclair eighteen years to return home to Ardnoch after a fateful night that devastated her friendship with Brodan Adair. She fled her unrequited love for him, as well as her difficult family life, and tried not to look behind her. Only a daughter’s guilt could lure her back to the Highlands and the assumption that Brodan Adair rarely ever sets foot in their hometown. She can handle seeing the rest of the Adairs so long as she can avoid her ex-best friend and the only man she’s ever loved.

Nothing is more important to Brodan than family, and only his demons have the power to keep him from them. For years, acting was something he was lucky enough to be good at, yet it wasn’t his priority—Ardnoch and his siblings were. But when a ghost from his past returned out of the blue, Brodan tried to outrun its haunting, taking him further and further from home. When exhaustion finally forces him back to the family fold, the last thing he wants is to encounter another ghost. But that’s exactly what Monroe Sinclair has been to him. When a promise to his nephew obliges Brodan to work with Monroe, it forces them to face their past. The explosive connection that has always existed between them resurrects truths long buried. Yet, just when they might be on the brink of a second chance, the ghost from Brodan’s past finally catches up to him and threatens not just their happiness, but their very lives.

 

 

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Review

4.5 stars!

The fifth and final book in the Adair Family series, this is a heartwrenching friends-to-lovers, almost-second-chance romance that really brings the feels, as movie star Brodan Adair returns home to the Scottish highlands, and the childhood best friend and love that he left behind.

Brodan and Monroe became best friends as children. They were as close as could be, and Brodan and his family were there for Monroe during very hard times in her life. They crushed on each other, but couldn’t quite get the timing right, and when Monroe fell hard for her best friend, only to be brutally rejected, she made a drunken mistake which shattered their friendship, and sent them both running. It’s now 18 years later, and both have returned to the small village of Ardnoch – she for family reasons, he due to exhaustion and needing to reconnect with his family – and they’re coming face to face for the first time.

There’s a world of hurt between these two. There’s so much emotion from the past, and so much confusion about their current feelings for each other, and Brodan makes it devastatingly clear that he wants nothing to do with his ex-best friend. It’s brutal and sad, and God, I was angry! My heart ached for both of them at what was still such an obviously painful situation.

“I loved you once in a way I have never loved anyone.”
Emotion stung my nose and thickened my throat.
“But I love the boy I left behind. I don’t love the man. I could never love someone who has treated me as you’ve treated me.”
Fuck, that hurt.

But slowly things begin to change. They begin to reveal pieces of their lives, and of the past, and of course, things are not what they seem to be. And almost too late, Brodan realises that what he wants has been there right in front of him, all along. But he has a lot to make up for to prove that he deserves another chance with the woman he’s always loved.

“I’m not yours to take care of.”
There was a moment of silence and then I felt his heat score along my back. His breath tickled my ear as he leaned in, scattering goose bumps down my spine. “You’ve always been mine to take care of. And today is the day I stop failing at it.”

I’ve got to admit, I was so very unhappy with the way things unfolded between these two in the first part of the book. Seriously unhappy. There was a lot they needed to wade through in order to find their way back to each other (and win me over), and it was a gorgeously emotional ride as they did just that!

“We are not the same people we were back then, and we’re holding on to the love between two kids who don’t exist anymore.”
“I don’t believe that,” he whispered.

Brodan is a man determined to right his wrongs and get his girl, and he does it in grand style – with honesty, sweet actions, and heartfelt declarations, putting himself out there to prove himself and to win earn his way back into Monroe’s heart.

“I can accept friendship…but if we’re going to be honest with each other from now on, I should tell you I intend to make you fall back in love with me.”

It’s almost like a book in two parts – first all of the murky, angsty stuff, and then the glorious reconciliation where these two old friends find themselves together once again and finally acting on the feelings that they’ve had for each other for so long. It’s got a lighter, more romantic feel to it, and I was right on board as they figured it all out.

“If I can give you anything, it will just be friendship, Brodan,” I’d said, my voice shaking.
… “We both know that’s bullshit. It will always be more than friendship between us. Let’s finally stop lying about that.”

There’s a playfulness to them together, and of course it’s passionate, and the emotion between these two is really captured my heart. They both have fears, and they recognise that they’re going to have to bravely put their hearts on the line, but they’re there for each other, working through it all, and their love story is beautiful.

“Are you scared, Brodan?”
The fear tightened like a fist around my throat, and I could only nod.
“Me too,” she admitted.
Then she moved in my arms, turning to straddle me. Cupping my nape in her hands, she whispered, “I want to hold on, though. Will you hold on with me?”
In answer, I wrapped my arms around and pulled her close, buying her face in the crook of her neck. I’d hold on for fucking forever now.

The whole Adair family is there supporting both of them while they work through all of their issues. Monroe is welcomed back into the family fold without question, and I loved that so much time is spent with the characters that I loved from previous books. There’s wonderful story progression for each of the couples, and it’s gorgeous seeing all of them together.

The earlier books in the series contained an element of suspense, and in this book it’s kind of randomly thrown in there towards the end. It seemed a bit of overkill and unrealistic given what has already gone down with the other members of the family, and didn’t feel necessary to Brodan and Monroe’s story, but that was the only ‘meh’ moment for me. Otherwise, I was content to bask in the glow of this beautiful love story as two soulmates found their way back to each other with all of the emotion and swoon that I was hoping for.

“I have loved you most of my life, and I know with a certainty that awes and terrifies me in equal measure…that I will love you until my last breath. Maybe even then.”

I have loved this series. Intense, dramatic and emotional, with swoony, passionate romance, it’s everything that I love about Samantha Young’s writing. I have fallen for each member of the Adair family one by one, and was overjoyed at the epilogue which gave us a peek into each of the couple’s lives. It was a wonderful finish to all of their stories, and I’m so excited that Brodan and Monroe’s friends, Walker and Sloane, will be getting their own book in the spin-off [book:Beyond the Thistles|61898315], first book in theHighlands Series, where I’m sure we’ll get to see the Adairs again.

Loved this one – 4.5 stars!

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

Adair Family

 

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Meet Samantha

Samantha Young is a New York Times and #1 International bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. On Dublin Street was Samantha’s first adult contemporary romance series and has sold in thirty countries. She has since published over thirteen romance titles including the New York Times Bestsellers Into the Deep, Hero, and her most recent contemporary romance Black Tangled Heart. When writing Adult Paranormal romance she writes under the pen name S. Young.

 

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