I’ve been waiting for Dane and Everly’s story since the first book in this series and it was everything I hoped it would be!

Dane protected Everly while living in a foster home together. There are some really dark moments to their story but that protective instinct that was bred in him during those days has carried over into the years following. Add in that everyone he’s cared about has been taken away from him at some point and he’s walking an emotional tightrope.

Everly too has her own insecurities and fears. Dane had promised to never leave her and yet he did. To take a chance on him is to trust that he won’t abandon her again. But now their relationship is so much more than that of teenagers supporting each other through a nightmare, they are now looking at each other as adults and all that that entails.

’Excited Everly was a sight to see, always had been. But now I was looking at her in a way that wasn’t just friendly, and it did things to me.
Seriously hard, painful things.’

I have to say that I absolutely adored Dane. Yes, he’s got issues, but at the very core of him is his driving need to care and protect Everly, even if that means protecting her from himself. While he’s made some poor decisions in the past, he’s trying to be what Everly needs. But when things take a turn he realizes he’s never going to be the man she deserves.

’I wanted to protect her from anything that would hurt her and ---- up anyone who already had. What was I supposed to do when the thing that had hurt her most was me?’

This couple were meant to be together. Full stop. What they have is beautiful, a once in a lifetime love that has carried them through the worse and has the potential to carry them through the future. There is some angst as they each have to face their own weaknesses and figure out how to overcome them. My heart hurt in the beginning when Everly was so very lost from Dane’s absence in her life and then it cracked wide open when Dane later has to face his own demons.

I loved how Everly grew throughout this story. She became the woman she was meant to be and she was able to stand strong when it really mattered. The fact that Dane recognized his overprotectiveness was hindering his relationship with her and was struggling to correct it, endeared him even more to me. Because while I love a protective hero, in this case it was causing problems and I needed him to acknowledge it.

’I knew I was over-the-top possessive. Insanely protective. But trying to rein that … in, controlling it to the best of my ability, did not stop it. It was still there, roaring inside me.’

This was a wonderful read, so full of steam between the hero and heroine that I’m sure I was actually blushing a time or two…while in the isolation of my own home. There are a lot of smexy scenes but I never skimmed because each scene showcased the evolution of this couple’s emotions as they grow closer together. This also has all the characters from the previous books as well as a couple of new ones that I am desperate to get my hands on.