*Book received for consideration. All thoughts are my own.
Following a family tragedy, Sydney Adair has compartmentalized her life into reliable, predictable routines and stuck to them. Dreams like opening her own yoga studio or the possibility of having a family pale in comparison to what she lost nearly a year ago, comfortability becoming the only constant she wants.
Having six-feet-three-inches of wounded, broody detective living in her backyard—along with his precious daughter—does not fit within her parameters.
Detective Jordan Del Ray has been running from his mother’s abandonment and his father’s workaholism since he left his hometown fifteen years ago. He’s made a life for himself and his daughter, until a shooting leaves him with two bullet holes in his shoulder and the PTSD he hasn’t been able to shake since his discharge from the Marines, forcing him to move back to the place that started it all.
And lands him only steps away from the fiery blonde barista he met briefly over the summer, who is just as determined as him to block out the darkness from her past.
Between their painful pasts and the mutual agreement to keep their arrangement strictly business, feelings shouldn’t be a problem. But when distrust turns into baking gingerbread cookies, and self-defensive banter shifts into searching conversations, will Jordan and Sydney find the courage to face their own respective ghosts—and find out just how powerful their connection is? Or will the tangle of mysteries they find themselves caught up in sever the fragile family they’ve begun to build?
Hold My Hand is the second book in the Del Ray Brothers series. I had not yet read the first book in the series, and I was able to enjoy it just fine as a standalone. That said, there are a lot of characters to keep track of, so I do wonder if I would have had a slightly easier time with that had I read book one first. (The author did give a great character intro before the story started though, which was super helpful and would be even more so in the paperback, I'm sure!)
This was such a beautiful, heartfelt romance. Both Sydney and Jordan had rough pasts that they were healing from and as such, the story touches on some tougher topics such as grief, parental abandonment, PTSD, etc. I thought the author did a great job of handling these topics both realistically and with grace, without being too heavy. There was definitely a sense of healing as the story progressed that I really appreciated. That really made the romance between them that much sweeter, and I absolutely adored that. I loved their chemistry... and the deleted texts? Those were definitely a nice touch that made me smile!
The story was told mostly through Sydney and Jordan's POV and their story was the main focus, but we also got the occasional POV from two other characters as well. While I wasn't sure about that at first, by the end, I really enjoyed the bigger picture. Speaking of the bigger picture, there was a bit of a mystery in this story, which ended in a cliffhanger... needless to say, I am very excited to see what happens next!
Hold My Hand is a closed-door romance with nothing beyond kisses.
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